“High orthophosphate is important because that’s the form of phosphate the roots absorb out of the soil,” he explained. “There’s a lot of fertilizers on the market that have polyphosphate and, unfortunately, that takes three to four weeks to convert in soil to a usable form.”
Alpine’s liquid fertilizers are also low in salt, which is another important consideration for plant health.
“Too much salt can actually burn the roots back a little bit,” Brett said. “A real salt concentration in the root zone can (also) suck up water and not make it available to the crop.”
And if producers are looking to add nutrients to their fertilizer mix to meet soil and crop requirements, Alpine is able to accommodate those needs.
“We can add (nutrients) on the farm or right at our Alpine plant,” Brett said. “Usually we add micronutrients, (with) zinc being the most common one (for) corn.”
The addition of zinc to Alpine’s wheat fertilizer also provides “a good payback,” he said.