What are the benefits of foliar topdressing for fruit trees?
When growing fruit trees, topdressing is essential. Reasonable topdressing is meant to meet the nutrient needs of fruit trees for growth and development, and there are many topdressing methods for fruit trees, such as trench application and band application. Among them, the more special one is foliar topdressing. Foliar topdressing means spraying foliar fertilizer, which is very beneficial to the growth of fruit trees. So what are the benefits of foliar topdressing for fruit trees? Let's take a look together below!
1. Direct absorption
The main fertilization method of foliar topdressing is applying foliar fertilizer, because the leaves of most fruit trees have relatively strong growth capacity. When foliar fertilizer is applied, the leaves can directly absorb nutrients. Then they provide nutrition to the plant, which is directly transported to all growing parts of the plant. It can also enhance the growth capacity of the leaves, improve leaf photosynthesis, and increase the plant's accumulation of photosynthetic substances. If root topdressing is used instead, fertilizer may be fixed in the soil, reducing the fertilizer conversion rate and causing the fertilizer effect to decline.
2. Enhancing fertilizer efficiency
Some fruit trees have relatively weak root absorption capacity. If fertilizer is only applied in the root zone, then for those fruit trees with weak root absorption capacity, not only is the conversion rate very low, but it also consumes too much fertilizer and increases planting costs. So for these crops, reasonably applying foliar fertilizer can effectively increase fertilizer efficiency, improve the fertilizer conversion rate, promote flowering and fruiting, and ensure planting benefits. Moreover, if the proportion of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in foliar fertilizer is reasonably increased, it has a clear effect on increasing yield.
3. Fast leaf conversion
Leaves not only have a strong ability to absorb nutrients, but their fertilizer conversion is also much higher than that of roots. They can promptly meet the fruit tree's demand for certain nutrients. For example, when we apply calcium fertilizer to the roots, the conversion time takes about 5 days. But if calcium-containing foliar fertilizer is applied to the leaves, the conversion time takes only about two days. So for fruit trees or other crops showing nutrient deficiency symptoms, applying foliar fertilizer can replenish the missing nutrients in the fruit trees as quickly as possible and promote their growth.
4. Can be mechanized
Compared with root topdressing, foliar topdressing is more convenient to operate, can be managed mechanically, is economical, and has obvious effects. When doing foliar topdressing, the amount used is generally only about 1/10 of the amount used for root topdressing. In addition, applying foliar fertilizer and water-soluble fertilizer can also be mixed with some pesticides, which not only provides nutrients to the plant but also enhances the plant's disease resistance. Moreover, mechanized fertilization has good efficiency, and the overall cost is relatively low. It is not only suitable for fruit trees, but also very suitable for tea, vegetables, and so on.
The above is a brief introduction to the benefits of foliar topdressing for fruit trees. Although there are many benefits of foliar topdressing for fruit trees, it cannot be used exclusively. It should be combined with root topdressing to ensure that the fruit trees have sufficient and comprehensive nutrition for growth. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can be helpful to everyone!