Written by Steve McQueen, Alpine Agronomy Manager.
With Spring planting behind us, we are now well positioned to initiate the next stages of our crop plan. By utilizing our past experiences, we are better equipped to develop a solution to alleviate issues that may be limiting our crops potentials. As discussed in our last article, managing these solutions in our minds as well as in our crops, will allow us to improve our yield and quality.
Having germination and emergence taken care of, we need to take a quick measurement of our success with these points of influence. We must then concentrate on our next steps in crop management; building plant structure, increase plant energy and setting the stage for reproduction.
Preparing for Foliar Success started with your initial fertility program and our ALPINE Bio-K balanced foliar products are being applied to Maximizing Fertilizer Efficiency. The charts included with this article show research establishing the equivalency of foliar-applied nutrients to soil-applied nutrition. This type of work confirms what we are seeing in fields when foliar nutrition is used to enhance a base fertilizer program. The benefits of an ALPINE Bio-K foliar program start with an increase in a plant’s chlorophyll synthesis, which can often result in leaves turning a darker green. The increase in photosynthetic activity, supported by the latest in potassium uptake technology, stimulates extra root growth. In turn, the root hairs excrete excess sugars which stimulate microbial colonies. These bacterial colonies provide auxins and other root stimulating compounds. With this increase in cellular activity, gas exchange increases the uptake of water. As the roots take up more water, they also draw more nutrients to the plant from the soil solution. The foliar application stimulates the entire “pumping system” in the plant to increase the uptake of the base applied fertility program, thus maximizing fertilizer efficiency.
The goal of influencing our vegetation stage, is to enhance the plant’s ability to prepare for reproduction, supporting flower set and development, improving pollination, the viability of pollen and fruit set. By maintaining plant metabolism, along with supplying balanced nutrient requirements, measured through tissue samples, ALPINE Bio-K products are designed to meet these demands.
As you continually look at ways to reallocate your resources for improved results, reach out to your ALPINE Dealers and District Sales Managers to begin applying your ALPINE Bio-K strategies to amplify the genetic potential of our crops.
