What to Do About Fertilizer Burn in Corn? A Detailed Guide to Practical Remedies

If too much fertilizer is applied, fertilizer burn is very likely to occur. The corn cannot take up water and also loses water, causing the plants to wilt. So what remedies are there for fertilizer burn in corn?

1. Remedies for fertilizer burn in corn

1. Replanting and transplanting: if the fertilizer burn is severe and cannot be remedied, plow the field immediately and you can switch to other crops. Be careful to avoid the spots where fertilizer was originally applied to prevent poisoning again. For individual severely poisoned plants, move them away from their original positions and replant them.

2. Irrigation and leaching: immediately bring water and irrigate with enough water so that the biuret leaches downward and spreads to the surrounding area, lowering the concentration.

3. Supplementary fertilization: after detoxification, you can dig trenches and apply about 30 kg of compound fertilizer, or spray a low-concentration foliar fertilizer such as monopotassium phosphate.

2. Causes of fertilizer burn

Under normal circumstances, the concentration of the cell sap in plant root hair cells is always greater than the concentration of the soil solution, so the water in the soil solution permeates through the cell wall, cell membrane and cytoplasm of the root hairs into the vacuole, then gradually seeps into the layer upon layer of cells within the epidermis, and finally enters the vessels, through which it is transported to the stem, leaves and other organs.

Normal plant growth requires a constant uptake of water from the soil, and the direction of water flow is determined by the water potential of the system. Water always flows from high water potential to low water potential. High and low are relative terms, and the level of water potential in a system changes as conditions change.

If the fertilizer concentration is too high (that is, too much fertilizer is applied), the water potential in the soil becomes lower than the water potential inside the roots. Not only can the water in the soil not enter the root system, but the water inside the roots will flow backward out. The ion concentration in the soil is relatively high and exceeds the concentration of the crop cell sap, causing the crop cells to lose water and undergo plasmolysis, leading to severe water loss in the whole plant, just as if it had been burned. That is why it is called “fertilizer burn”.

Although fertilizer burn occurs frequently, as long as you pay attention to the dosage and remedy it promptly once it happens, it will not cause a major impact.