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How to make boron to plants in a natural way

How to make boron to plants in a natural way

Boron is indispensable in many activities that are functional to plant life; its deficiency causes, in most cases, serious physiological disorders. In short, the boron: regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates, encouraging the translocation from certain sites and the accumulation in others; at the cellular level it greatly influences the permeability of the membrane, allows an ordered cell division, is crucial for the fertility of the pollen; participates in the synthesis of fats and their metabolism; greatly influences the absorption and translocation of calcium, potassium and phosphorus; favors the nitrogen fixation in legumes. However, some aspects of its activity in plants have not yet been satisfactorily explained. Boron is absorbed by plants like borate ions (BO33-) or boric acid (H3BO3), which are more widely available for root systems under neutral or slightly acid pH conditions. In plants, boron is quite mobile but can not be redistributed from old organs to new ones. The concentration of boron between 2 and 15 ppm is considered a deficiency, between 15 and 50 ppm in optimal condition, above 75 ppm can give rise to phytotoxicity manifestations, variable depending on the species.

High levels of potassium and soil calcium accentuate the borocarenza. In this contribution we will see how to make boron to plants in a natural way.
For the boron inputs you can use products deriving from the processing of boric minerals, such as boric acid, boric anhydride, borax, colemanite (pay attention, however, because small excesses can cause cytotoxicity). On the other hand, if we find ourselves in soils that, above all for the pH above 7, make the boron also present in adequate absolute quantities unavailable, it is often preferable to leaf by means of specific formulations in which the boron is bound with organic compounds such as polysaccharides or amines (in particular ethanolamine) which favor the absorption by the foliage of the crops (we recommend 2-3 interventions in fertigation or through the leaves with boron doses of 80-100 grams per hectare and per intervention). But if we have arrived to the foliar fertilization it is possible that we have wrong choice of the plant according to the characteristics of the soil and this is an agronomic error that should never be done. As with other microelements, the boron removal carried out by the crops is really reduced, as they can range from 80 to 300 grams per hectare and per year. In the soils with sub-alkaline or alkaline pH, there are practically no losses of boron due to run-off, a phenomenon that instead can occur in acid soils in conditions of intense rains. The situations of excess of boron are not uncommon; they usually occur for the soil matrix or for the nature of irrigation water which, especially in the areas near the thermal areas, can register a considerable content of this microelement. In these cases, boron toxicity can occur with yellow punctuations of the leaf blade which can then degenerate into dark and then necrotic areas with the advance of toxicity. The vegetables that can be more sensitive to excess boron are e.g. strawberry, bean and artichoke; those that tolerate it well even at high levels are carrot, beetroot, onion, lettuce and turnip. But it is often agronomic techniques that can better regulate the concentration of boron. Among these we remember to maintain an adequate amount of organic substance in the soil because it is a source of boron for crops and because it naturally regulates the right relationship between the aerial phase and the liquid phase in the soil; very useful is the mulching technique that performs two functions: it decreases the irrigation needs and therefore the danger of leaching the boron and at the end of its use provides organic substance useful for the reintegration of this element. Also use the irrigation technique in a balanced manner for a correct degree of humidity in the soil. However the phase in which it is more important that the plant has the right amount of boron is the one that precedes and follows the flowering, being the boron determining for pollination and fertilization.




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