top of page
Anne Walters

Help, My Plant Is Sick!

Updated: Oct 4, 2020

We always try to keep our gardens healthy and productive for maximum nutrition and yield. Sometimes, changing environmental factors create non-optimum growing conditions for the growth of plants. When your garden gets out of balance, most issues can be solved with a little know how and the addition of a high quality fulvic acid.


PH plays a huge role in nutrient absorption. The availability of many plant nutrients in soils including iron, zinc, copper, and manganese, is reduced at high pH values. Iron chlorosis in plants, caused by inadequate iron absorption, is a common problem in alkaline soils. It is identified by interveinal chlorosis, or yellowing between the leaf veins. Soils may be alkaline due to over-liming acidic growing medium or soil. Also, alkaline irrigation waters may cause soil alkalinity where there is a high amount of calcium carbonate in the water supply. Fulvic acid (FA) also makes nitrogen available through chelation when the source water has a low pH value. Simply using fulvic acid along with a regular fertilizing program as a drench can mitigate pH problems around the root zone.


Even with preventative maintenance, pests like bugs and mold can invade a garden. There are foliar sprays for specific applications for each invader. Using fulvic acid along side an IPM (integrated pest management) program, can help strengthen plant defenses by making applied pest management sprays, calcium and silica more available. If bugs and mold are introduced to your growing environment, efficiently transporting nutrients can help recovery time from plant stress.


Transplanting to allow roots to reach out with new growth is a regular task in the garden to keep plants healthy. Bare rooting potted plants can also introduce stress, disturbing the roots needed for maintaining proper growth. To prevent transplant stress, a diluted fulvic acid drench at the root zone at time of transplant can minimize any interruption to steady plant development.


Sometimes, we can’t control the water balance of our plants. This may occur with excessive rainy periods, heavy soil or hot and dry periods. Waterlogged roots can lock out nutrients and disrupt normal feeding schedules. Fulvic acid also assists in regulating water and fertilizer balance. Regular application of FA as a foliar spray to balance stomata opening and transpiration and assists plant respiration until plants have proper hydration or wet/dry cycle again.


A change in plant environment can introduce new stressors in the garden. They include pH being out of range, responding to changes in an Integrated Pest Management program, transplant stress and maintaining water balance. By introducing quality fulvic acid like AGT-50 from Agtonik in the garden, many of these problems can be easily fixed.

22 views0 comments

Comentários


bottom of page