Water and nutrients are valuable resources – it pays to make the most of them!
With the effects of climate change already being felt across the world, there is increasing evidence of the need for us all to adapt our behaviours to mitigate these changes in every way that we can. One important change in weather patterns that we are experiencing here in the UK is that summers are generally becoming warmer and drier. It’s sometimes hard to comprehend these changes, especially as this summer appears to be bucking the trend! However, water is already a limited resource in the South East of England, and pressures on water supplies are becoming more stretched with domestic demand ever increasing from housing and population growth. The Environment Agency has recently warned that there will not be enough water to meet demand 25 years from now. Sir James Bevan, Chief Executive, stated that “we all need to use less water and use it more efficiently”.
With this increasing need for water use efficiency, and the high costs of providing reservoirs and storage facilities for irrigation, farmers and growers are looking at what tools are available to make the very best use of all the water they have. One easy and relatively inexpensive tool to help with this is the use of horticultural surfactants, also known as wetting agents. At Hortifeeds we have developed a unique and technically advanced wetting agent called HortiHydrate Pro. This not only optimises growing conditions but also helps to conserve water. HortiHydrate Pro reduces immediate water run-off from containers and coir or peat bags, allowing more of it to get where it’s needed around the roots. It can even reduce evaporation loss by allowing water to penetrate through the media or soil surface more easily, so wastage is reduced, and production costs are lowered.
Formulated using the very latest surfactant technology, HortiHydrate Pro will optimise the water holding potential in any growing media, and soil in field scale production. HortiHydrate Pro forms a ‘chain’ between the water and growing media, lowering the surface tension. This enables uniform wetting of the growing media, creating the optimum balance between water and air spaces. A good moisture profile means the plant has 100% of the media to grow in, resulting in crops having access to more nutrients and benefit from better and more even growing conditions.
All types of growing media can become hydrophobic when dry, making it much more difficult to re-wet leading to unevenly watered areas, reducing crop growth rate and quality. HortiHydrate Pro also contains spreading and penetrating surfactants to alleviate this problem quickly, making the most of all the water and nutrients supplied.
Water applied to the top of containers takes the easiest path downwards by gravity, and if the growing media surface is dry and hydrophobic, water will run down the inside edge of the container, completely missing the root system. Using HortiHydrate Pro ensures all the growing media in the container has an even moisture profile.
The scientifically engineered formulation of HortiHydrate Pro uniquely includes Reverse Block Co-Polymers, which degrade more slowly than standard surfactants, meaning that treated growing media will retain its rewetting ability for longer between applications.
HortiHydrate Pro can be applied constantly through the irrigation system at 0.01ml/litre, weekly at 0.1ml/litre or monthly to quarterly at 0.5ml/litre.
For more information, please contact your Hortifeeds Sales Manager.
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