Conventional fertiliser is wasteful and environmentally unstable
Most growers know that calcium is important for fruit and vegetable crops, as it can improve cell wall strength, which has a positive effect on shelf life, firmness and ability to withstand diseases and physiological disorders. However when you look at the scientific evidence it becomes clear that the calcium applied to fruit and vegetable crops does not always end up where it is needed. Calcium is poorly absorbed by flowers and fruit therefore a lot of the calcium farmers apply to their crops is wasted as fruit are not able to absorb it efficiently.
So why is it the case that calcium absorption is so erratic? Calcium absorption is strongly linked to the transport of auxin, a plant hormone. In plants auxins are not evenly distributed, so some parts of a crop can absorb calcium well and others can’t.
As fruit and vegetables grow and mature their ability to absorb calcium decreases and when crops are sprayed with foliar calcium, the leaves and very young fruit will absorb it, but maturing fruits will not. Usually it is exactly the fruit that can’t absorb the calcium that farmers are targeting, in order to improve firmness and post harvest shelf life and prevent disorders. This is why results from conventional calcium fertilisers are so erratic, sometimes the fruit can’t absorb calcium into fruit and the input is wasted.
Albina contains Levity’s pioneering LoCal technology, to stimulate calcium absorption into parts of crops where conventional products cannot. It can help farmers get firmness, fruit set and shelf-life to higher standards using very low inputs. It can also reduce physiological disorders on a wide range of crops.