NUTRIENT STEERING with

SAP ANALYSIS to

MANAGE the UPTAKE BALANCING ACT

in

CITRUSScott D. Wall

Nutrient Steering

- For optimal yield and return on investment (ROI) orchard management has to have active management engagement.

- Growers and their managers must intentionally act and react to growing conditions and crop responses throughout the season. This is NASCAR Thunder not Casino Roulette.

- Nutrient Steering is an integral part of that active management, but you cannot do it with a blindfold on.

- Nutrient steering requires data. The grower needs to know:

- Where the block is currently and where they want the block to be

Nutrient Steering Checklist

• Field Scouting the orchard and understanding its realistic production potential and production roadblocks (pathogens, pests, weather, etc.)

• Soil tests – Know what is in the tank before you start the race.

• Irrigation water test - Know your water quality and nutrient content.

• Sap Analysis throughout the season at critical points of production or pest pressure.

• Have amendment providers preselected that can assist with specific nutrient application needs – NOT just their formulas in a jug or bag.

• Take excellent notes and records – this isn’t your first race and it won’t be your last

Dashboard of 23 Sap Analysis Parameters:

Macro Elements

- Chloride

- Sulfur

- Phosphorous

- Calcium

- Potassium

- Magnesium

- Sodium

Trace Elements

- Aluminum

- Boron

- Cobalt

- Copper

- Iron

- Manganese

- Molybdenum

- Silica

- Zinc

Nitrogen & Metabolic- Total Nitrogen

- Nitrate as N

- Ammonium as N

- Sugars, Brix, pH, EC

- * Nickel

- * Selenium

- * Sugar panel

SAP Analysis Over Dry Tissue

Dry Tissue• Nutrients incorporated into leaf tissue (Historical

accumulation of nutrients)

• Half the picture when only young leaves are tested

• Late detection of deficiency or excesses

Sap Analysis

• Current, available and unincorporated nutrients

• Xylem & Phloem from leaf and petiole

• Nutrient mobility of: N, P, K, Mg, NO3, NH4, Na & Cl

• Early detection of deficiency or excesses (4 to 6 weeks before dry tissue)

• Includes metabolic parameters

Critical Nutrients for Citrus Nutrition of Florida Citrus Trees, 3rd Edition

• Macronutrients N, P, K, and Mg

• Micronutrients B and Cu

• Effects of HLB increases the importance of monitoring Ca, Mn, Zn, and Fe

• Beyond Nutrition in Sap

• Chemical parameters for monitoring Irrigation (pH and EC)

• Metabolic indicators (% Sugars and Brix) for photosynthesis assessment.

• Total Nitrogen breakdown: NO3 and NH4

New leaf: (1) lite green Old leaf: (2) dark green Columns: low, optimal, highMobile: Nutrients:Anions: Cl, Phos, NO3Cations: K, Mg, Na, NH4Immobile: Ca

How to Read a Sap Report

Cation & Anion Balance

Liebig’s Law of Minimums

- Summary: plant improvement is dependent on increasing most

limited nutrient

- A chain is only as strong as its weakest link

- Let’s improve upon this and ask: Why?

Let’s build upon Leibig’s notion and look at the other side of the Law of Minimums…..

Maximum, Excess, Toxicity

Maximum

Cation Imbalance

Ca

Na

Mg

K

Na

K

Mg

Na

Low Optimum High

Anion Imbalance

Cl

S

P

Cl

Cl

NO3

S

S

Optimal High

Nitrogen Breakdown: Total N, NH4, NO3

• Total N: 1700/1500 LOW

• NH4 as N: 140/150, over 100 ppm, Not breaking down well

• NO3 as N: 880/310, HIGH

• Unconverted NO3 and NH4 make up 60% of Total N, high risk of sap sucking pest infestation.

Are plants using N efficiently?

If Nitrate as N > 35%+ of TN- the answer is: NO

The Solution:

- Mg, S, Fe, Moly, Mn, Zn

These elements are all apart of Nitrogen breakdown so check your dashboard.

Nutrients used in Nitrogen reduction that

are low:

Sulfur

Iron

Moly

Zinc

Correction in course by monitoring our dashboard and

steering to our crop management

Graphing Nutrients Over Time

Bring Home the Checkered Flag with PLANT SAP ANALYSIS

Scott Wall: swall@newagelandmark.comPresident (269) 637-5658

Jenny Garley: jgarley@newagelaboratories.com

Chief Science Officer (408) 201-3486