Breaking Down the Benefits of Precision Feeding
Breaking down the benefits of precision feeding in fertilizer:
A term you’ll often hear from those familiar with Rainbow Plant Food Products is precision feeding. But what exactly does that mean in the context of delivering essential plant nutrients to produce the best yields and highest quality crops? Rainbow Plant Food Marketing Representative Kent Yarborough shares his thoughts to help break down the benefits of precision feeding.
Question: What does precision feeding mean to you?
Kent Yarborough: Precision feeding means providing precise amounts of essential crop nutrients – including primary, secondary and micronutrients – necessary for maximizing crop performance and yield. This process starts first by understanding the nutrient needs of the crop. The nutrient needs take into account crop uptake and nutrient removal of the harvested component of the crop, much like the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship: right source, right rate, right time and right place. Many growers practice precise feeding because with the many challenges they face in the field every day, it is imperative that maximum crop yields are attained to ensure economic viability.
Q: What is a homogeneous fertilizer?
KY: A homogeneous fertilizer is a chemically compounded mixture of primary, secondary and micronutrients in which each granule contains nearly identical amounts of all the ingredients. Granules are uniform in size, shape and weight. This ensures the fertilizer will apply evenly, whether it is banded or broadcast.
Q: Why is it important to use a homogeneous fertilizer?
KY: A homogeneous fertilizer provides the plant with optimum opportunity to pick up nutrients at the root zone in a balanced delivery method to avoid nutrient deficiencies. Using a homogeneous fertilizer gives crops the best opportunity for maximum yield.
In contrast, in a blended fertilizer, nutrients are physically blended together which can result in segregation due to differences in size, shape and weight of fertilizer ingredients. The densities of each material are very important when broadcast spreading because lighter products will spread in a narrow swath while the heavier products will spread in a wider pattern.
Q: How do you ensure a precise amount of each nutrient reaches the crops?
KY: Rainbow Plant Food is a homogeneous, granular fertilizer. Precise amounts of each nutrient are chemically compounded through a process of ammoniation to form a homogeneous mixture. As a result, each granule contains nearly identical amounts of all the ingredients. Granules are uniform in size, shape and weight, so the fertilizer spreads evenly. Whether you broadcast or apply it in-row, every plant across the field will have the necessary nutrients available when it’s needed most.
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