As you move into early spring production, one of your primary considerations is which type of fertilizer to use to assure the best possible crop in terms of quality, health and timing.  As a grower, your primary options in the past have been either liquid feed or a slow release/coated fertilizer.  The goal of this article is to provide you with another option that you may not have considered up until now and that is bio-fertilizers.  

Constant liquid fertilization requires irrigation and a large part of the product is lost due to runoff and leaching. Nutrients

are supplied constantly during irrigation and not in conjunction with plant needs. Constant liquid feeding can result in growth peaks. To counter surges in growth growers must apply growth regulators. Growth regulators can be very expensive and can lead to crop issues if applied at the wrong rate. Also growth peaks can lead to weaker plants that can result in increased disease and insect pressure.

When using slow release/coated fertilizers, the flow of nutrients is temperature dependent and not closely tied to the plant's needs. Some coated controlled release fertilizers can dump in hot weather and the resulting high EC causes root and foliar burning and weakened plants, thus increasing susceptibility to disease pathogens. Phosphorous uptake is also limited as temperatures drop due to lack of adequate release. 

Bio-fertilizers are usually released as a result of microbial activity and are less influenced by temperature or irrigation. The nutrients are released by microbial activity and in a more continuous and even availability. An even availability of nutrients creates more compact plants that are not stretched, thus greatly decreasing the need for PGRs. This also reduces the plants' exposure to disease and insect pressure.

At BioWorks we have 3 bio-fertilizers that the grower should consider as base fertilizers for spring production. They are excellent base feeds when used in combination with lower levels of liquid feed.

1. EcoVitaŽ (7-5-10) is an OMRI listed fertilizer
2. GM-2 (7-6-12) is a combination product using organic and mineral nutrient sources.
3. RM-1 (4-30-0) a combination of organic and mineral phosphorus sources.

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