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Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,918
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

Question about Foliar Feeding

Anybody do this?  Have you had good results?  I have the Roberta's foliar fertilizer and the micronutrients.  I used it this morning and then, within about an hour, we got rain.  I thought the rain was finally done for awhile.  We had 3 inches this week, but it was supposed to be drying out I thought.  Do the leaves uptake the nutrients quickly or did all the nutrients just get washed away?

Contributor
Posts: 28
Registered: ‎12-10-2015

Re: Question about Foliar Feeding

As long as the nutrients have dried on the foliage they are absorbed

Honored Contributor
Posts: 11,918
Registered: ‎03-19-2010

Re: Question about Foliar Feeding

I think it dried pretty quickly despite the humidity outside.  The sprayer does a very fine mist.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question about Foliar Feeding

Foliar feeding is a quick-fix form of fertilizing. It gets nutrients to the plants quickly, but once they're gone, they're gone. (Granted some typically drips off the plant and onto the ground where it lingers so the plant's roots can then take it up.) It's not something that's done all that often by amateur gardeners. As a long-term practice, it could be detrimental to plants. Plants have a waxy coating on their leaves that helps them prevent moisture from escaping the leaves too quickly and also offers some protection from insects and rain. For foliar fertilizer to enter the leaves a detergent is typically added to wash away that waxy layer. That leaves the plant a bit more vulnerable to losing too much moisture through the now less waxy leaves and increases the possibility of insect or rain damage to the leaves. If you've got a problem and you need to fix it now, foliar fertilizer is the way to go. It's just not ideal over the long term.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Honored Contributor
Posts: 17,654
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Question about Foliar Feeding

The product Ironite which contains iron to combat chlorosis (yellowing of leaves with a central green vein seen on the leaves) is a foliage feeder. I use it on my azaleas. Sometimes the roots are too close to cement or brick so they get too much lime absorbed. The Ironite lowers the pH so the plant can combat the chlorosis.

 

☼The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. GBShaw☼