fertilizer

[vagabonddreamer]

now look...i am new to this section...i am not a producer of crops in the sense that you guys are...we grow cattle forage in BC...but on a very small scale compared to most of the regulars here...(<100 ac)...i have been struggling with fertilizer prices..so i did a search...and found this...can someone tell me if this is one of those things that is too good to be true and usually is?? http://www.thesharpranch.com/liquidfertilizer.html...hope this isnt the wrong area to post this...its just that there are some threads here on hostile take overs...of fertilizer companies....lol...thx..vs

[FarmRanger]

Hi Dreamer,
That ad you linked to was heavy on details, but not the ones I would ask about. In order to properly compare you would need to look at what the cost per actual unit of nutrient is.

It appears that there is a blend of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash, as well as several micros. If you don't need all the micros listed, you still have to pay for them because they are included in the product.

I am leery when they compare the cost of their product to granular, but don't tell you at what rates they compare them. You would be wise to find out what the per pound cost is and compare it directly to the NPK that you can buy locally.

[bluefargo]

What you have here is a foliar fertilizer. They say it is for "forages". Given that the analysis is 30% N that suggests to me it is meant for grass more than alfalfa which hopefully is generating it's own N.
My suspicion is that pound for pound of nutrient this product is likely expensive. They are recommending that it be applied at quite low rates which might perk up a deficient crop. But the fact is ultimately the crop needs much higher amounts of nutrients than you can apply on the leaves.

[vagabonddreamer]

thx for the feedback...i have sent an email to try and get some info...apparently the product is not available in Canada yet...but they tell me intitially that the cost is approximately $25 (converted to Can$) per acre/per application. there is wide use through the southern US...i wonder if climate might affect it??

it seems to me...it is almost like a crude form of hydroponics in the ground??? vs

[FarmRanger]

It sounds nothing like hydroponics where plants still take the nutrients through their roots (where plants are best able to take nutrients in).

$25 for an application of a precious few pounds of nutrients sounds extremely expensive to me.