Given the lack of rain, it’s enormously important to reemphasize the importance of POST-HARVEST applications. Post-harvest can account for 30% of the plant’s total nutrient uptake for an entire season. Dormancy is similar to a period of suspended animation — yet during this time proteins are broken down and re-made and cell membranes are created. It’s part survival mechanism, part housekeeping exercise, all meant to help plants gear up for warmer days ahead. Feeding them during this period will pay dividends in the spring and the following crop season.
It’s a window of opportunity that you can’t afford to not take full advantage of. Andaman Ag‘s post harvest plan includeds Pacific Gro, our oceanic fish hydrolysate; MetaGrow ST, our intense and diverse compost tea; Ecotech’s comprehensive and complex foliar or fertigation applied fertilizers supplying both macro and micro-nutrients; and Fertum Silicium PK Seaweed Extract 0-10-7 a liquid fertiliizer with Silicon in SiO2 form, enriched with phosphorus, potassium and natural seaweed extracts.
In the fall, plants stop sending water and minerals up to the leaves. Instead, they will use these nutrients to increase root mass, and to store up food for the winter. Having a solid post-harvest plans helps crops to store food as they see fit for next year’s growth. Underground, these plants are not dormant at all. The roots are very active and will quickly grab nutrients until the ground freezes. Like humans, soil needs to have oxygen, water, food and shelter — and not just for 8 months.It’s naive to think that we can supply everything in the springtime through a “fire hose” approach and expect the plant to be able to process and utilize the nutrients in an efficient manner. It’s simply too much in too short of time period.
Compost teas, like MetaGrow ST is an excellent post harvest options as both fertigation and foliar applications. When applied via fertigation, they can help the plant restore plant vigor and photosynthetic efficiency for recovery after harvest stress. The microbes and metabolites built up in the compost tea help mineralize nutrients into plant available forms for uptake and storage for the high nutrient and carbohydrate demand period after bud break next spring. Compost tea applied by foliar will speed the breakdown of the leaf litter, mummy berries and decaying grape stems. This accelerated breakdown reduces over-wintering habitat and releases nutrients for the plants to use in the spring.
Pacific Gro is a unique oceanic cold processed hydrolysate combining salmon and micronized crab and shrimp shell in a fertilizer that delivers an organic source of N, P, K and Calcium, as well as a great range of other nutrients, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and vitamins. The low temperature processing protects the amino acids, vitamins, hormones and enzymes.
Here’s what growers have to say about using Pacific Gro:
We believe it is extremely important to provide post harvest nutrition to our blueberry and blackberry crops. Pacific Gro keeps our leaves healthy as we move into the dormancy period. This enhances photosynthesis which allows more carbohydrates to be stored in the plant reserves bringing us closer to maximum crop potential the following season as well as improving soil micro-biological activity. – Jason Berry, Alpine Fresh, Georgia and Florida
We farm avocados and citrus in southern California. After harvest we are still carrying next year’s crop on the tree so post-harvest fertilization is very important, especially for sizing. Using Pacific Gro gives us that extra energy that hopefully tips the balance towards reproductive in the build up to senescence in the early fall. Our harvest is over by late summer but we want to continue giving the trees as much energy as possible into the fall so that they will set more flower for next year’s late summer crop. We have found that feeding small doses Pacific Gro over the winter allows both trees to really hit the ground running in the spring. – Andy Sheaffer, Vista Punta Gorda Ranch, Ventura County, California
Many growers think that their job of taking care of their fertility programs for their perennial crops is done at the end of harvest until the following spring. This is totally wrong. After harvest the plant is very low on energy and needs to prepare for winter, stock piling carbohydrates (sugar) to get through the winter and initial spring and new growth. Also these “sugars” act as antifreeze when it gets cold and will help the plant get though freezing conditions. Many growers experience “alternating years” where they have a heavy crop one year and a light crop the next. This is a perfect example of a lack of energy post harvest. After harvest, if the plant is short of energy it will take the low road and go in to vegetative the following year. Conversely if the plant has adequate energy in the fall it will produce a heavy crop the following year. I’ve experienced this situation many times until I started understanding the energy needs of the plant. Now that I feed post harvest I consistently have good yields with high quality (nutrient density) every year without winter damage. I accomplish this by applying a couple of soil applications us Pacific Gro along with minerals and other carbon sources. This gets the soil biology revved up which in turn recharges the plant. Often the results will be subtle in the fall and very obvious in the spring. – Bob Wilt, Sunset Valley Organics / Western Aglands
A balance of soil and foliar products and a balance of elements is the best approach at the end of the season in order to best replenish the lost reserves of the vines before dormancy and improve cold tolerances in the springtime.
