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Rockford,il

When you foliar feed ,how long does it take for the leaf to completely absorb what you sprayed on it?Last year it was extremely hot and dry and I needed to water the plants from above plus foliar feed on the same day.My schedule is tight and I often have to double up on foliar feeding and then watering.How long should you wait after foliar feeding to water the same plants(from above).Thanks for your input.

3/12/2006 6:31:40 PM

Rhode Island

for that very reason we alway spray as well underneath the leaves as well as on top when appling any fungicides, insecticides or organic additives.

most contact sprays will be useless if you was them off with in a hour or two of application. hence some value possibly, but not as much if you were to spray underneath as well.

systemic fungicides will be ok once they are dried on the leaves ( very soon after they come in contact )
systemic meaning the benefits are mostly absorbed into the plant upon spraying and drying.

most sprays are applied to runoff so, even if some gets washed off onto the soil its of help.

pap

3/12/2006 7:59:53 PM

Sheridan . NY

THE foliar feeding done with Agro-k products --if you feed at 6 pm--like I suggest-- 85-to 90 % will be absorbed in 4-6 hours-- so you may do what ever the following morin or day that you need to do----craig

3/12/2006 9:10:06 PM

Syracuse, NY

i may be wrong, but can't you mix-in whatever you are foliar feeding with and accomplish both at the same time?
do you "spray" something on the leaves and then have to
follow-up with straight water? that would be new to me, anyway.....like, i'm not gonna go out and squirt liquid molasses on my plants and then come by two hours later and overhead water, an extreme example......EG--just wondering--

3/13/2006 12:33:30 PM

Sheridan . NY

HI MR PUMPKINPAL2---IM Only shareing what is working for most grower that are foliar feeding---especially the use of the Agro-k products which MANY GROWERS are doing very well with--You may mix anything you wish together-- I am not telling you anything you half to do--Im just suggesting as i said above your post---so you may do what ever you need to do the next day as far taking care of your plants--I Wound'nt suggest a bug--fungcide and a fertlizer all together-- craig

3/13/2006 5:26:21 PM

Syracuse, NY

Mr. Lembke:
heyuh--i didn't know you were a New Yorker.
well, hey there! anyway, i was not answering anything to do with the Agro-k program; i was commenting on the original post....soooo, if someone foliar feeds
with something that may be an actual product, like a ready-to-use foliar product (although i cannot think of any at the moment, lol), it seems to me that rather than a two-step thing it should be a one-step thing, like WHAT do you foliar feed with that can, or needs to be, followed-up with a straight water application. see, i always have watered with a 55-gallon barrel full of water through a jet pump, and i may have mixed in there 1 oz./gallon molasses, and possibly at the same time
the appropriate dose of perhaps Miracle-Grow
@ 1 tbsp./gallon, for example.
in no way, was I questioning, referring to,
or in any weigh casting any doubt on the Agro-k method, and i'm sorry if it appeared as such. PS-great lecture at the SEMINAR! i will enjoy watching it again! eric gerry

3/13/2006 5:41:56 PM

Litchfield N. H. 03052

If you put a foliar feed product in that much water, it will run off, be a soil applied application, and strength will deiluted. Thre reason to wse a small amount of water, is when the water evaporates, the product is left on the leaves.

3/14/2006 6:58:30 AM

[email protected]

There is an awful lot that can be contributed to this thread if time permitted today. But here are several of the considerations that come to mind.

Foliar fertilizers can penetrate leaves as long as they are wet. So the temperature & humidity following the spray will determine how long it is capable of being absorbed. If it is warm, windy & dry this might be as little as a half hour. If it is cool & humid the spray might be wet for many hours.

But....

Another variable is the volatility of what has been applied. Nitrogen (depending on source) can volatilize (gas off into the air) very quickly when its warm. Too bad because the same conditions make the plant more "hungry" or willing to accept a foliar application.

Plants that are growing slowly (cold, dry soil, disease, etc) will not readily absorb "stuff" regardless of availability of the "stuff". Too bad again because these are the conditions that permit the spray to stay wet longer. LOL

In general "stuff" can be plant absorbed (if the "stuff" *CAN* be plant absorbed) for as long as it remains wet. So we will sometimes benefit from adding spray adjuvants to our "stuff" to keep it wetter longer. Organo-silicone surfactants come to mind as these change the deflection angle of sprays (stuff) & make the "stuff" more completely penetrate the leaf cuticle.

Spreader-Stickers are NOT the same thing as these contain drying agents to make the spray resist washing off in the rain.

continued

3/14/2006 10:03:32 AM

[email protected]

But I digress as this thinking is most often associated with chemical pesticide sprays which it shouldn't really be limitted to since the same concepts apply to both disciplines.

All we're trying to do is make every foliar spraying event (regardless of the material applied) work to it's fullest. Since we cannot always choose the conditions we spray under, we must often take what we get or choose an adjuvant that is appropriate for the relevant conditions.

Consider plant safety too. Sprays that are made in the late afternoon could still be wet the following morning at sunrise. If it's warm out this could result in significant plant injury depending on what was applied.

Phew.

Steve

3/14/2006 10:03:37 AM