Category: Blog

Mr Pearson applied NHCa Delta and left a spray boom untreated, the pictures was taken whilst the picture is not the clearest the field inspection did identify a very clear difference between that treated and that untreated.

The treated crops are growing for longer and surviving the variable weather which will help bulk the crop, which for this very difficult 2012 year is most important.

This picture was taken circa 20th August 2012. The right hand of the picture shows one half of a spray boom untreated with NHCa Delta The left hand spray boom width is treated with NHCaDelta at a rate of between 4 and 5 litres per ha with every blight spray.

After experiencing such a difficult year and seeing the crop suffer so badly it was decided to treat the growing crop with a 4ltr/ha applications of Delta nitrogen fertilizer. We only managed to get two applications of 4 litres applied.

The crop was harvested on 15th October and the grower has lifted one tonne more per acre (plus 2.4t/ha) from the Delta treated crop which is equivalent to a premium of £260 per acre for a Delta spend of £12/acre.

Worlaby farms have been growing OSR for two years following a prgram of Delta nitrogen and 1-4-ALL (trace element and nutrient uptake enhancer). The harvest year 2012 at Worlaby farms yielded 2 tonnes of OSR per acre where many produced much less.

The Autumn program includes the application of 5L/ha of NHKDelta and 2L/Ha of 1-4-ALL applied to the post emerged crop at 3/4 leaf plus stage. The total Nitrogen supplied to the crop with 5 litres of Delta is less than 1 kg of N.

No further Nitrogen in any other form was applied. Sowing date was circa 20th August 2012 and the Delta and 1-4-All was applied; week of the 17th September 2012.

This picture was taken on the 12th October 2012, the crop has a good canopy, full and healthy with no gaps to encourage pigeons. This field was treated with 5 Litres/ha of Delta nitrogen and 2 Litres/ha of 1-4-ALL. No additional Nitrogen was added.

As this close up picture taken on the 12th October 2012 of the plant shows the crop has good healthy leaf development and full canopy.

No gaps is a good start for any OSR Crop, this crop with NHK Delta will be producing a good root structure as Delta enhances the cytokinin related growth in the plant. Cytokinin growth produces bushy plants and greater rooting.

At Tumby near Horncastle in Lincolnshire we had two neighbouring crops of potatoes. To the treated crop a full Delta program was applied at a rate of 2 Litres per hectare, applied with every blight spray. We also applied 2 litres per ha of “14All” which is our trace element and growth enhancer mix.

The nearby untreated crop is typical of potatoes in a year with very high rainfall and high blight pressure.

We have other growers who have applied a Delta program of between 2 and 5Ltrs per ha per blight spay through the growing season and these crops look similar to those treated crops at Tumby.

Melody Potatoes Pictures taken July 19th 2012. Weather conditions – prolonged wet weather.

Main crop Melody potatoes grown on sand land following an NHCaDelta program of 2 litres per ha applied with every blight spray at 5 day intervals. This crop has also received a 2L/ha application of our 14All trace element and growth enhancer mix.

In a year with very high blight pressure these potatoes have suffered with very little blight.

The Delta treated crop has achieved a good canopy and good healthy growth providing good tuber numbers of even size.

 15th August 2012 – Yield dig of the Melody crop at Tumby shows a potential of 20 tonnes/acres of 45mm up and 2 tonne/ac of 45mm down, Pre pack quality, with good crop canopy still remains which would indicate there is another month of growth.
 This crop of potatoes is untreated with our Delta program and is in the same Tumby location on sandy soil type.

The crop has recvieved a full program of alternative treatments.

As you can see blight incidence is high, crop establishment is poor, leaf canopy and crop health is variable.

 This is another picture taken on the 15th July 2012

Another view of the Tumby potatoes not treated with a Delta program

This growth is typical of many crops this year 

The Delta treated Melody harvested here at Tumby are large and uniformed in size and with great skin finish.

These Delta treated potatoes yielded 54t/ha and fetched a £40/tonne quality premium.

The untreated crop yielded between 17.25t/ha and 22t/ha.

The Delta treated crop received 125kg of nitrogen during the growing season. This was a reduction of over 40% in allowable N to grow a crop that was over 2.5 times the size of the untreated crop.

Back in June (2012) it was clear to Will Forrington that something special was needed to keep his potato crops from getting kicked to death by blight or giving up completely should the rain ever eventually stop.

Given the very wet year and the fact that all earlier applied Nitrogen was now washed down the Trent, we decided that Delta nitrogen applied in 5 litre/ha hits with every blight spay would be perfect. Every 7 days that’s what it got and August digs reassured Will he had made the right decision.

Yield digs conducted 23rd Aug 2012 showed an excellant sample of Reds, good even size, good shape and top growth will continue to bulk. The yield in this dig gave a current potential of 15 tonnes per acre (36t/ha).

This picture taken on the 23rd of August 2012 shows the canopy of the Reds. The grower will continue to apply between 3 and 5 litres per ha of Delta nitrogen which will keep feeding and bulking.

This is a another yield dig of Reds in the same field showing a fabulous sample having received NHCa Delta throughout the season with every blight spay at a rate of 5L/ha. Current yeild of 15t/ac Great shape, great skin and finish with excellent uniformity great potential.

On the 5th October 2012 the Delta treated Shannon potato harvest is underway and going is good. The quality of these treated potatoes are excellent. High number of tubers with great skin finish and good uniformity.

The harvested Delta treated Shannon look uniformed and tubers numbers are high.

The finished product; Delta nitrogen treated Shannon reds that have yielded 26 tonnes per acre with good uniformed high number of tubers.

More Reds harvested at Forringtons on Monday 15th October2012, before we had more rain to stop work. These Reds ran at 90 boxes from 3.5acres which is a yield of 26 tonne/ac (64 tonnes/ha). They were planted on 15th May.

These reds were harvested on 15th October, a really cracking 24t/ac crop (59.2tonnes/ha). These were treated with Delta nitrogen fertilizer at a rate of 4L/Ha applied with every blight spay. The crop was planted 16th May and had recieved a base dressing of 219kg of N with no further top dressed N. The saleable yield of this crop was 23.5tonnes /ac (58.4t/ha)