The Importance of Planned Fertilizer Programmes

One only needs to pay a visit to a garden centre to get some insight into the vast range of preparations now available for conditioning soil, encouraging the growth of roots or foliage, and providing various essential nutrients. For a commercial farmer, the choice can be even greater and correspondingly more confusing. However, while most farmers understand the basic requirements for improving crop yields, not all understand the value of implementing fertilizer programmes tailored to meet their specific needs. So, what are the factors that should determine their actions?

A Plant Specific Approach

There are three main factors that one should consider when drawing up a suitable plan. Firstly, to achieve the best results, planners need to adopt a plant specific approach. Rather than treating a growing area with a generic mix of plant nutrients, it makes more sense to focus on the nutritional requirement of the particular crop that is to be grown in that area. Suitably tailored fertilizer programmes will need to employ specially formulated products. The products required will differ, for example, according to whether they may be best suited for legumes, grains or oil-rich crops.

Life Cycle Specific Nutrition

A new-born child’s first need is breast milk because it is easy to digest and can transfer some preliminary immunity to disease. Later, the child’s requirement will shift to solid foods to provide the energy and building blocks necessary to sustain a phase of rapid growth. The nutritional requirements of plants differ not only between species but can also vary significantly at different stages in their life cycle like germination, vegetative growth and fruiting. An effective fertilizer programme must also take these phased variations into account.

Location Specific Nutritional Requirements

However, it is a farm’s location that will often have the greatest influence on those responsible for planning such programmes. Soil quality can vary considerably between regions, between farms and even between different parts of the same farm. In some regions, the soil may display a lack of a particular essential nutrient while another could suffer from very high levels of salinity that can prove toxic to many plants. Soil quality is the third factor to consider when designing fertilizer programmes.

Kynoch

With an extensive experience of agriculture in southern Africa and a talent for innovation, Kynoch has grown to become a leading importer and supplier of yield-enhancing products to farmers in the region. Where indicated, the company can also blend and tailor products to meet the unique needs of its clients. That makes Kynoch the go-to company for anyone in need of a bespoke fertilizer programme. After a preliminary analysis, its experts will tailor your plan and even assist you with its implementation.