The benefits of liquid fertiliser Australia The use of liquid fertilizers allows savings in time and labor costs

(as the product is ready to use). Many of these factors in combination make liquids cost-effective and are some of the reasons why more and more farmers are making the change to liquids. Handy and Versatile The convenience and versatility of liquid fertilizers is obvious in some situations e.g. products are in solution and ready to apply through irrigation systems or spray onto a given crop. However, some liquids also offer compatibility with other fertilizer products and/or herbicides and pesticides which are not afforded by other liquids. For example, in Australian broadcare agriculture farmers often apply urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) to an established crop. Trace elements like zinc, manganese and copper can be co-applied at this time, perhaps even with a herbicide or pesticide. Significantly oxide suspensions like our Ezy Flow range are compatible with UAN with no requirement for additional water. By contrast, liquid sulphates are only compatible if UAN is diluted with water, something which many farmers are reluctant to do as this requires filling of tanks more often and hence greater time and costs of application. Versatility of liquids is inherent in their suitability to application by several different means including via irrigation systems (fertigation), by means of spray equipment as foliar feeds (e.g. boom sprays, aerial applications), straight to seed or through seeding equipment throughout seeding (e.g. air seeders employed in broad-acre farming). Fertigating liquids overcomes the require for manual application (e.g. with tractors or by hand) or dissolving soluble fertilizers in tanks as the nutrients are able to be injected by way of irrigation gear. This in turn reduces charges of each application and/or fertilizer preparation.

With fertigation, some water-soluble products are particularly slow dissolving (e.g. potassium nitrate, potassium sulphate) and, when dissolved, are far less concentrated than liquid products. This is particularly true of water-soluble phosphate and potassium fertilizers and increases labor costs incurred in fertilizer preparation as many tank concentrates have to be made to apply the same quantity of nutrient as a liquid product. For example, a tank concentrate of potassium sulphate may contain less than 5 % K. By contrast, liquid K sources can be in excess of 40 % or 8 times the K concentration of a

tank concentrate of potassium sulphate. This concentration factor is also critically important in relation to transport costs of liquid fertilizers. As talked about, with spray applications, liquid fertilizers may be co-applied as tank mixes with herbicides and/or pesticides. This reduces the application costs (machinery, fuel and labor) associated with separate application of granular or powder fertilizers and is especially crucial in broadacre agriculture exactly where places to become covered are comprehensive. Whilst some powder fertilizers is often dissolved and applied by means of boom-sprays, that is generally not the case with oxides of nutrients like zinc, manganese and copper. Invariably, only liquid sources of these oxides might be successfully applied through spray gear. Accuracy of Evaluation Fertiliser in liquid suspension has a distinct benefit of terrific uniformity, containing full nutrient evaluation in every drop to take the guess-work out of fertiliser application. Application through irrigation or spray equipment delivers the nutrients evenly and with great precision straight for the plant via the leaf or roots for effective and effective uptake with out wastage. Fast Nutrient Recovery When fertigated, liquids allow more frequent application of nutrients and reduced application prices which in turn permits superior nutrient recovery by plants and much less leaching compared to granular fertilizers. In broadcare agriculture, investigation from South Australia along with other places has confirmed that below higher pH conditions, crops getting liquid P sources significantly out-yield these below granular fertilization due to superior availability of liquid P. Cost Successful Liquid fertilizers are ready and indeed easy to use. Liquids are versatile in that they can be applied in different ways. The combination of uniform quality and the ability to apply small amounts more often when used in combination with modern irrigation techniques and spray equipment improves nutrient recovery relative to less frequent application of granular fertilizers. These factors in different combinations make liquids both easy to use and cost-effective. However, to maximize the advantages offered by liquids, farmers also need to apply good management practices. For example, in irrigated agriculture, good irrigation scheduling is required to minimize leaching and hence loss of nutrients from the root zone. Similarly, crop nutrient programs should be refined with soil and tissue analysis in order to optimise fertilizer rates and hence costs. Click here to see liquid fertiliser Australia.