A Detailed Guide to the Correct Use of Agricultural Borax

Boron is a trace-element fertilizer needed by plants. Agricultural borax is mainly used to supplement the boron element that some plants lack, so what are the ways to use agricultural borax?

1. How to use agricultural borax

1. Base application: for soil with severe boron deficiency, borax can be chosen as a base fertilizer to extend the time the soil supplies boron. The dosage per mu is 0.5-1 kg. When sowing crops, thoroughly mix the selected boron fertilizer with farmyard manure, chemical fertilizer or an appropriate amount of dry fine soil and apply it as a base fertilizer in holes or bands, trying to avoid contact with the seeds. In areas where boron deficiency is not too severe and the soil is heavy and sticky, apply borax to prevent borax residue from causing soil acidification and harming crops; applying once every two years may be considered. Special attention should be paid to base application of borax for greenhouse crops.

2. Topdressing: for pouring application, mix boron fertilizer evenly with human and livestock manure water fertilizer or chemical fertilizer solution, and pour it into the holes at sowing as a base fertilizer or apply it as topdressing at the seedling stage; the effect is more pronounced than dry application.

3. Foliar spraying: when the soil has general boron deficiency or the boron deficiency is not too severe, foliar boron spraying can flexibly and timely supplement boron according to the growth conditions of the crop, with remarkable results. It has the characteristics of saving fertilizer, reducing pollution and being quickly absorbed by plants, and is the most commonly used method of boron application. It can be sprayed on both the front and back of the leaves, but because the stomata are on the back of the leaves, spraying on the back gives a better effect.

2. Symptoms of boron deficiency

Necrosis of growing points; damage to vascular bundles and poor root development; abnormal growth of the top branches of the crop; deformed leaves; flower and fruit drop during the crop growth stage; poor pollination, fertilization and fruit formation in the crop; deformed fruit and seed abortion; delayed growth period; damaged crop yield and poor quality.

3. How to remedy boron deficiency?

The best way to determine the boron needs of a crop is through soil testing or tissue analysis. When boron is deficient, it can be remedied by correctly applying solid or liquid borate-containing substances to the seedbed of annual crops or to the leaf canopy of perennial plants. Boron-containing solutions can also be sprayed on perennial or annual crops. According to many years of domestic boron fertilizer application trials, for crops sensitive to boron fertilizer, applying boron fertilizer can increase yield by about 20%, and for other crops, applying boron fertilizer can also increase yield by about 10%.

The yield-increasing effect of boron fertilizer applied to crops such as rapeseed, cotton, peanut, grape, fruit, Chinese chestnut, vegetables and legumes is very significant.