Liquid fertiliser

Ady 41

New Member
Hi I was wondering if anyone had any experience in liquid fertiliser. A salesman has tried to sell me it and if I’m honest I don’t know anything about it, and with him being a typical salesman it does sound very good and with fertiliser prices the way they are this year I was thinking of giving it a try. This fertiliser is put on using a crop sprayer. I was really only after a bit of advice on whether this is as good as I’ve been told or what other peoples experiences are with this. Thanks in advance
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
good and bad points of both systems
pros:-
very accurate application
only one set of equipment
no changing appliances
No explosive materail consideration
can be applied at higher wind speeds

Cons
Storage tanks and bonding requirements
Phosphate particularly is very low solubility so either you use very large quantities giving slow spread rates or you still apply it with a Fert. spreader
it is highly corrosive and will not improve many sprayers which really should have Alluminium booms to avoid corrosion.
wind and strong sun can cause tipping of the leaves with some materials.
Consideration should be given to how far you may want to travel from your tanks with a loaded sprayer
 

Badshot

Member
Location
Kent
Hi I was wondering if anyone had any experience in liquid fertiliser. A salesman has tried to sell me it and if I’m honest I don’t know anything about it, and with him being a typical salesman it does sound very good and with fertiliser prices the way they are this year I was thinking of giving it a try. This fertiliser is put on using a crop sprayer. I was really only after a bit of advice on whether this is as good as I’ve been told or what other peoples experiences are with this. Thanks in advance
What liquid fertiliser are we talking about?

Is it a simple Yara type n35s?

Or a snake oil magic beans type stuff?
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
when I was growing potatoes I was frequently approached to do trials involving many such snake oil substances most were a blend of different chemicals , seaweed etc. but generally the main constituent was nitrogen in some form which of course made plants look happier in a couple of days . We never noticeds any appreciable difference in yield though.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Or perhaps urea dissolved in water with humic acid?
Not snake oil magic beans type stuff, three year trial involving four farms in Wales proved it was very effective.

who ran the trials? any links to results please ?

i’ve been looking for some independent data on such products but its a little thin on the ground
 
No dust, no bags, no lumps to break up. No considerations for wind and rain- can apply it with a sprayer on days you couldn't possibly ever spray chemistry. Delivery driver can unload himself at even the most remote locations. No need for additional labour or loader. Frees up storage space for something other than materials which are subject to theft, degradation and which normally constitute a serious fire hazard as well.

Improved accuracy of application and less fertiliser in hedge bottoms. Also encourages farmers growing grass to treat it more as a crop which is no small thing sometimes.

Works well on some stock farms I know who have their own sprayers. P and K can be applied by contractor as fibrophos in the autumn/spring which is kinder to the land anyway.
 

Badshot

Member
Location
Kent
Or perhaps urea dissolved in water with humic acid?
Not snake oil magic beans type stuff, three year trial involving four farms in Wales proved it was very effective.
What was it tested against?
Controls in place?

I'm all for advances, but unfortunately there really is a lot of, erm, less than fully truthful salesmen in this industry.
 

tullah

Member
Location
Linconshire
No dust, no bags, no lumps to break up. No considerations for wind and rain- can apply it with a sprayer on days you couldn't possibly ever spray chemistry. Delivery driver can unload himself at even the most remote locations. No need for additional labour or loader. Frees up storage space for something other than materials which are subject to theft, degradation and which normally constitute a serious fire hazard as well.

Improved accuracy of application and less fertiliser in hedge bottoms. Also encourages farmers growing grass to treat it more as a crop which is no small thing sometimes.

Works well on some stock farms I know who have their own sprayers. P and K can be applied by contractor as fibrophos in the autumn/spring which is kinder to the land anyway.
So that's the upside.
How much extra would liquid cost over and above bagged for an acre of wheat with normal Fert needs. Disregard the cost of the tank.
 
So that's the upside.
How much extra would liquid cost over and above bagged for an acre of wheat with normal Fert needs. Disregard the cost of the tank.

The main difference in price comes from the fact you are buying volume rather than on weight if that makes sense. It isn't crazy stupid money extra but it is a consideration. Also it reduces your buying power a bit as there are fewer suppliers of liquid fertiliser.
 

vantage

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembs
What was it tested against?
Controls in place?

I'm all for advances, but unfortunately there really is a lot of, erm, less than fully truthful salesmen in this industry.
It wasn’t a trial by a firm, Farming Connect is funded out of the Agri budget of Welsh Government.
The trial had conventional, foliar and untreated trial fields on 4 farms for three years, so it provided good data.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
Didn't you used to do this anyway Clive? Melt your own urea down

Yes but ground applied at same N rates as would be used if solid and we still use liquid fert rather than solid. We also used to use a top up on foliar urea on milling wheats late season to increase protein, but if honest I actually think that works more by fooling the testing that actually increasing protein ........ as if you simply add liquid urea to grain and test protein in a NIR tester the protein increases (well the N measured does so the test kit assumes higher protein !!!)

what Im questioning and I think this thread is confusing over a simple liquid vs solid conversation is this idea that low rate of foliar urea can replace your total N if mixed with a few secret sauce ingredients that is being heavily touted as a replacement for conventional N requirements, from what I see there ins not a lot of independent trials, I would like to see some because if correct why the hell are we all not doing it and wasting fortunes on big amounts of N ?
 
Last edited:

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
Yes but ground applied at same N rates as would be used if solid and we still use liquid fert rather than solid. We also used to use a top up on foliar urea on milling wheats late season to increase protein, but if honest I actually think that works more by fooling the testing that actually increasing protein ........ as if you ad liquid urea to grain and test protein in a NIR tester the protein increases (well the N measured does so the test kit assumes more portion !!!)

not this low rate of foliar urea can replace your total N if mixed with a few secret sauce ingredients that is being heavily touted as a replacement for conventional N requirements, from what I see there ins not a lot of independent trials
We've a few on farm trials do m completed here, mostly been encouraging.
I'll try to find the Welsh trial results just now.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
We've a few on farm trials do m completed here, mostly been encouraging.
I'll try to find the Welsh trial results just now.


I'm wondering if such low rates on N can get the same yield why is it even still legal to apply conventional doses of N ? - these products claim same yield on less than 10% of RB209 rates - is that actually posible ? anything with a sniff of N applied to a leaf will make it looikmgreener but can it really produce same yields as a conventional approach and amount of N

given current threat to food security due to N price you would think the world would be buzzing with excitement on such game changing, climate saving product ? Yara and CF share prices should be crashing ! .......... or is it snake oil being sold to farmers who want to desperately believe it will solve their issue as they cant afford regular amounts of N any more ?

genuine question
 

scholland

Member
Location
ze3

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield

Hopefully that works.

I'm sure you're not after farm trials but we managed 8 ton in SB with 50kg solid N and 2x 4kg foliar applications, not record breaking but we are quite far north.

In grass we have seen a 29% dm yield increase with 20kg foliar N as well as a protein increase.


Grassland trials not really much use to a wheat grower, maybe the grass yield wasn't being N limited anyway if it had some clover etc in it ?
 

scholland

Member
Location
ze3
I'm wondering if such low rates on N can get the same yield why is it even still legal to apply conventional doses of N ? - these products claim same yield on less than 10% of RB209 rates - is that actually posible ? anything with a sniff of N applied to a leaf will make it looikmgreener but can it really produce same yields as a conventional approach and amount of N

given current threat to food security due to N price you would think the world would be buzzing with excitement on such game changing, climate saving product ? Yara and CF share prices should be crashing ! .......... or is it snake oil being sold to farmers who want to desperately believe it will solve their issue as they cant afford regular amounts of N any more ?

genuine question
Apart from a bit of humate we aren't buying anything fancy so no snake oil here
 

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