So a couple weeks ago I made my way out to California. I was met by a crew of AgroLiquid field managers: Regional Sales Manager Stuart, Field Agronomist JW and Sales Account Manager Armando. And me from Research, so you can’t get more diverse than that. Well it is winter and there isn’t much growing, and the trip was mostly for meetings. But Sales Account Manager Armando knew of a nearby fertilizer comparison in walnuts. So of course we wanted to see it. It was two adjacent 40 acre blocks where everything was the same…except the potassium fertilizer. That’s one of the blocks below.
Well these trees didn’t look so great. Look at these leaves. That’s potassium deficiency with the necrotic leaf margins. Not sure, but maybe some sodium accumulation too from the irrigation lines. But I didn’t have a soil or irrigation water analysis. Well it turns out this side was fertilized with potassium thio-sulfate. Not sure of the rates or timing. But it wasn’t working.
Well the next block received 3 gal/A of Kalibrate through the irrigation lines and 3 foliar applications of 3 gal/A of Sure-K. Now this was the first walnut grove I had ever been in, but I could see that this side looked a lot better.
Here is a leaflet from the potassium thiosulfate side next to one from the AgroLiquid side. Pretty sharp differences. Of course it looks too good to be true, but all I know is what I was told. And Armando is the man.
The walnuts were recently picked, and we will see if the yield is reflective of the tree appearance. But the grower was greatly impressed and said Kalibrate and Sure-K will be on all of the trees in the future. Wise choice. Below the fertilizer guys reflect on what we have seen. JW sees that the highly usable potassium from Kalibrate and Sure-K are superior nutrient sources. Armando is happy for the grower and the future sale. Stuart crosses Walnuts off the list of new crops benefited by AgroLiquid. Me? All this talk of walnuts was making me hungry. So what’s for dinner?
So more research and evaluations are forthcoming in California. However I should add that the biggest factor affecting crops in CA these days is lack of water. The drought persists, although it did rain some my last night there in Sacramento. Hope for more.
