Zinc Foliar sprays Help..
Our Zi levels in our (01Feb-sampled) leaf samples have gradually fallen at ~ 5ppm per year from 30ppm in 2006 to 20ppm in 2008 so we have decided to act. We are keen to try foliar spray and intend to mix with mankocide (so no ‘spraying cost’) and spray in Nov or Dec.
The best guidance we currently have is http://walnutresearch.ucdavis.edu/1993/1993_196.pdf and this seems a little dated (1993).
Has anybody tried to elevate Zi levels with foliar sprays.. did it work (what product/rate etc)? Were there any ‘issues’.. phytotoxic effects?
Any data, information, knowledge or wisdom out there?
[message relayed here on behalf of Clive]
I Just checked and Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. It does not contain zinc.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_zinc_crystals_epsom_salts#ixzz25MWhdTD2
we didn’t get to try it after the 06nov frost killed off the crop making blight spraying uneconomic
Can we have an update on this blog? What was the effect of adding Zinc to copper spray? I have heard you cannot add anything to copper without getting a chemical reaction and rendering all components ineffective.
Zinc applied to the leaves is usually very effective as it gets around any problems of it being locked up in the soil in an unavailable form. I have not experienced any phytotoxic effects. On citrus I apply it regularly to wet leaves from dew or a recent rain in the form of Epsom salt crystals, and it works a treat. But I cannot throw 10 – 15 metres up in the air for my walnut stand, so mixing it in with a blight spray would be very handy!