The 3–5 leaf pair stage is key, when plants need both effective protection from weeds and correction of mineral nutrition conditions.

The main tasks of the first foliar feeding of sunflower are the following:

  • Activation of plant growth;
  • Supplying boron nutrition;
  • Suppression of disease pathogens (fungistatic effect)

Depending on soil conditions, temperatures, moisture availability and the possible aftereffect of crop protection products applied to the preceding crop and before sowing, we recommend using the following foliar feeding schemes:

  1. To supply sunflower plants with boron at the 3–5 leaf pair stage we recommend ECOLINE Boron (Premium) at 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.
  2. On soils with low fertility and a significant spread of disease pathogens in the soil, it is advisable to carry out feeding with a tank mix of ECOLINE Boron (Premium) 1.0 l/ha + GROS Phosphito-NP 1.0–1.5 l/ha to enhance vegetative growth and restrain disease development.
  3. On carbonate soils of heavy texture and under moisture deficit, sunflower plants may show signs of zinc shortage. In this case, instead of GROS Phosphito-NP it is advisable to use ECOLINE Phosphite (K-Zn) at the same dose of 1.0–1.5 l/ha.
  4. 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