What affect do irrigation practices have on the availability of nutrients?
Passchier: The easy answer is everything! Watering practices greatly affect the availability of nutrients to the plant. Dr. Ted Bilderback at North Carolina State University has done some great research looking at various aspects of irrigation including application timing, methods of delivery, how much to apply and how the architecture of the plant affects the availability of water to the plant. The factors affecting water availability from irrigation practices also affect the availability of nutrients from CRFs. Most importantly, too much irrigation leaches the fertilizer out of the pot and not enough causes the salt levels to build. As discussed in this series, there are numerous factors and considerations that affect the release of CRFs. Understanding these principles will allow growers to more successfully implement CRFs into production. Growers should be careful with which formulations they choose, choose an appropriate longevity, use the rates on the products label, have realisti
