Protect Seed Investment with Crystal Green
Seed and fertilizer are consistently among the greatest investment and crucial in reaching a positive ROI. As a result, farmers spend significant time and effort choosing the best seed genetics and crop nutrition program to achieve their operational goals. However, conventional, highly water-soluble fertilizers, can cause an uneven stand or germination failure due to damaging the seed during germination. Safe fertilizer application rates, particularly for seed placed in-furrow water-soluble fertilizer, shouldn’t be exceeded. Finding the balance between applying enough fertilizer and not damaging germinating seeds can be tricky. Get it wrong and losing 20% or more of seed is possible, reducing stand counts and yield. To balance potential seed losses, growers will often apply more seed than is required to achieve a target population. But this too adds expense to the budget and can result in overcrowding if all the seeds germinate.
Water-Soluble Fertilizers Can Damage Seeds
Seeds take up water against the soil water potential, a process that requires energy to actively pull water into the seed. Soil water potential is not only driven by how much water is in the soil, but also by how many dissolved solids are present in the soil solution. Water-soluble conventional fertilizers add soluble salts to the soil solution. The more dissolved solids, the more resources a germinating seed will need to exhaust to take in water. Water-soluble fertilizers raise the concentration of dissolved solids and soil water potential around the germinating crop. As the fertilizer is taken up by the crop, or is dissipated through the soil, the soil water potential around the crop roots drops, relieving the stress on the growing crop. However, if excess water-soluble fertilizer is applied, or there is a lack of rainfall or irrigation, the stress imposed by water-soluble fertilizers can result in seed injury and an uneven stand.
Protect Your Investment
There are several ways to manage the problem of uneven stands. The 4R’s on Nutrient Stewardship using the Right Source at the Right Rate at the Right Time and in the Right Place provides a useful guide. Many growers handle excess fertilizer salts by altering the fertilizer source or application rate or the time of application or application method. Over-application will lead to decreased nutrient use efficiency, wasted nutrients, or decreased yields. Coated fertilizers, can be very seed safe but are significantly more expensive per unit nutrient.
Crystal Green (7-33-0 with 9% Mg) is the only granular phosphate fertilizer that offer superior seed safety and increased yield potential. The magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate in Crystal Green and Crystal Green Synchro is minimally water-soluble but it is organic acid soluble making the N, P and Mg safely available to plants. As a result, it does not damage seed or rapidly alter soil water potential the way that rapidly dissolving water-soluble fertilizers can. Due to Crystal Green’s organic acid solubility, it’s 100% crop available and only releases nutrients in response to crop demand.
On average, farmers using Crystal Green are able to reduce seeding rates by 20%, while still achieving desired stand counts in sensitive seed species like canola.
By using Crystal Green, Growers can enjoy improved stand counts, reduced seed costs, improved yields and increased ROI.