Crop Treatments

Beet is, in our experience, the most responsive crop to biological treatment. There are 2 important applications:

Application 1 is with ACF-SR+ post ploughing and pre-sowing. The plant growth promoting bacteria and humic acid help with the availability of nutrient in the soil that aid even germination and establishment essential in beet.

Application 2 is with ACF-SR at 6th leaf stage. Ideally this is with B-Evergreen Plus (slow release 18-6-6 +TE) and NutriChel CaB – both Nutrel products – which ensures a super, deep green canopy, and efficient nutrient transfer.

Applications to maize tend to be limited by the growing technique and availability of suitable spraying equipment to get into a crop at as late a stage as possible. Maize nutrient requirement is mainly between knee high and shoulder high – meaning the nutrient needs to be applied between knee high and hip high (ideally both).

Maize responds well to bacteria and, whether growing under plastic or not, the phosphorous solubilising capability in the PGPB is usually evident in the rooting and establishment.

B-Evergreen Plus is superb on maize as the slow release nature applied at knee high ensures nutrient availability throughout the key growth stages.

We work extensively with both winter and spring versions of wheat, barley, oats and rye, both conventional and organic.

The options here are too numerous to mention, but the rule we find is the worse the soil the better the response to ACF bacteria products. Not only do they improve the nutrient use efficiency, but they also help establishment and tillering. (See case studies or contact us for a copy of Independent Studies)

We have a wide range of Nutrel products that are excellent on cereals, but three worth mentioning: If you have Mg or Mn deficiency then K-Mag or K Man Special are excellent foliar sprays. Both have secondary nutrients and trace elements. Also, as with pretty well all other crops, B-Evergreen plus applied before flowering will ensure there is nutrient available for grain fill.

We have an extensive programme for baby leaf products, which all respond well to ACF bacteria treatments. As the crop is so fast, it is essential to use PGPB to optimise the nutrient use efficiency and plant health. We try to watch the nitrogen levels in these high value crops as too much nitrogen can lead to soft leaf and shorter shelf life, so addition of K-Mag or K-Man special (depending on soil) is great for strength and flavour. Nutrichel CaB is also a no-brainer for these crop types.

Also great is Nutrel’s organic fish blood and bone product from the Nugro range.

This crop type responds well to bacteria products but is a challenge due to the prevalence of fungicidal spray applied at such regular intervals. So, the only biological treatment applied is prior to or at planting. ACF-SR+ with both PGPB and humic is a great tonic to help establishment of the crop.

After that, there are a wide range of Nutrel products for Potato crops: Zinc DP for skin finish; NutriChel CaB for essential Calcium and Boron throughout the crop; K-Man Special which, apart from the Potassium and Manganese, is very high in Sulphur; B-Evergreen Plus to keep the leaf green for longer and promote photosynthesis.

Rooting is essential in Brassicas and the application of bacteria and humic ACF-SR+ and Phostar will help with this. There are a wide range of high sulphur products to help as the crop crows, particularly S10 and K-Man Special.

It is also advisable to use B-Evergreen Plus on OSR in the latter stages of the crop – it is such a good sticker it helps with pod-sticking, so important in maintaining yields.

The biggest crop in Ireland is grass. For the most part, grassland is associated with livestock and the best way to optimise nutrient use is to optimise the organic fertilizer with ACF bacteria products. For more on this, see the section on slurry treatments under Agri Waste.