We’ve all seen the high jump track and field event, where athletes take turns jumping over a bar that’s placed higher… and higher…and higher. Athletes change shoes, jumping methods, step count, and anything they can do to gain a little advantage to reach the top.

It’s the same way with growing crops. Over the years, people have developed newer and better methods for meeting plant needs, and we know high-yielding crops require a complete nutritional package. While primary nutrients are of course the most important, secondary nutrients like sulfur and calcium play a huge role in plant health and productivity.

At AgroLiquid, we understand the importance of balanced nutrition, which is why we’re featuring accesS and LiberateCa – two products designed to maximize your crop potential.

accesS
accesS is a high-efficiency liquid sulfur fertilizer which allows plants to better absorb sulfur, while also keeping more plant-usable sulfur in the soil.

Why do crops need sulfur in the form of accesS? It plays a role in several processes that impact plant health and yield.

Consider:

• Better growth: Sulfur is a component of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Without the right amount of sulfur, protein synthesis is delayed, and it can lead to stunted growth and weak plants.

• Nitrogen: Sulfur works hand-in-hand with nitrogen, which helps plants utilize nitrogen efficiently, converting it into usable amino acids for protein production. This translates to better growth, stronger stems, and improved overall plant development.

• Photosynthesis: Sulfur is a key component of chlorophyll, and deficient sulfur levels can lead to pale leaves and reduced photosynthetic activity, ultimately impacting crop yield.

• Disease: Sulfur plays a role in plant defense mechanisms, helping them resist fungal diseases. Adequate sulfur levels can help with a plant’s natural resistance to pathogens, promoting overall plant health and reducing reliance on fungicides.

• Stress tolerance: Sulfur can contribute to a plant’s ability to withstand environmental stresses like drought or extreme temperatures. By promoting strong cell walls and efficient nutrient utilization, sulfur helps crops weather challenging conditions.

accesS doesn’t have just one correct time for application. It can be used to correct sulfur deficiencies at planting, or anytime through the year. Plus, it’s easy to apply with other nutrients or crop protection products.

In addition, an economic and environmental benefit is that accesS uses a lower concentration of sulfur at lower rates, but it provides the same – or better – results when compared to commodity fertilizers.

LiberateCa
LiberateCa is a liquid fertilizer designed to prevent calcium deficiencies or correct them when signs appear.
Even though calcium is categorized as a secondary nutrient, it’s necessary for crops to reach their full potential. It’s good for:

• Building walls: The right calcium levels result in stronger, more rigid cell walls. This helps with structural integrity, which allows plants to stand upright, resist wind and rain damage, and support the weight of fruits and vegetables.

• Fruit quality: Calcium helps maintain cell integrity and firmness, leading to improved fruit quality, size, and marketability.

• Stress: Strong cell walls also contribute to a plant’s ability to withstand stress. These stresses can be environmental, like drought or extreme temperatures, or biological, like pest or disease pressure. Calcium helps maintain plant health during challenging conditions.

• Water transport: Calcium plays a role in regulating the movement of water and nutrients within the plant. The right calcium levels can improve water uptake and utilization, especially during dry periods.

• Healthy roots: By regulating cell division and the growth of root hairs, calcium helps plants establish a strong root system for efficient water and nutrient uptake.

LiberateCa uses Nutriq Technology to deliver plant-usable calcium right to the plant roots, or also as a foliar. The benefit is that the plant-based polymer chains protecting the calcium prevent it from reacting with other nutrients. As a result, it still remains usable to plants. This makes LiberateCa compatible with other nutrients, which means it can be applied without an extra trip over the field.

Basically, giving your crops the best secondary nutrients helps them clear the ever-rising performance bar. Fly high with accesS and LiberateCa, and see where your crops can go.

Let’s get started! Talk to an AgroLiquid expert.

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When you want the best for your crops, you have to take every nutrient into account. Sulfur is important in crop nutrition because it is used in the formation of amino acids, oils, and proteins. Not only is it necessary for chlorophyll formation, but it also helps develop and activate enzymes and vitamins.

As a result, AgroLiquid developed accesS® – our 100% plant-available, high-efficiency liquid sulfur fertilizer. Our formula allows plants to more efficiently absorb sulfur and keeps more plant-usable sulfur in the soil.

accesS has many application options, including:

• with planted placement in a band away from the seed
• broadcast or banded over the top of the seed zone
• as a topdress
• as a sidedress
• through fertigation

Responsible

Our formula allows plants to more efficiently absorb sulfur and keeps more plant-usable sulfur in the soil. At the same time, accesS uses a lower concentration of sulfur at lower rates, but provides the same or better results compared to commodity fertilizers.

AccesS may be applied anywhere five or more pounds of elemental sulfur are required. The unique Nutriq Technology makes accesS more efficient than other sulfur fertilizers, and therefore requires a lower rate. This prevents the sulfur and other nutrients from loss due to leaching, which also prevents environmental damage from nutrient toxicity.

What’s Nutriq Technology? AgroLiquid’s proprietary technology is a unique way to encapsulate nutrients. With it, we can ensure nutrients are released slowly and directly to plants throughout the growing season. This also ensures that plants have the nutrients they need when they need them.

Deficiencies

Sulfur deficiency and nitrogen deficiency can both cause yellow leaves and stunted growth. However, the symptoms appear on different leaves. Sulfur deficiency causes yellowing of young leaves, while nitrogen deficiency causes yellowing of older leaves.

Please note, repeated application of other nutrients can create an imbalance in the soil and lead to a sulfur deficiency. This makes regular soil testing important for maintaining optimal yield and reaching full growth potential.

Other benefits include:

• Corrects or prevents sulfur deficiency, stunted growth, and reduced yields
• Increases nitrogen utilization
• Easy to apply with other nutrients or crop protection or crop protection products*
• Contains a chlorophyll building micronutrient package including zinc, manganese, and iron
• Easy to apply at planting or throughout the growing season

See the research for yourself

AgroLiquid accesS Sulfur FurrowJet® Study

Effect of accesS at Sidedress on Corn Yield

Measuring Success of accesS

accesS Application through FurrowJet in Corn

accesS applications on Wheat

Effect of accesS in eNhance or corn

Listen:

Listen to XtremeAg.farm podcast: Keeping Sulfur Levels Up and Plant Height Down

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To get the best yield, you need to plan ahead. Calcium is a secondary nutrient that crops – especially soybeans – need the right amount of to thrive.

Calcium
Calcium is needed in large amounts for the formation of cell walls and cell membranes, and it also plays a role in soil structure. Since it’s immobile in soil and plant tissues, crops need a continuous supply present.

What does immobile mean? Calcium is only xylem mobile, meaning it can only move up the plant, and once it’s there, it won’t move to developing tissues. As a result, growing points can be affected once the soil reserves are depleted.

Due to calcium’s low mobility, there is a deficiency even in soils with high calcium levels. Deficiencies include growing point death, tip burn, and shedding of blossoms and buds.

Studies show that adding calcium to a foliar nutritional program will help, and due to its limited movement in the plant, adding it during critical development stages improves the overall plant health.

Soybeans
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, soybean growers are going to plant 87.5 million acres in 2023.

One of those growers is Kevin Matthews, a farmer in North Carolina. Matthews works in partnership with XtremeAg.farm and conducts research trials for AgroLiquid on his farm.

Matthews was recently featured on the XtremeAg.farm podcast speaking about his plot trials with moderator Damian Mason and AgroLiquid agronomist Stephanie Zelinko.

“We’re focusing more on adding calcium to our [in-furrow] and our foliar treatments,” Matthews said. “For years we focused on P (phosphorus) and K (potassium), and pH, and there’s a lot more to it now. We allocated that money around to get these specialty products. That’s what it’s all about. We’ll be able to prove it with these plot sizes – five acres.”

Stephanie Zelinko agreed, talking about the educational aspect of farming.

“The soil test is going to be the first thing make the grower successful,” Zelinko added. “If there’s something wrong with the soil…that’s what we want to address. We’re looking where that limiting factor might be, and where we can encourage them to spend dollars in right place to get the right results. For Kevin, calcium and potassium are the two nutrients we’re focusing in on for him this year.”

Hear about Kevin Matthew’s plot trials.

Testing
Making sure fertilizers are compatible is always a concern. AgroLiquid conducted a test to check yields after adding a phosphorus-compatible calcium source to a soybean planter fertilizer program.

LiberateCa is a 2% calcium product that safely mixes with fertilizers containing phosphorus. AgroLiquid conducted the experiment at the North Central Research Station in Michigan.

The average percent base saturation of calcium was at 68%. With a pH of 7.7 and good potassium level at 4.5% base saturation, the biggest concern was a slightly elevated magnesium base saturation. To help adjust those levels in a seed zone, and provide extra calcium, we applied 2 qt/A of LiberateCa in-furrow with a planter program of 5 gal/A Sure-K and 2 qt/A Micro 500.

As a result, the standard program of 5 gal/A of Sure-K with 2 qt/A Micro 500, based off of soil test, increased soybean yield over the untreated check by 5.5 bu/A.

The addition of LiberateCa to the AgroLiquid program further increased soybean yield by over 4 bu/A.

Get the details of the study.

Results
Testing, researching, and experimenting takes years, and the benefit is higher yields.

“It took [AgroLiquid] a couple of years to learn our soil, rainfall, and environment to see how different products react,” Matthews said. It’s a more senior year with them, and I’m looking for some bigger expectations. It’s going to be fun to see what we can push the limits to.”

AgroLiquid calcium-containing products
Liberate Ca, microLink Calcium, Micro 1000
See the 2020 calcium and soybean study.

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Second best…no one likes the sound of that. Secondary nutrients have their name for a reason: plants need a little less of them than primary nutrients in fertilizer treatments. In fact, these nutrients are often overlooked when it comes to fertilizer treatments. However, secondary nutrients, including sulfur, calcium, and magnesium, are critical to plant development.

But – they’re still essential, because producers aren’t just looking for an average crop. Growing the best, healthiest, and largest yield is what nutrient programs are trying to achieve. In addition, it’s important to start preparing crops for success from the very beginning, at planting.

Let’s look at our options:

accesS
AgroLiquid’s access allows plants to absorb sulfur more efficiently, and it keeps more plant-usable sulfur in the soil. In addition, it uses a lower concentration of sulfur at lower rates, but it provides the same results compared to commodity fertilizers. This makes it an economical and environmentally responsible choice.

What happens if you’re deficient in sulfur?
Sulfur deficiency symptoms include yellowed leaves and stunted growth on young leaves. Nitrogen deficiency looks similar, but it shows on older leaves. Repeated application of other nutrients can create an imbalance in the soil and introduce a sulfur deficiency. Producers can use accesS to correct sulfur deficiencies at planting or anytime through the year.

Learn more about accesS and read the research.

LiberateCa
LiberateCa is designed to prevent or correct calcium deficiency for all types of crops. It’s effective in many different soil types and can be applied in many different ways. The versatile nature of this fertilizer makes it easy to prevent calcium deficiencies or correct them when signs appear. A healthy level of calcium in the soil improves soil quality and longevity long-term.

LiberateCa also has the unique ability to be safely combined with other AgroLiquid nutrient products, including phosphorus-containing products, which provides the versatility to apply calcium if needed throughout the growing season.

Read about LiberateCa.

CalSip
Of course, all crops need sulfur and calcium, but high-calcium crops like alfalfa, apples, cruciferous vegetables, cherries, and citrus fruits may need more.

CalSip restores and protects crops with two secondary nutrients – sulfur and calcium. CalSip can be used during planting or the growing season to first, prevent deficiencies and second, protect against them after they have happened.

What does a calcium deficiency look like?
Calcium can’t move freely throughout the plant where it’s needed. Calcium can also easily be lost in the soil, so it’s easy for crops and trees to become calcium deficient at varying growth stages. The new growth will look stunted, withered, or show signs of tip burn.

Since calcium plays an important role in fruit development, you may see premature blossom shedding and buds as well as water-soaked and discolored areas on fruits.

Learn about CalSip.

Magnesium
Without the proper amount of magnesium, crops can’t produce chlorophyll. Magnesium is also needed to help transfer and produce sugars, starches, fats, and oils.

How can you tell if you need magnesium?
Starchy vegetables, sugary fruits, and oil seeds will lose their shape and flavor. The yellowing of the leaves, particularly on the older, lower leaves appears. In time, it can move to the younger leaves too. Eventually, if it is severe, plants may have a red, purple, or brown tints.

AgroLiquid products containing magnesium include: microLink Manganese, Micro 1000

Read more about magnesium.

Learn about spotting deficiencies.

Starting from the beginning
Our agronomists are always happy to work through soil tests, tissue tests, and determining what deficiencies may be happening in your crops.

Though the nutrients may be secondary, they’re not second in priority. Starting your crops off right gives you the best chance for a successful growing season. Contact us to start the conversation.

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Crop producers are always trying to do more with less, get the best economic return, and increase yields. Since there are so many methods and so many ways of experimenting, it’s always an ongoing process.

In an effort to take as much guesswork as possible out of the equation, AgroLiquid has been working with in-furrow applications of starter fertilizer to determine the top benefits.

Top benefits of in-furrow starter fertilizer:

1. Nourish plants and restore soil

In-furrow application with AgroLiquid’s slow release fertilizer allows you to nourish your plans and restore your soil – with minimal risk of over-salinization or seed injury.
As a result, your seedlings will be supported by essential macronutrients, micronutrients, and biologicals needed for the strong growth that needs to happen when they plants are just getting started.

2. Reduce fertilizer run-off

When using a planter, it is possible that in-furrow nutrients can become tied up in the soil when they combine with soil ions. As a result, the plants don’t have access to them during important developmental stages. However, our liquid fertilizers are designed to keep the nutrients where they need to be, at all stages of growth.

3. Keep nutrients closer to the roots

With AgroLiquid, the Nutriq Technology provides a slow release, allowing the plant roots to abserb the nutrients slowly, which means they get them during the entire growth cycle. As an added benefit, the slow release prevents seed injury and leaf burn.

Nutriq Technology

What exactly is Nutriq Technology, and how does it help plants? Our Nutriq Technology is based on specially-formulated plant-based chelates, and it is the key ingredient in our high-efficiency fertilizers.

Chelates protect nutrient atoms like potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur and others in a polymer shell. Since the chelant is plant-derived, the crop recognizes the material and utilizes it. Plants are able to naturally deconstruct this shell. The chelated nutrient fertilizers are protected from bonding with ions in the soil, which makes them unusable to plants, but the plants can still break down the plant-derived polymer shell to get to the nutrients inside.

Since the chelated micronutrients and macronutrients break down over time, they’re available to use over a longer period. This means more nutrients for plants and fewer trips for farmers.

AgroLiquid Products

We have products specifically designed to works as in-furrow starter fertilizers. For instance, check out:

Pro-Germinator

Pro-Germinator uses a blend of phosphate, nitrogen, potash, and iron to maximize crop response at critical growth stages. The combination of quick-release phosphates with slow-release, carbon-protected, polymer phosphates promotes exceptional growth early on.

Kalibrate

Kalibrate can be used in virtually any cropping situation where potassium is recommended. Kalibrate provides slow-release nutrient delivery, and its formulation allows the nutrients to go back into the solution if the product freezes, which makes it ideal for early-season, cold temperatures.

Micro 500

Micro 500 contains the essential micronutrients zinc, manganese, iron, copper, and boron. Like many of our liquid fertilizer products, Micro 500 is designed to be easily applied. Years of research have proved that Micro 500 supports higher yields.

microLink Manganese

microLink Manganese works with other nutrients to improve total intake and use. The addition of manganese also helps plants make in additional phosphorus and calcium, which speeds up germination.

You only have one chance a year to get it right – so don’t do all the experimenting yourself. Take advantage of AgroLiquid’s research and products for the most-researched, best start to your crops.

Additional resources:

Nutriq Technology

Micronutrient Replacement

Economic Benefits of Starter Fertilizer

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Back 2 Basics

A great, free, resource to learn all about the role that different nutrients play in plant health and development is the Back 2 Basics video series. These short videos take an in-depth look at each of the nutrients that may make a difference in a crop and help to understand the role that each plays. Learning the ins and outs of how one nutrient interacts with another in the soil is a key step in meeting a plants full potential. Register for the Back 2 Basics series here and receive a notification when new episodes become available.

Register now!

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By Dan Peterson, Agronomist

Although there is growing interest in alternative forages such as annual grass/small grain blends with annual legumes and other forbs, alfalfa is still the “Queen” of forages (corn silage is “King”). There are many reasons for this, including alfalfa’s unparalleled animal nutrition profile. Good quality alfalfa cut at the right time will contain 20% or more of crude protein – the highest of the popular forage crops. This protein is highly soluble with a great balance of amino acids. According to Forage Complete, alfalfa contains “vitamins such as A, E, K, D, B1, C, B2, B12, U, B6 and amino acids such as folic acid, panthothanic acid, biotin, niacin and inocitole. In addition to these, alfalfa has high levels of calcium (Ca), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), copper, chlorine, magnesium, iron, boron, manganese and cobalt”. Other benefits from alfalfa in the ruminant diet include:

• Highly degradable protein, up to 74-79% according to some estimates.
• Its digestibility reduces the amount of cud a cow must chew.
• It increases rumen buffering.
• It promotes faster digestion of digestible fiber.
• Cows will often eat more alfalfa than grass because the fiber content is usually lower in well managed alfalfa.

More than Just Excellent Feed

Benefits of alfalfa in the crop rotation include its exceptional drought tolerance, high rates of soil nitrogen fixation, opportunities for summer manure applications, weed seedbank reduction, breaks the extended diapause corn rootworm cycle, and it significantly improves soil health. It is also a valuable cash crop, particularly in the great plains and Southwestern US. A significant amount of alfalfa is exported to Southeast Asia, Japan, and to the Mideast. It is now the third most valuable crop in the US, behind only corn and soybeans. Clearly alfalfa will remain a major crop in the U.S.

More Yield & Better Quality

From a fertility standpoint, alfalfa requires significant amounts of P, K, S, Ca, and micronutrients. An interesting and very useful characteristic of alfalfa that I discovered early in my research is that it absorbs foliar nutrition more efficiently than any other crop that I have experience with. In fact, it is so good at absorbing foliar nutrients that we can apply significantly higher rates of our nutrients, including  the sulfur product accesS , in foliar applications to alfalfa than in any other crop that I’m aware of.

In recent years AgroLiquid has been conducting significant research on alfalfa, including trials with four cooperators in south central Minnesota this past summer. Several AgroLiquid treatments were evaluated against dry fertilizer and as a foliar supplement to dry fertilizer. AgroLiquid treatments were applied to 6-8” regrowth between cuttings. At two locations the foliar treatments were applied to the 2nd and 3rd cuttings, with the 4th harvested to measure any carry-over effect. At the other two locations the treatments were applied to the 2nd and 4th cuttings. At three of the four locations the AgroLiquid treatments resulted in significant dry matter yield increases versus the dry fertilizer, while at the fourth location there was no significant yield difference across the treatments. One consistent effect of the AgroLiquid foliar treatments we observed in the Minnesota field trials was significantly faster growth between cuttings, reaching cut maturity (late bud) 3-4 days earlier than the dry fertilizer treatments. This is a very consistent effect from AgroLiquid foliar treatments in alfalfa across all years, cuttings, and locations.

82% Win Rate vs Dry Fertilizer

Since 2015, including the Minnesota locations in 2020, our overall cumulative field plot win rate in alfalfa across 88 comparisons versus competitive treatments is 82%, which in agronomy is a terrific result! While in Minnesota this past year and in the 2019 plots in western Kansas in 2019 we didn’t see any meaningful quality differences, in 2015-2018, we observed significant quality improvements in the AgroLiquid treated alfalfa over the dry fertilizer.

Bottom line – alfalfa growers should be aware that a well-thought-out crop nutrition management plan can significantly benefit yield performance and profitability. As always, if your crop is not reaching its full potential, contact your crop nutrition expert to help investigate opportunities. We’re here to help you develop a crop nutrition plan to meet your yield goals.

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