The ‘20-20-30’ tonic for winter feeding

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Implementing an Enhanced Plant Health (EPH) programme going into and during the autumn / winter period can have a hugely positive effect on sward quality coming through into the new season. Headland’s popular 20-20-30 disease management tank mix uses chelated iron, calcium, potassium phosphite and Salicylic acid to strengthen plant cell walls, promote enhanced rooting and stimulate the plants natural defence mechanisms – helping to create a healthier sward, with increased resistance to fungal attack.

The products in the 20-20-30 mix – Liquid Turf Hardener, Seamac^® ProTurf Fe and Turfite^® Elite – add a small amount of nitrogen (approx. 4kg N/Ha) helping to produce a strong plant, which presents as healthy and green without over fertilising. The inclusion of iron, calcium and magnesium contributes to hard growth, helping to strengthen the plant cell wall and therefore making it more difficult for a pathogen to physically attack the grass plant.

The unique foliar iron in Seamac^® ProTurf acts to decrease the pH on the leaf surface and reduce moisture levels, which it is suggested may also discourage fungal development by offering a less favourable environment. Foliar plant elicitors such as Salicylic acid found in Turfite^® Elite, can also trigger the natural defence mechanism of the plant (SAR or Systemic Acquired Resistance) aiding plant growth – even in the presence of a pathogen.

Using nutrients to aid plant health is, as with most things, a question of good timing. Particular attention should be paid in the run up to Christmas, when extended periods of leaf wetness can encourage significant disease activity. To further increase the efficacy of applications to help minimise disease, the latest approach utilises the ’20-20-30’ mix together with Mantle^®, a magnesium, manganese, zinc formulation with ‘Harpin protein’. Mantle^® creates an environment on the plant leaf surface which discourages pathogen activity and stimulates pathological processes conducive to better plant growth.