Example of a granular mycorrhiza amendment to reconstruction of a sand-based green
‘Rising fertiliser prices and tighter budgets, together with seemingly more variable and challenging weather conditions’. This scenario probably sounds familiar to most people, at a time when we are all being encouraged to be more efficient in our use of inputs, as well as paying more attention to our environment.
By Hugh Frost, Novozymes Biologicals FERTILISER EFFICIENCY
THIS article outlines some strategies that can be employed using logical, strategic use of nutrients, together with biological components, to achieve a far greater effect from your fertiliser, with an added bonus of a more stable and less demanding turf. The cost of mineral nutrients included in specialised amenity fertilisers has risen sharply over the past 12 to 18 months. For example, the cost of basic agricultural grade fertilisers, such as 34% nitrogen, has more than doubled from £150 to £330 per tonne, whilst potassium chloride has tripled from £180 to £580, but by far the greatest rise has been in the price of phosphate, with triple super phosphate almost quadrupling in price from £185 to £725 per tonne! Therefore, utilising
fertiliser in a rational manner is surely the optimum way to proceed, in whatever situation you find yourself. Of course, it should go without saying that it is always important that fertiliser, what ever its type, is applied accurately and at the correct time to maximise the benefits to the plants and to minimise environmental losses.
Nevertheless, by a) making the nutrients more available in the soil, b) facilitating better nutrient uptake into the plants and c) enabling the grass to utilise nutrients more effectively, the mineral components of fertilisers are put to good economic use. All these processes require biological interaction and can be improved greatly by the increase in microbial activity and enhanced by the addition of biological growth stimulants.
Whilst some formulated nutrients, such as urea, function with minimal biological activity to enter plants others, such as methylene urea and organic- based carriers, require microbial activity to be used fully.
So, how to proceed?
Whilst bio-stimulants, such as kelp, humic acids and vitamins, have been widely employed in different types and combinations to improve plant vigour and stimulate plant growth for many years, microbial populations have not been viewed in the same light. Bacteria and fungi have been viewed with suspicion, presumably because they were purely associated with disease,
Fertiliser + microbes
Fertiliser alone
Turf grass trials on microbial nutrient uptake - significant at 95% confidence level
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132