Stimulating Earlier Bud Break with Lono Calcium: A Safe, Smart Alternative to Dormex

As growers look to reduce chemical inputs and improve bud health in unpredictable spring conditions, a new approach is gaining traction: Lono Calcium, a dormant spray that nourishes buds rather than forcing them.

While Dormex (hydrogen cyanamide) has long been used to trigger bud break, it does so by chemical disruption — offering no nutritional value, and often carrying risk of phytotoxicity or mistiming.

Lono Ca, on the other hand, provides a dual-action combination of stabilised amine nitrogen and bioavailable calcium, pre-positioned in woody tissue exactly where developing buds need it.

Why Buds Need More Than Just a Push

At bud break, calcium and nitrogen are critical — but both are inaccessible from the soil due to cold conditions and immobility. Lono Ca solves this by delivering both nutrients via the bark, directly into spurs and branches during dormancy.

How Lono Ca Works: Dual Nutritional Action

1. Stabilised Amine Nitrogen – For Metabolic Activation

• Absorbed even at low temperatures
• Fuels cell division, polyamine production, and bud respiration
• Builds internal reserves in spurs and buds
• Lono Advantage: Amine nitrogen is plant-available even under cool conditions and is absorbed into cambium and buds to build reserves before bud break
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📌 Amine N energises buds to emerge faster and more uniformly, reducing lag and improving shoot vigour.

2. Bioavailable Calcium – For Structure and Flower Strength

• Delivers calcium to buds before transpiration begins
• Supports cell wall formation, pollen tube growth, and bud integrity
• Function: Supports cell division, pollen tube elongation, and cell wall integrity
• Lono Advantage: Delivers calcium via woody tissue during dormancy, ensuring it’s already stored in buds when flowering begins

📌 Without leaf transpiration at bloom, calcium can’t be delivered by roots. Lono Ca ensures it’s already where it’s needed—within the bud.

Synergy: The Right Inputs in the Right Place, At the Right Time

“The impact of Lono Ca lies in its ability to pre-position both nutrients exactly where the plant will need them—before it knows it needs them. That’s not just smart nutrition—it’s strategic crop physiology.” — Levity Agronomy Team

Lono Ca vs Dormex: Nourish or Force?

“In our grape trials, we saw that Lono Ca not only matched Dormex in breaking dormancy—with a 92% bud break compared to Dormex’s 96%—but went further by significantly improving shoot colour, fruit size, and cluster uniformity. It’s not just about waking the bud, it’s about nourishing it for better performance throughout the season.” — Levity Agronomy Team

Perfect For Crops That Flower Before Leaves Emerge

Lono Ca is especially effective in deciduous crops that flower before full leaf emergence, such as:

These crops initiate flowering when the plant has no active leaf canopy, meaning there is no transpiration stream to draw water and nutrients—particularly calcium—up from the roots.

Why this matters: Calcium is transported almost exclusively in the xylem via water flow, driven by transpiration from the leaves. Without leaves, there’s no upward pull, and calcium remains locked in the soil or lower stem—unable to reach developing buds and flowers.

The solution: By applying Lono Ca during dormancy, calcium is absorbed directly through the bark and stored in the wood and buds. This ensures that when flowering begins, the plant has a ready internal supply of calcium in place, exactly where it’s needed.

The same applies to nitrogen: with cold soil conditions slowing root uptake, amine nitrogen in Lono Ca provides an immediately accessible, leaf-independent energy source for early development.

This is why dormant application is not just a timing choice—it’s a physiological necessity for flower-first crops.

Recommended Application Guidelines:

• Timing: Apply 2–4 weeks before expected bud break—ideally once chilling requirements are nearly met but before buds swell or green tip appears.
• Rate: 5 litres per hectare (L/ha) in a sufficient water volume to achieve thorough wetting of all woody surfaces.
• Target Area: Focus on spurs, scaffold branches, and trunk—the tissues where buds draw their nutrient reserves.
• Tank Mix Compatibility: Lono Ca is compatible with most dormant season sprays but should not be mixed with strong alkali products or oils unless tested.
• Frequency: One well-timed application is usually sufficient. In climates with erratic chill or extended dormancy, repeat application may be considered.

Final Thought: Build Buds with Biology, Not Just Chemistry

Where Dormex forces buds to wake up, Lono Ca prepares them to thrive. It doesn’t just signal the start of growth—it supplies the building blocks of success.

Growers looking to reduce synthetic inputs while enhancing flowering strength, shoot quality, and fruit development now have a powerful, safe, and biologically aligned solution.

References

1. Sharma, B. D., & Dhillon, W. S. (2005). Effect of foliar application of nitrogen and growth regulators on flowering and fruiting of Kinnow mandarin. Journal of Research Punjab Agricultural University, 42(1), 41–45.
2. Gunes, T., & Baloch, F. S. (2023). Effect of nitrogen application timings on flowering, yield, and fruit quality in citrus. Scientia Horticulturae, 312, 111953.
3. Bernardi, J. et al. (2011). Fall-applied foliar urea increases N reserves and cold hardiness in sweet cherry. Acta Horticulturae, 903, 803–808.
4. Marschner, P. (2012). Marschner’s Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants (3rd ed.). Academic Press.
5. Saure, M. C. (2005). Calcium translocation to fleshy fruit: its mechanism and endogenous control. Scientia Horticulturae, 105(1), 65–89.
6. Levity Crop Science Agronomy Trials. (2010–2022). Internal data from Morocco grape and almond trials. Levity Crop Science Ltd.