Sunflower is a profitable crop in whose cultivation foliar feeding should not be neglected.
The 3–5 leaf pair stage is key, when plants need both effective protection from weeds and correction of mineral nutrition conditions. Sometimes these operations can be carried out with a tank mix of crop protection products and fertilizers, if the manufacturer of the crop protection product does not object to combining it with fertilizers in a tank mix. If feeding cannot be combined with insurance herbicides, we recommend spraying fertilizers 5–7 days after herbicide application.
- The main tasks of the first foliar feeding are as follows:
- Activation and acceleration of plant growth;
- Supplying boron nutrition;
- Suppression of disease pathogens (fungistatic effect)
Taking into account this year's weather conditions, to supply sunflower plants with boron at the 3–5 leaf pair stage we recommend using ECOLINE Boron (Premium) at a dose of 1.0 l/ha. Applying boron in combination with L-α-amino acids promotes better boron uptake and mitigates the negative effect of stress factors of various origin.
It is also advisable to add GROS Phosphito-NP 1.5–2.0 l/ha to the tank mix to enhance vegetative plant growth and restrain disease development.
On carbonate soils of heavy texture and under moisture deficit, sunflower plants may show signs of zinc shortage. In this case it is advisable to use ECOLINE Phosphite (K-Zn) at a rate of 1.5–2.0 l/ha.
When a deficiency of other nutrients (manganese, iron, molybdenum, etc.) is detected visually or from laboratory analysis, the corresponding chelated fertilizers from ECOORGANIC can be used for foliar feeding of sunflower plants.
