P SCHOOL: VENUE CHANGE

Guests please note: Sylvania Park, 808 East Rd, Drung, VIC, 3401

Glenn McDonald will discuss the vital role of P in plant functions. Here is an excerpt of Glenn's presentation.

Phosphorus

While soils can contain substantial amounts of P, the majority is unavailable to plants and the concentration of P in the soil solution is generally very low (~1-10mM). Therefore, while many plants are very effective in taking up P from the soil solution at low concentrations at the soil-root interface, the limiting factor is the supply of the soluble P to the roots.  The main way of overcoming this low supply of P has been to apply P fertiliser, but there is now a growing interest in trying to unlock and utilise the large P reserves that are in the soil.  Factors such as the size and the distribution of roots in the soil, the ability of the plants to alter the rhizosphere characteristics and the effects of the plant-microbe interactions in improving P availability and uptake can become important to the P nutrition of plants.

The role of P in plant

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and without adequate supplies of P growth will be reduced.  There are two important roles of P in plants - in energy metabolism and in maintaining cell structures in plants.  While the amount of P required for normal growth is much less than the requirement for N, an inadequate supply of P will reduce the capacity of plants to photosynthesise and perform the range of metabolic functions required for normal growth.

Registration still open:

Website Registration: P SCHOOL
Download PDF: P SCHOOL FLYER

More information: Darren Cribbes 0400 600 556
                          Owen McCarron 0419 006 100 

P SCHOOL

Phosphorus fertilizer forms – I want to know.

Super, MAP, APP, Phos acid, Guano, plenty to choose from, which one for me?

Plants absorb the majority of their phosphorus from the soil solution as orthophosphate regardless of the original form of phosphorus applied or existing in soil functions. Largely, pH controls these functions, and corresponds to iron and aluminium in the soil in this region.

What form is recommended for your soils, how do you make good decisions about phosphorus form and what are the differences? Just some of the key messages at P SCHOOL. 

Registration still open for IPM MasterClass P SCHOOL. 26^th June 2014.

IPM MasterClass - P SCHOOL Registration

Four key topic will be covered:

Dr. Sean Mason - Soils and Phosphorus – what is really going on?- Availability, uptake and soil utilization, what does testing tell me?

Dr. Glenn McDonald - Role and function of phosphorus in crops
- Plant uptake and utilisation, how much is needed, and what does it do?

Dr. Ann McNeill - Biology and soil health – does it work?
- Role of microbiology in building soil health and quality, and P availability.

Dr. Sarah Noack - Fertiliser decisions, forms, testing and research
- Soil and tissue testing, what will I apply and how much?

More information:
Owen McCarron               0419 006 100       owen@ipmmasterclass.com

Darren Cribbes                  0400 600 556       darren@ipmmasterclass.com

El Nino the Myth Busted

Presentation by Dale Grey, Department of Environment and Primary Industries Seasonal Agronomist

Who: Young farmers and their families are welcome to attend the event.  A free dinner and childcare will be available.

When: 5.30 pm sharp, Monday 16 June 2014

Where: Waubra Recreation Reserve, 2091 Sunraysia Highway, Waubra, Victoria

RSVP: Please contact Chris Pollock, Upper Loddon and Avoca Landcare Network by emailing chrispollock7@gmail.com or phone 0421 372 545 with your phone number, number of adults and children attending and any dietary requirements.

Poppies on the grow with Ballarat farmers to benefit

ALMOST a third of Victoria’s first commercial poppy crop could come from farmers in the Ballarat region.

Ballarat Courier link.

TRICHODERMA, SAR, and EUTYPA

If you like soil and the plants that grow in it, you get a  little rush of blood when some very clever ag science comes along that provides an exceptionally simple mechanism to a seemingly insurmountable problem.

Few growers in horticulture are unaware of the outstanding benefits Trichoderma spp. has in modern horticulture and potentially broader agriculture for its use in managing some plant diseases. Greater consumer demand for less pesticide use and MRL inspections make trichoderma a sound option as an IPM treatment and tool

However, few  are aware of the  advantages , particularly in grape vines, of Systemic Acquired Resistance, a response eliciting a raised level if resistance to disease by stimulating plant natural defence chemicals as a response to the use of Vinevax Bio-Dowels.

SAR response has been known since first observations in 1901 (Ryals, et al), with various signalling chemicals researched to elicit this ‘primed state’ in plants to resist a secondary infection.

SAR depends on the plant to access past experiences, and remain primed for quick and effective defence response. This enhanced resistance in the plant includes the uninoculated plant organs.

A hallmark of SAR is its activity against a broad range of crop diseases. In addition, SAR can provide a long lasting protection that has been recorded in South Australian  grape vines for over 15 years ( Henschke, pers. comm.).

The naturally occurring Trichoderma strains used in Vinevax Bio-Dowels are specially formulated to support colonisation within the vine as a living guard to protect from destructive wood invading fungi such as Eutypa lata, and Botryosphaeria stevensii,  further promoting healthy vines.  Further benefit of the SAR response is the vine directing energy and resource for growing and producing instead of fighting infection.

REF: Ryals, Uknes, Ward 1994, Plant Physiology. 

Talking Compost

We are often called on to present current issues in management of soils and crops. The science of healthy soils and healthy crops is relevant to us all, and a speciality of Darren Cribbes and conNEXUS global Agronomy Support. 

Last night Maryborough Garden Club, with over 40 guests attending, got into the topic of compost. Covering the science, we created a really good discussion with the their local knowledge contributing to the value of community and growing plants.

Mulching Vs Compost for vegetable gardens.

Making good compost is an appropriate way to improve soils. Adding a little science in to the mix will improve results.

pH, always in a discussion of soils and nutrition.

by Darren Cribbes

Role of Micronutrients in Crop Disease Suppression

Plant diseases continue to play a major limiting role in agricultural production. The control of plant diseases using pesticides, and the rising cost of production, continues to raise concerns and have dictated the need for improved crop management practices.

Crop nutrients can affect disease tolerance or resistance of plants to pathogens.

IPM MasterClass 2011 guests will recall the powerful presentation by Prof. Don Huber. As Dr. Huber states “It is clear that the severity of most diseases can be reduced and the chemical, biological, or genetic control of many plant pathogens enhanced by proper nutrition”.

Following Dr Huber’s  IPM MasterClass 2011, Dr. Ismail Cakmak, in 2012,  reiterated and expanded the discussion around nutrients, particularly micronutrients, in plant health.

“Irrespective of approaches applied in disease control, mineral nutritional status of plants substantially affects plant resistance and tolerance and must be considered in all types of disease management systems”.

“Increasing evidence is available showing that mineral nutrient deficiency or imbalance in mineral nutrition supply ( eg., excess of N and low supply K and micronutrients), greatly increases susceptibility of crop plants to pathogen attack”.

“Mineral nutrition status of plants is very often ignored or unrecognised in practical agriculture and even in breeding programs, this is especially true for micronutrients”.

Soil and crop nutrition have always been a primary component of disease control. Supporting the growth of a healthy plant through grower practice is a key aim to reduce plant stress.

On the most basic level, plants suffering nutrient stress will be less vigorous and more susceptible to a variety of diseases. In this respect, all nutrients affect plant disease. However, some nutrient elements have a direct and greater impact on plant diseases than others.

“Zinc and Boron: most important micronutrients affecting membrane stability”. Cakmak IPM MasterClass 2012

Zn deficient wheat   Source: www.cropwatch.unl.edu 5/4/2014

Disease resistance in plants is primarily a function of genetics. However, the ability of a plant to express its genetic potential can be affected by mineral nutrition.

Soil and Plant Analysis – managing your crop.

The conNEXUS global  Soil and Crop Agronomy Service promotes a range of soil and plant analysis to assist in determining the nutrient status of the soil and crops. Growers often ask when should I sample?, to which we reply now and often. We encourage growers to sample both soil and plants to build a sound understanding of what is happening in the soil and the plant. Modelling nutrient use in the plant and nutrient removal and harvest are simple measures to continually improve nutrient and plant management. Using small trial plots to remeasure results is a simple way to determine the level of change and improvements.

Fertilizer recommendations are developed to optimize nutrient uptake and provide the crop with adequate nutrients for normal growth and yield. In most situations, this level of nutrients will also be sufficient to enable the crop to maximize disease resistance. This said, nutrient and disease interaction remain complex.

IPM MasterClass 2014 – P SCHOOL, 26^th June, Alan Heard Pavilion, Wimmera Event Centre, Horsham.

Registration and Enquiry:
Owen McCarron 0419 006 100
Darren Cribbes 0400 600 556

Bibliography:

Graham and Webb 1991, SSSA PublicationsHuber and Graham  1999 , Howarth PressHuber 2011 pers. comm.Cakmak 2012 pers. Comm.A-Fahdawi MS, Able J, Evans M,  Able AJ, 2014, Response of durum wheat to different levels of zinc and Fusarium pseudograminearum, CSIRO Publishing Crop & Pasture Science. 

IPM MasterClass presents P SCHOOL

IPM MasterClass

presents

P SCHOOL

Phosphorus is a challenge to manage, and vital to be understood for crop production.

P School will provide you the opportunity to learn how phosphorus works and how to make better farm management decisions, learning with some of the world’s leading phosphorous researchers and educators.

Alan Heard Pavilion, Wimmera Event Centre( Field Days site)

Field Days Rd, Longerenong, (via Horsham) Victoria

Thursday, 26^th June 2014.

Four key topic will be covered:

Dr. Sean Mason - Soils and Phosphorus – what is really going on?
- Availability, uptake and soil utilization, what does testing tell me?

Dr. Glenn McDonald - Role and function of phosphorus in crops
- Plant uptake and utilisation, how much is needed, and what does it do?

Dr. Ann McNeill - Biology and soil health – does it work?
- Role of microbiology in building soil health and quality, and P availability.

Dr. Sarah Noack - Fertiliser decisions, forms, testing and research
- Soil and tissue testing, what will I apply and how much?

More information:
Owen McCarron               0419 006 100       owen@ipmmasterclass.com

Darren Cribbes                  0400 600 556       darren@ipmmasterclass.com

Improving hostile ground

Challenging soils require diligent management and a long term view for gaining results. A recent article in Stock and Land from a farm walk with Geoff Rethus, where Geoff explains part of his soil management using cover crop and brown manure.

Also, Geoff comments on his use of Liquid P.



Biblio:
Stock and Land
Victorian No-Till Farmers Association
Clover
Brown Manure
Soil quality
cover crops
tram tracking
self mulching clays

Soil Health / Soil Quality

Soil Quality ?  . . . . Soil Health?

Our view of soil management has certainly changed over the last couple of decades.  Rather than a medium to be used, it is now has a broader integrated role in our management decisions, whether the farm or the home garden. The more consideration and learning about soils role and the value of its services, the more we as growers are exploring the role we play in supporting our soils to provide a long term sustainable, productive environment and economically value, providing food and recreation for people.

Often communicating the terms soil health and soil quality as interchangeable, I see the definitions as distinctly different measures of the condition and service of our soils. I see many soil tests, and work with growers to manage that soil – specifically for the crop being grown. Growing lucerne on the alkaline mallee sands of Lake Boga compared with the acid clays of Ballarat, you get the picture that a measure of healthy soil while both are, they will have different quality measurement attributes in each environment which contribute to crop production. It is our role as land managers to define both soil health and soil quality attributes and manage soils accordingly.

I know I will require X amount of calcium and potassium to produce X amount of lucerne crop with the feed value attributes buyers require. This I refer to as a quality, as it has a distinct measure that I need to meet. Anything less, and I will not the meet quality measures. However, with soil health, I know in both regions, that earthworm numbers will be very different, colour will be very different as will the likelihood and distribution of layering in the soil. A healthy mallee sand will likely have a few worms, compared with the Ballarat red soils of potentially dozens, but what do they contribute to the crop.

In the next posts on Soil Health/ Soil Quality, we will discuss the difference between Soil Health and Soil Quality and a range of measures and attributes we can use to measure improvement.

IPM - Wood Invading Fungi: Vineyard Management with Vinevax

Wood Invading Fungi: Vineyard Management with Vinevax

Most viticulturists and vineyard managers are well aware of the problems caused by fungi or moulds such as the mildews and botrytis on the vine canopy but may be less familiar with diseases caused by wood invading fungi.  At ground level the collar and root rots caused by Phytophthora and Armillaria may have been experienced, with the former more than likely confined to poorly drained areas in the vineyard, but there is another group of fungi which can cause vine decline in established vineyards. 

Damage caused by injury from breakage or pruning, especially after major restructuring procedures in older vines, allows fungi such as Eutypa lata and Botryosphaeria stevensii to enter the woody tissues.  It may be two or three seasons later before symptoms appear but usually the early symptoms of stunting, wilting and die back in the cane caused by these organisms progress into the main structure of the vine resulting in the condition known as dead or dying arm disease.

Although horticulture has at its disposal a wide range of chemical fungicides, very few, if any, have proven successful in eliminating fungal pathogens once they have become well established within the woody tissue of roots or vines.  Many fungi have suppressive or antagonistic properties towards other fungi and harnessing this bio-activity can offer a solution for the problems of protection and control of this type of disease. 

Scientists studying Trichoderma fungi, after the initial 1950’s discovery that it attacked and killed other fungi, have identified strains with activity against the wood-disease causing fungi Phytophthora, Armillaria, Eutypa and  Botryosphaeria, as well as root disease pathogens Cylindrocarpon, Rhizoctonia, Pythium and Fusarium.

Vinevax, registered in Australia, harnesses bio-protective properties of Trichoderma into practical products to help the vineyard manager contain and control these economically damaging vine diseases. Vinevax pruning wound dressing can help maintain vine health during vine pruning when wounds are at high risk of pathogen invasion. Vinevax bio-dowel implants can be used to help control woody tissue disease in whole and re-constructed vines aiding faster return of vines to high health and productivity. 

Bio-dowels being placed - Henschke vineyard manager Travis Coombe installing a Vinevax Bio-inoculate dowel into the base of a vine.

Rhizosphere4

Rhizosphere4   Maastricht, Netherlands, from 21 - 24 June 2015 The Rhizosphere4 Organizing Committee is looking forward to welcome you to this exciting conference. The Rhizosphere4 website is now online; it will inform you on the latest news, updates on the scientific program, important dates, the city of Maastricht, and many other things regarding the conference. Have a look at www.rhizo4.org!   Scientific Program An exciting scientific program planned with keynote presenters Jeff Dangl (USA), Noah Fierer (USA), Toby Kiers (the Netherlands), Jos Raaijmakers (the Netherlands), Tiina Roose (UK), Choong-Min Ryu (South Korea), Angela Sessitsch (Austria), Gerald Tuskan (USA) and Franciska de Vries (UK). Session Topics for Rhizosphere4 will be: Symbiosis Root Turnover Nutrient Acquisition Signaling Root Development Rhizosphere Microbiome Engineering the Rhizosphere Rhizosphere and Climate Change Root-Root Interactions Food-web Interactions Human Pathogens in the Rhizosphere New Methods in the Rhizosphere Below and Above Ground Interactions Water Relations Rhizo Remediation and Fate of Pollutants Metabolomics Root Endophytes Please check the website for up-to-date program information, such as session titles and convenor information,  and for more information on our keynote speakers.

IPM MasterClass promotes programs and events contributing to learning, and has no role nor responsibility for the information provided.

Liquid Phosphorous

Poly or Ortho: The phosphate question.

Phosphorous does not exist in soils in its simple elemental form.  Phosphorous exists as inorganic or organic, with organic being chemically bonded to a carbon compound.

Ortho

A single phosphate molecule is called orthophosphate. Orthophosphate is a negatively charged anion and is the form of phosphorus absorbed through the root and taken up by the plant.

Poly

“Poly” refers to multiple phosphate molecules linked in a chain. Each linkage of phosphate molecules has a name depending on its length, although polyphosphate is the general term that includes all of these linked molecules, no matter what length. The size or length of the chain is not fixed and can be of various lengths. Thus “polyphosphate” is simply strings of “orthophosphate” ions of various lengths.

This phosphorous form is made utilising Ammonia products, therefore a valuable amount of nitrogen is supplied and the end product is referred to as Ammonium Polyphosphate ( APP).  The most common APP fertilizer is 16-23-0. Liquid 16-23-0 contains 65 to 70% polyphosphate and 30 to 35% orthophosphate. When polyphosphate is applied to the soil, moisture will add water back (hydrolyse) to the polyphosphate to form orthophosphate over time.

Polyphosphates are not absorbed by plant roots.

Why is APP helpful in P management?

The complexity (long chains of molecules) of the polyphosphate provides a barrier to the typical fixing and immobilisation of phosphorous that we see in soils.

Polyphosphate fertilizers offer the advantage of a high nutrient content in a clear, crystal-free fluid that is stable under a wide temperature range and has a long storage life. Some small amounts of other nutrients may be mixed with polyphosphate fertilizers, making it a good carrier for micronutrients that may be needed by plants

Fluids are convenient for farmers since they can be easily blended with many other nutrients and chemicals and each drop of fluid is exactly the same. For most situations, the decision to use dry or fluid fertilizers is based on the price of nutrients, fertilizer handling preferences, and field practices.

more information:

http://www.liquidp.com.au

Phosphorous ( P ) in Plants and Soil

Phosphorous is essential for the best possible crop yields and is a challenging nutrient to understand and manage.

Phosphorous enables photosynthesis and respiration, storage and transfer of energy, and is involved in root, flower and fruit development through cell division.

Soils generally contain large amounts of total phosphorous, with most in insoluble forms that are unavailable to plants. Phosphorous availability is limiting to crop growth in many agricultural soils.

Phosphorous does not exist in soils in its simple elemental form.  Phosphorous exists as inorganic or organic, with organic being chemically bonded to a carbon compound. 

Read more . . . . . 

Its on once again.

USA Crop Nutrition Tour

Feb 2014

conNEXUS global hosts the 2014 USA Fluid Fertiliser Education Tour

Including the Fluid Forum
Talking Stick Casino
Scottsdale, AZ,
February 17-19, 2014

conNEXUS global hosts the 2014 USA Fluid Fertiliser Education Tour incorporating the Fluid Forum, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The tour will take in fluid fertiliser production facilities, meeting with innovative growers to discuss fluid fertiliser programs, and instruction from leading crop nutrition researchers in application and crop management.

The program has been designed to improve skill and knowledge of growers, advisers and retailers incorporating fluid (liquid) fertilisers in the production of crops or agronomy recommendations. Including the 2014 Fluid Forum you will have the opportunity to discuss the latest research, developments and applications of using fluids in crop nutrition. This tour is a must if you are using or considering the use of fluid fertilisers or want to learn more about crop nutrition.

For further information on this trip please contact Owen McCarron on 0419 006 100, owen.mccarron@connexusglobal.com

My personal invitation

Since 2009, the Fluid Forum, an international conference specific to the use of liquid fertilisers in soils and crop management, has been the central point of the USA Liquid Fertiliser Tour. Many keen farmers and advisers travel with me to key destinations learning first hand about the use and application of fluid fertilisers in soils and crop management.

The tour is designed to rapidly increase farmers and advisers knowledge and skills in liquid nutrition bringing the advantages back to their own operations and business’s.

In February 2014, I will again lead a group with site visits to Kansas, California, Texas and Washington. We will visit various crops and soils types, and meet highly regarded researchers and farmers to discuss the very latest knowledge and its applicability to your operation.

I invite you to seriously consider your attendance with our group and I look forward to discussing details and your attendance.

Owen McCarron