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Liquid Fertilizer Designed for Specific Needs |
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Reprinted from article source:
6/13/2008 6:00:00 AM
Liquid fertilizer designed for specific needs
OVS plant turns out formulations
for "spoon-feeding" crops
John Schmitz
For
the Capital Press
McMINNVILLE, Ore. - OVS couldn't have picked a better time to
go into the liquid fertilizer business.
With prices going through the roof and no relief
in sight, OVS' new plant near McMinnville is
turning out a carbon-based product that allows
growers to use less fertilizer, said co-owner
Kevin Chambers.
"We must be crazy, but we just built a new
liquid fertilizer plant to show farmers how to
use less fertilizer and still get great
results," Chambers said in a company news
release.
Plant manager Ken Wessel, who has a long resume
in the fertilizer industry, was hired by OVS
last year to construct and manage the facility.
It opened for business in March of this year.
"(The new plant) allows us to get into the
nutrition side of (farming)," Wessel said. "Our
guys were out there (working with) soil and leaf
samples and making recommendations, but they
couldn't finish what they needed to do. We're
kind of doing it a little bit different with
some of the stuff we're using, the organic acids
needs."
With organic acid-based liquid formulations,
growers are getting away from dumping a huge
amount of dry macronutrients on their fields,
much of which may never be of benefit to the
crop.
"We can actually help growers cut back on their
fertilizer needs ... and spray when the plant
(or tree) needs it," Wessel said. "We call it
spoon-feeding."
Some formulations, which can be tank-mixed with
crop protectants such as fungicides, have up to
12 components.
The role that organic acids play in OVS' liquid
fertilizers is crucial, said Chambers, who grows
winegrapes under a certified Biodynamic
agriculture program that stresses organic,
self-nourishing farming. "This is one of the
foundations of what we're doing here."
Essentially, he said, the carbon in naturally
occurring compounds such as fulmic and humic
acids interfaces with soil nutrients and the
plant to make nutrition more available to the
plant. Carbon also sequesters harmful metals in
the soil so they do not enter the plant,
Chambers said.
The organic acids such as humic acid and fulmic
acid OVS uses in its fertilizer blends are all
the more important today because "we're burning
out carbon in the form of organic matter through
tillage," said Chambers. "Many of the practices
we engage in just fry carbon." |
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Ken Wessel, manager of the new OVS
liquid fertilizer plant near
McMinnville, Ore., adds dry
nutrient to the mixing tank. |
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| Grower tries OVS blends on peppermint |
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St. Paul, Ore. peppermint grower Bill Smith is trying
an OVS liquid
fertilizer blend
on a 6-year-old,
20-acre block to
see how well it
moves soil
nutrients into
his plants. "We
just started
experimenting
with it," Smith
said. "We took
soil samples
before we
applied it."
The liquid
fertilizer
recipe was based
on those
findings.
"Basically what
I'm
experimenting
with is a
phosphate/potash
product. There's
different
(organic) acids
in them. They
(OVS) basically
go off the soil
samples to see
what they need
to stimulate the
soil."
In the past,
Smith has used
commercial dry
fertilizer
blends and will
be comparing the
results from the
OVS applications
with those
earlier
applications.
"It's hard to
get all of the
phosphates
released, even
though it shows
you have a good
amount of
phosphates in
the soil. The
plant's got to
be able to take
it in. That's
what some of the
(OVS) acids are
designed to do,
and therefore
give us a
stronger
healthier plant
- and increase
yields, we
hope."
- John Schmitz |
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"What we find is that a lot of our inputs have had to
consistently increase as the carbon level in the
soil, the organic level, has been burned out. We
have to add more and more of these nutritional
elements in order to get the same plant
response."
Plant manager Wessel explained it in terms of a
specific nutrient:
"Normally, if you put phosphate on the ground
... you're lucky if 5 percent is available (to
the plant). The iron or the aluminum in the
soils ties it up. If the pH is too low or too
high, that will tie it up. Carbon will actually
protect that phosphate and help hold it in the
soil longer before it ties up so the plant can
use it. If done correctly, (you need) at least
20 percent less."
Chambers, a University of Oregon graduate who
has since become a student of soil science, said
growing crops "is really a three-legged stool":
soil chemistry, soil microbiology and soil
physics. "Too many people today teach one leg of
the stool and say that those are the answers."
The OVS McMinnville plant is one of the few in
the Willamette Valley that has the facilities to
heat the water used to dissolve the various
nutrients, Wessel said. He added that the plant
is the only one around with a mixer dedicated to
working with organic acids.
During the batch process, the various nutrients,
both dry and liquid, are blended in hot water
from a 7,000-gallon tank. Different temperatures
are needed to "melt" the various dry fertilizer
components, depending on the formulation.
OVS liquid fertilizers, both ground- and
foliar-applied, can be applied in various ways,
even through drip irrigation systems.
The OVS plant is a two-man operation, with Chad
Moye handling the mixing and deliveries.
OVS, formerly known as Oregon Vineyard Supply,
now serves a number of crops with agronomic and
equipment needs.
Freelance writer John Schmitz is based in Salem,
Ore. E-mail:
johns6869@msn.com |
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