Category: Blog

During the 2012 season and starting quite late in that season Bionature have introduced trial work on various sites for the Hall Hunter group of farms. A more attentive and diligent group of farm managers and technical staff you could not wish to meet.

The team at Hall Hunter have embraced the new technology with an open mind and although we started trial work quite late in the growing season we have seen very positive results.

Calflux has been used on a variety of soft fruit and although operational constraints and weather difficulties may have prevented absolute clear results in some of that work we have seen a difference such as better colour, larger and sweeter blue berries. Also a 20% improvement in shelf life for raspberries which for this year is a tremendous achievement.

Where the Delta nitrogen has been used we have seen a range of positives which we are in the process of evaluating ceratainly we have seen better rooting on strawberry plants which is something we would have expected when using Delta.

Hall Hunter are willing to use our products going forward and certainly there is sufficient good evidence with the small amount of work we have done thus far, to continue a programme of trial work through 2013. We very much thank Hall hunter for their interest and look forward to working with the guys.

Winter Strawberry plants Treated with NHCaDelta. The plant on the left has recieved Delta treatment and that on the right has not.The picture was taken on the 7th February 2013.

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.

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 received a full program of alternative treatments.

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.