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Auburn Maine, USA

I built a Pipe that will have 13 sprinkler hoses running parralel across the patch that will spray the underside of the leaves, done in the evening. Each hose will have a valve so one hose can be run at a time. A seperate hose will come out of the base that will lead to a sprinkler. These 2 lines will have their own valve, so the sprinkler can be used, or the hose system can be used at seperat times. The Sprinkler would be mainly used for watering, getting the tops of the leaves and not washing away the fertilizers on the under side. Would my plants bennefit from foliar feeding top and bottom of the leaves? Are some ferts better applied on the tops or bottoms of the leaves? Any help would be well apreciated.

1/16/2007 8:33:53 PM

Danville, CA ([email protected])

Well... a second year grower here and in reading and reading and reading this site, a couple of ideas recur. The first is that alot of people believe that spraying the undersides of the leaves in the early evening is the best timing and use of foliar ferts. Stomata are open the most and will absorb the best. Also need to be sure that the plants are not "wet" so that you avoid mildew or other problems. Spraying the tops of the leaves is also good but apparently not quite "as good" as undersides. In either event, the excess will drip onto the ground and eventually get picked up by the plant's roots and utilized, so ......

Lastly, there is the contrary view that if the underside was the best place to apply foliar ferts, etc. it wouldn't be so hard to "naturally" reach by rain and so forth.

My solution is to do my normal "fert spray" with a pressurized sprayer to the undersides of the leaves and also have a weak seaweed or similar injected into my deep watering soaker hoses and overhead sprinklers.

Sounds like a lot of valves and if they are all manual you may find them less than effective. As the season wears on, simple seems to win out over all else. DIG makes a very good battery operated valve with a built in timer. $40 at Home Depot and allows you to automate without the need for running lots of wires or anything like that. Allowed me to set one for deep water soakers and another for overhead watering and/or heat misting.

Good luck

1/17/2007 12:46:46 PM

That State Up North

Randalls

A couple quick comments. There are more stomata on the bottoms of the leaves. The roots will take up the nutrients you apply. You may find that your under the leaves system may be great for applying products which you want to stick on the leaves, either for attempting to promote a "biological barrier" to control diseases, or other chemicals to protect your plants.

Nic Welty

1/22/2007 9:50:24 PM

Auburn Maine, USA

thanks nic

1/25/2007 9:34:57 PM