A combination of powerful biostimulants could prove especially useful this season to prepare cereal crops for imminent rapid growth.
Agrovista agronomist Will Brundle routinely uses Luxor and Calfite Extra together from mid-March to the start of stem elongation in most of his cereal programmes across his south Norfolk area, and this year is no exception.
“We have a lot of forward crops this spring. They need feeding well, but some root structures are less developed than they should be,” he explains.
“This raises two issues – plants will struggle to take up sufficient nutrients, which could compromise top growth, and lodging risk could increase. We need to do whatever we can to help build those roots.”
Severe manganese deficiency in some crops illustrates how underdeveloped some roots are. “It has been quite horrendous on some very forward crops,” says Will. “We have lost part of fields where sprayers haven’t been able to travel.”
Luxor delivers readily available phosphorus, as well as nitrogen and potassium, to support early establishment of the crop. It also contains fulvic and humic acids to support microbial activity in the soil to help build strong roots.
Calite Extra contains calcium phosphite to encourage root growth. This enables plants to scavenge nutrients more effectively, particularly phosphate which is relatively immobile in the soil, and strengthens crop resilience later in the season.
Both products, part of Agrovista’s Innovation Range, also contain L-GPA (pidolic acid) to enhance nitrogen use efficiency. “They work together very well,” says Will. “Luxor feeds and activates the system, while Calfite Extra drives the plant to exploit those effects.
“My growers have been looking at nutrition over the past few years and there has definitely been a positive response. And there is even more of a case for Luxor/Calfite Extra this year.
“I have tried with various growers and no-one has dropped it. Around 50-75 % of my growers use these types of products depending on the season. It is an accepted part of their agronomy.”
Some of Will’s customers have replaced their DAP/TSP requirements completely with Calfite Extra and Luxor, and have noted either no differences or even improvements as a result.
“The approach has saved them a lot of money,” says Will. “Longer term it probably needs to run alongside a maintenance programme, but the benefits would still be still considerable.”