Silakate for plants: Restore and Protect Your Investment
- June 28, 2021
- , 6:45 am
Using silica for crop health is a growing trend in the modern ag world. It has been shown to have important characteristics to help strengthen and protect plants. The good news is that silica is one of the most abundant elements on earth and American farms. The bad news is that most of this silica is not readily available for plants.
Genesis Ag’s SilaKate for plants takes care of that problem by providing silica in its most readily available form combined with key nutrients for optimum plant health. SilaKate can help reduce plant stress by creating a protective layer as the plant grows allowing cell respiration, metabolism, and photosynthesis to continue without being slowed down or stopped.
“I can’t say enough about what it can do for plants, said Lynn Howard, Genesis Ag Field Agronomist. “It protects the leaf surface and helps fight against disease and adverse weather events including frost.”
SilaKate can help protect soil microbes and the integrity of the plant as it develops. The silica in SilaKate comes from monosilicic acid, the most readily available source for plants.
Howard works with numerous farmers in the south who use SilaKate including David Hight who grows corn, soybeans, cucumbers, peppers, and tobacco in North Carolina.
Hight saw first-hand the impact of a “cocktail” of SilaKate and Carbose last spring when he sprayed it on young tobacco plants to guard against an upcoming frost predicted for the following day.
An equipment malfunction kept David from spraying it on 30 acres. The weather prediction was accurate and Hight’s fields were hit by a heavy frost. The treated acreage was unharmed. The 30 untreated acres were a total loss and had to be replanted. It’s the kind of results Hight expects with products like SilaKate and the Genesis Ag crop specific programs.
“We’ve sold the best quality tobacco we’ve seen in the last three to five years,” said Hight. “It’s just been unbelievable how our quality has improved, and I think a lot of that has to do with the Genesis Ag programs.”
Many variables can limit, block, or tie up soil biological activity, nutrient uptake, and plant development. SilaKate can help limit these actions from taking place, helping to ensure a farmer’s investments of seed, fertilizers, micronutrients, and microbes are properly functioning in the soil profile as well as the plant.
SilaKate in the soil will help create a barrier around soil microbes and nutrients so these compounds can freely flow in the soil for better plant uptake through the root system.
When applied as a foliar treatment to a developing plant, SilaKate can help protect it from environmental stresses such as heat and lack of moisture. SilaKate is a must-have for optimized soil fertility and improved plant nutrition. It has been shown to increase crop productivity by improving soil texture, water holding capacity, and ion exchange.