Why manganese or magnesium sulfate?

[Spanish]

I am very happy to have registered in this forum. Since I did it I have learned a lot, because I notice that the participants of this forum are professionals of agriculture and you are worried about the new techniques.
I would like to know the reason to apply manganese or magnesium sulfate to crops. I have read it several times in this place and I would like to know more about it.
Thank you

 

[Brisel]

I am very happy to have registered in this forum. Since I did it I have learned a lot, because I notice that the participants of this forum are professionals of agriculture and you are worried about the new techniques.
I would like to know the reason to apply manganese or magnesium sulfate to crops. I have read it several times in this place and I would like to know more about it.
Thank you

Deficiencies of both are quite common. They show up regularly on plant tissue test results here. Simply because it is in excess in the soil does not mean it is available to the crop when it is needed.

 

[DrWazzock]

If pH is high then manganese can be "locked up" so we apply it as a spray on the leaf.

 

[Brisel]

This, and high soil organic matter locks up trace elements like Manganese too.

 

[DrWazzock]

I also suspect, from what I've seen here in my shift towards zero till, that the reduced (but not unduly low) amount of air in the soils due to increased consolidation, reduces microbial activity and reduces the amount of manganese "locked up" by the microbes, leaving more for the plants.

Ploughing adds sudden and relatively huge amounts of oxygen through the top 8". This has the consequence of boosting microbial action and locking up manganese.

Certain plants such as oats, rarely suffer from manganese defficiency here as the exudates from the oat roots encourage microbes that release manganese.

Rye has deeper and more extensive roots so we don't see problems with manganese with rye.

Wheat, barley and beet suffer manganese defficiency here particularly during dull overcast weather when the defficiency is exacerbated.

It's a problem we have struggled with for years on this sand, generally because ploughing just could not be reconsolidated quickly or efficiently. So the answer was not to loosen the sand more than is absolutely necessary. The occasional use of the Paraplow is sufficient and a switch to a Undrill with heavy press wheels also helped a lot.

We rarely lose patches to manganese defficiency now.

 

[Flat 10]

They are also cheap to apply!£1-2/ha. The extra Sulphur is also useful.