Convenient and Versatile
The convenience and versatility of liquid fertilizers is obvious in some situations e.g. products are in solution and ready to apply through irrigation systems or spray onto a given crop. However, some liquids also offer compatibility with other fertilizer products and/or herbicides and pesticides which are not afforded by other liquids. For example, in Australian broadcare agriculture farmers often apply urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) to an established crop. Trace elements like zinc, manganese and copper can be co-applied at this time, perhaps even with a herbicide or pesticide. Significantly oxide suspensions like our Ezy Flow range are compatible with UAN with no requirement for additional water. By contrast, liquid sulphates are only compatible if UAN is diluted with water, something which many farmers are reluctant to do as this requires filling of tanks more often and hence greater time and costs of application.

Versatility of liquids is inherent in their suitability to application by a variety of means including through irrigation systems (fertigation), through spray equipment as foliar feeds (e.g. boom sprays, aerial applications), directly to seed or through seeding equipment during seeding (e.g. air seeders used in broad-acre farming). Fertigating liquids overcomes the need for manual application (e.g. with tractors or by hand) or dissolving soluble fertilizers in tanks as the nutrients are ready to be injected through irrigation equipment. This in turn reduces costs of both application and/or fertilizer preparation.

With fertigation, some water-soluble products are particularly slow dissolving (e.g. potassium nitrate, potassium sulphate) and, when dissolved, are far less concentrated than liquid products. This is particularly true of water-soluble phosphate and potassium fertilizers and increases labour costs incurred in fertilizer preparation as many tank concentrates have to be made to apply the same quantity of nutrient as a liquid product. For example, a tank concentrate of potassium sulphate may contain less than 5% K. By contrast, liquid K sources can be in excess of 40% or 8 times the K concentration of a tank concentrate of potassium sulphate. This concentration factor is also critically important in relation to transport costs of liquid fertilizers.

As mentioned, with spray applications, liquid fertilizers can be co-applied as tank mixes with herbicides and/or pesticides. This reduces the application costs (machinery, fuel and labour) associated with separate application of granular or powder fertilizers and is particularly important in broadacre agriculture where areas to be covered are extensive.

While some powder fertilizers can be dissolved and applied through boom-sprays, this is generally not the case with oxides of nutrients like zinc, manganese and copper. Invariably, only liquid sources of these oxides can be effectively applied through spray equipment.

Accuracy of Analysis
Fertiliser in liquid suspension has a distinct advantage of great uniformity, containing full nutrient analysis in every drop to take the guess-work out of fertiliser application.
Application via irrigation or spray equipment delivers the nutrients evenly and with great precision directly to the plant via the leaf or roots for efficient and effective uptake without wastage.

Rapid Nutrient Recovery

When fertigated, liquids allow more frequent application of nutrients and lower application rates which in turn allows superior nutrient recovery by plants and less leaching compared to granular fertilizers.
In broadcare agriculture, research from South Australia and other places has confirmed that under high pH conditions, crops receiving liquid P sources significantly out-yield those under granular fertilization due to superior availability of liquid P.

Cost Effective
Liquid fertilizers are ready and indeed easy to use. Liquids are versatile in that they can be applied in different ways. The combination of uniform quality and the ability to apply small amounts more often when used in combination with modern irrigation techniques and spray equipment improves nutrient recovery relative to less frequent application of granular fertilizers. These factors in different combinations make liquids both easy to use and cost-effective. However, to maximise the advantages offered by liquids, farmers also need to apply good management practices. For example, in irrigated agriculture, good irrigation scheduling is required to minimise leaching and hence loss of nutrients from the root zone. Similarly, crop nutrient programs should be refined with soil and tissue analysis in order to optimise fertilizer rates and hence costs.

Liquitec PK 5-30