Better soils with Brett Petersen Kiwi Fertiliser & Golden Bay Dolomite

Kiwi Fertiliser prides itself on delivering fertility as close as nature intended as practicable.

Certain commonly used products have been found wanting, leading to serious pollution and eutrophication problems. Farmers have been led to believe urea is essential for high production.

We contend that is not true. Nitrogen can be sourced from the air by plants if the correct conditions are met. After all, the urea manufacturers obtain nitrogen from the air, convert it to urea, and then sell it to farmers. Farmers can get free nitrogen in the same manner without opening the cheque book. All he must do is to ensure he has the following conditions.

An appropriate calcium and magnesium percent of soil base saturation. Available phosphorus and iron. Plus, Molybdenum and Cobalt.

In our general experience, the majority of properties do not have the correct calcium and magnesium percentage. For most properties, from a lab test from Perry Agricultural Laboratories, this should be 68 per cent and 12 per cent, although the range is 60 per cent and 20 per cent. Each property has a correct percentage.

Deficient

We find most properties are either deficient or excessive in calcium and deficient in magnesium. Most properties have available phosphate. In fact, excess phosphate – very few are deficient, at least on cultivable land. Iron is variable with most having sufficient on the flats, but not necessarily on the hills. Molybdenum is generally in excess and cobalt is either low or deficient. We often find higher amounts of nitrogen in our soil tests, than in soil tests taken on farms not using our fertiliser system. That means nitrogen is where it’s supposed to be. It’s in the soil, not in the water.

Our recommended phosphate products are alkaline. Alkaline P does not have the same propensity to complex in the soil as acid superphosphate does. Further, acid P is harsh on soil fungi. One of soil fungi’s functions is to hold calcium in the soil. Without those fungi, calcium is not held in the soil at all.

To make matters worse, urea can take calcium, magnesium and copper out of the soil profile. Some fungi increases plants’ ability to uptake phosphorus by up to 1000 times. It is a huge loss to lose them, but that is the current situation. Some of you may remember large parts of the countryside used to support vast populations of mushrooms during the “mushroom season”. Not anymore.

Potassium

Potassium is not considered an issue by regional councils. However, since potassium chloride can be harsh on soil microbial life, we prefer potassium sulphate. The chloride form is the main culprit that hardens soil. Hard soils are dead soils with less humus in them than living, productive soils. When it rains, hard soils shed water much faster than soft, spongy living soils. This leads to erosion and nutrient loss. A soil with one per cent organic matter can only retain 20 per cent of the water that a five per cent organic matter soil can. That has serious implications in heavy rainfall events and in drought situations. Where possible, we add a carbon source to most fertiliser mixes.

Higher yields

Properties we fertilise can produce higher yields of higher quality pasture, herbal leys, Lucerne, kale, sorghum and all other crops. The nutrients are in the plant, in an organic form, and therefore exactly where they should be and not in the soil in a leachable form or worse still, in the water. The health of those crops is transferred to the animals consuming them, leading to lower veterinary costs and less disease. All nutrients are addressed as necessary and within budget constraints.

Kiwi Fertiliser uses Perry Agricultural Services for soil tests in Missouri, USA. Any figures
mentioned above will not be relevant to any other laboratory. More importantly results will not be the same nor as good in the field if formulae relevant to PAL are used to work out fertiliser requirements from any other soil tests