This case study was designed to determine the effectiveness of EM Fulvic at enhancing the uptake and response of foliar nutrition. EM Fulvic is a mix of Fulvic Acid (12.5%) and Effective Microorganisms (EM). This product has been designed to mobilise and naturally chelate elements in the soil. EM Fulvic is also designed to be combined with liquid nutrition to enhance mineral uptake. Because of the small size of fulvic acid molecules, they will easily be absorbed by the plant roots, stems and leaves, carrying nutrients and growth promoting substances from plant surfaces into plant tissues.
What we wanted to achieve in this case study was to show that by using EM Fulvic in combination with foliar nutrition we would improve the uptake of the nutrients and therefore further enhance the plant yield. This occurs through EM Fulvic chelating the foliar nutrition.
What is Chelation
Chelation neutralises the positive charge of cations to facilitate their easy entry via a negatively charged plant surface, it essentially involves avoiding a traffic jam (clogging of the stomates) to ensure easy entry
EM will also play a role in enhancing nutrient uptake. This is through a stimulation of stomatal openings, following the sudden influx of CO2 (from the billions of organisms per teaspoon).
Summary:
The below graph is presented to show the comparison between a normal Wuxal product with the addition of EM Fulvic.
- Each kale plant was at a similar growth stage with either 6 or 7 full leaves
- The control treatment was clearly the lowest yield, significantly lower (LSD5) than all treatments - the EM Fulvic and Wuxal treatment presented with the greatest fresh weight yields and was significantly greater than the control
- The addition of supplement EM Fulvic to Wuxal gave a large boost in total yield over Wuxal alone
- This shows that adding EM Fulvic to a foliar fertiliser can improve the response to that product
