Broadacre Nutrition | Stoller

A little background about Stoller

They are an American company based out of Houston, Texas, founded by Jerry Stoller. They have operations in 15 countries across 5 continents. They are specialists in plant physiology - when bringing a crop issue to a Stoller rep, they will work out what's going wrong in terms of plant hormones, what needs to happen, and which nutients (and in what form) will make the necessary change.

In Australia, Stoller has reps in every state and territory, servicing the whole range of Australian agricultural conditions. In WA, most of Stoller's business takes place in horticulture, especially in the South West. On the east coast Stoller does a fair bit in broadacre. Both Stoller and the WA rep Nigel Shaw are working hard to expand Stoller into WA broadacre where they have a number of interesting products.

We discuss plant nutrition products in the WA broadacre space below:

Frost prevention - Cu chelates

Some work has shown that foliar application (needs to be applied at least 48 hours before) of WL Copper chelate (1.5 to 2 L/Ha) and Stoller Nitrate Balancer (5l/Ha) before a frost event can minimise damage. The copper is thought to kill bacteria in the cell cytoplasm which act as nuclei for ice crystallisation and the Nitrate Balancer increases Auxin production which then increases Abscisic acid levels which close the stomata. Closing stomata help the plant prevent ice formation in the cells. The aim is for the copper to enter the cell cytoplasm and therefore you will always get a faster response by using chelated copper product than a copper oxide.

Where crops have been damaged by frost an application of Bio-Forge at 1.2L/ha will help prevent the cascading damage to plant cells and get the plant back to growth.

Micromix chelate

Micromix is a triple ZMC 4,3,1 chelate. Stoller recommends 1 litre of Micromix per tonne of grain grown - over the whole growing season. One would expect 1 - 1.5 litres at the end of the season to suffice, especially as trial data shows that chelates are as much as 4x as effective as oxides in getting trace elements into the plant. Thus, giving growers some room to derive a volume from a target cost and the ability to be sure that they will achieve an outcome more than equivalent to that of an oxide.

Volume discounts

Stoller was able to provide a nearby dealer woith a volume discount on Micromix. A few interested growers put in an order for a sea container of shuttles - this allowed Stoller to save on frieght costs and pass those saving on. If there are enough interested parties, LG Rural should be able to secure a volume discount for next season. In addition, Stoller is supplying shuttles of ClearStart at the bulk price.

Bio-forge

Plants are regulated by 5 main  hormones: auxin, cytokinin, gibberellic acid, ethylene and abscisic acid. Once the level ofethylene in a plant reaches "stress ethylene", it will enter the senescence phase and will begin shutting down. Bio-Forge can reverse this if applied within 24 hours. It is a nutritional product, and not a PGR (plant growth regulator). It works by purging ethylene from the cell mitochondria.This restores the balance of hormones in the plant so that it may continue its usual development and take advantage of improved conditions after the stress event. Prolonging vegetative development and/or the flowering stage should result in greater yields.

Bio-forge as a seed treatment

Bio-forge does not only work after a frost, but in all stress situations - drought, heat, water logging, etc. It is an expensive product and is used widely in horticulture. It's most practical use in broadacre is as a seed treatment - especially of canola where such low seeding rates are used. Germination is of course an extremely stressful period for a plant, and the last couple of seasons have shown that not all seeds will successfully germinate. Bio-forge will help guarantee a minimum viable establishment of canola for ~$1/ha. Where the break isn't ideal, it will get you past the 5+ plants per square metre, avoiding a difficult decision around re-seeding or spraying out paddocks.

ClearStart - high phosphorus starter fertilizer

Those with seeding rigs with liquid capability may find ClearStart an interesting product. It is a high phosphorus NPK starter, the phosphorus is immediately plant available and can replace some other P sources at up to 3 kilos to 1 of ClearStart. Thus, setting the scene for strong root establishment. It's limiting factor is that it is not directly compatible with Flexi-N.

ClearStart also contains cobalt and moly which are essential for rhizobia in legumes. Including some Micromix at seeding will ensure trace element availability in the first 42 days of crop establishment, allowing for a foliar top up later in the season.

CoMo - poor man's limesand.

Jerry Stoller called CoMo poor man's limesand. It doesn't improve the pH of acidic soil but helps solve some of the effect of low pH, such as unavailability of molybdenum. At a pH below 5.2 moly becomes insoluble because it binds up with aluminium, manganese or even copper. Moly is the only trace element that becomes unavailable in acidic soils in this way.

CoMo - as a seed treatment for legumes

Cobalt and moly are essential nutrients in the nitrogen cycle in legumes. CoMo can be used as a seed treatment and mixed with inoculant to improve nodulation and generate a quick and strong crop establishment. It is a product that could mean the difference in growing lupins as a break crop and generating some profit from them.