With the goal of increasing potato yield and quality, AgroLiquid has been conducting research in the potato growing regions of southern Manitoba and Alberta since 2020. This research has included a 3rd party independent research firm, on-farm trials, and Independent Crop Inputs.
The almost universal planter applied starter for potatoes in this region is 10-34-0 at 20 gal/A, usually in addition to broadcast 11-52-0. Why such a high P rate? First, potatoes love phosphorus, often responding to phosphorus fertilizer even on fields testing high for P. Secondly, much of the P in 10-34-0 is rapidly tied-up in these higher pH soils, requiring potato growers to apply high rates to achieve their potato yield goals. In these trials over a two-year period a 9 gallon rate of Pro-Germinator® has out-yielded 20 gallons of 10-34-0 nearly every time, usually with better tuber quality as well.
Independent Crop Inputs is a full service farm supply retailer with two locations located in southern Alberta. They are a major supplier for potato farmers in the southern Alberta irrigated potato growing region. In 2021, they conducted a replicated research trial comparing 9 gallons/A of Pro-Germinator against the typical rate of 20 gallons/A of 10-34-0.
Key findings from this research:
- 9 gal/A of Pro-Germinator yielded 564.38 cwt sacks/A vs the 20 gal/A of 10-34-0 that yielded 548.9 cwt sacks.
- That’s 1,543.35 pounds/acre in favor of Pro-Germinator – despite the substantially lower amount of actual P applied.
In the quality testing (standard panel size), the Pro-Germinator treatment resulted in 20.25 tubers of 10 oz or greater while the 10-34-0 treatment resulted in 17.0 tubers >10 oz.
Pro-Germinator has been AgroLiquid’s premier phosphorus fertilizer for decades. It is especially popular on the higher pH soils that are prevalent in the US and Canadian great plains – and for good reason. Conventional phosphorus fertilizers are rapidly fixed, or tie-up, by the abundant calcium in these soils. Pro-Germinator’s unique flavonol chemistry protects the phosphorus in Pro-Germinator from being tie-up, leaving it available for root uptake for up to 60 days after application. This excellent protection enables AgroLiquid to recommend lower application rates than conventional liquid phosphorus, yet still achieve equal or better crop yields – a feature we call “performance equivalency”.
