When Is the Best Time to Apply Foliar Fertilizer? You Cannot Spray During These Periods

AbstractThe relatively suitable time to apply foliar fertilizer is: when the tea plants of each round in spring, summer, and autumn sprout new shoots and grow one bud and one leaf at the initial unfolding stage. However, note that spraying should be done on a windless sunny morning or in the evening, and foliar fertilizer must not be sprayed during the crop seedling stage and flowering stage, or in high-temperature and rainy weather, or just after spraying pesticides.

1. The relatively suitable time to apply foliar fertilizer

1. Generally, when the tea plants of each round in spring, summer, and autumn sprout new shoots and grow one bud and one leaf at the initial unfolding stage, choose a windless sunny morning or evening for spraying, once every 7 days, spraying 2-3 times in a row, until the leaf surface drips.

2. During this period, mainly use nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, with trace fertilizers as a supplement, and the ratio is 4:1:1. Usually trace fertilizers need to be proportioned according to the principle of supplementing whatever the tea tree lacks.

3. Generally, the fertilization concentration is related to factors such as fertilizer variety and weather conditions. According to experiments, urea is 0.5%, potassium sulfate is 0.5%, superphosphate is 1%, zinc sulfate is 50-100ppm, and ferric molybdate is 20-50ppm. If the concentration is too high, it is easy to cause fertilizer damage and fail to achieve the effect.

4. During this period, it can be combined with pest control, sprinkler irrigation, and plant growth regulators, which not only saves labor but also makes mechanized operation easy. Generally, regarding the chemical properties of fertilizers and pesticides, acidic fertilizers should be matched with acidic pesticides, and alkaline fertilizers should be matched with alkaline pesticides, so as not to produce chemical reactions and precipitates, and to avoid mutually canceling out fertilizer and pesticide effects.

5. When tea trees suffer from pests and diseases, biological pesticides can be used for control. This is also a safe, reliable, pollution-free, and non-public-hazard control method, and it has low cost and high control effect. During this period, Bt emulsion, Bacillus thuringiensis, Beauveria bassiana, agricultural antibiotics, and plant antibiotics can be used.

2. When foliar fertilizer cannot be applied

1. Seedling stage

During the crop seedling stage, most crops have just begun to germinate, or just after transplanting, foliar fertilizer cannot be sprayed, because at this time the crops themselves are not only fragile but also not very adaptable to external conditions. Generally, spraying nutrient solution can easily lead to seedling burn and leaf burn, which is not conducive to the normal growth of seedlings.

2. Flowering stage

Moreover, foliar fertilizer cannot be sprayed on crops during the flowering stage. The flowering stage is the stage of pollination and fruit setting. Fertilizing during this period can easily burn the flowers, which is not conducive to normal pollination and thus reduces yield, etc.

3. High-temperature and rainy weather

Foliar fertilizer is a highly efficient nutrient solution component. If foliar spraying is carried out in high-temperature weather, it will cause nutrient evaporation, and the rainy season will also reduce the nutrient concentration. Both significantly reduce the utilization rate of foliar fertilizer.

4. Just after spraying pesticides

Generally, after plants have just been sprayed with pesticides, foliar fertilizer cannot be sprayed immediately. Because some foliar fertilizers mixed with pesticides can easily react, causing pesticide damage and fertilizer damage, so it is suitable to spray other fertilizers 7 days after applying pesticides.