Lithovit can be used on all crops, grasses and trees except those preferring acid soil.

Commercial farmers are reaping the benefits, quite literally from using the first C02 foliar fertiliser.

There have been a number of studies done both in New Zealand and overseas that have shown results impressive enough to convince farmers to incorporate Lithovit into their entire spray programmes.

Lithovit, a Biogro organically certified product has a base ingredient of calcium and magnesium carbonate, which is supported with numerous micronutrients.

It increases the natural photosynthesis to optimum concentration by supplying a much higher C02 from inside the leaves. Lithovit can be used on all crops, grasses and trees, except those preferring acid soil.

Adam Kasper, manager at Highway Orchards in Te Puke undertook a trial last season on 1.2 hectare of Haywood kiwifruit. He noted an increase in yield, consistency in size and an improved resistance to diseases.

Fruit had a more rapid growth resulting in them being able to harvest at week 13 of early start. Fruit was also much larger in size without compromising the dry matter and quality.

“The results blew us away despite it being a very dry season,” Mr Kaspar says. “Local orchardists have been keen to know what we have been doing and the secret is out now. We wanted to finish our trials and get some statistics back first so we could be sure of what we were advocating”.

A glance at the stats shows an exceptional increase in yield compared to other farmers. Zespri calculates an average return per hectare of 7,286 trays.

The pool average of kiwifruit farmers in the Te Puke area last season was 7,330 trays per hectare, yet the grower using Lithovit had an incredible 12,000+ trays per hectare, more than 65% higher than the average contributor to the pool.

Viticulture expert Luc Desbonnets had similar success in trials at two Waiheke vineyards. He found the grapes to be more tolerant to diseases, an increase in yield and a consistency of healthy fruit, especially in the skin texture.

• Lithovit is Biogro certified BG5256. It is harmless to humans and animals and not hazardous.

CLOVER

All farmers want the best pasture for livestock. So it’s timely to remember the role of a special plant – the white clover (Trifolium repens) which is usually present in productive pasture.

Belonging to the same family as lucerne and lupins, clover has small nodules on the roots where Rhizobia bacteria live. It is the bacteria which make clover such a great plant: rhizobia convert nitrogen gas into nitrate, which pasture plants then use as a fertiliser.  Clover is also high in all the nutrients that stock require.

Healthy soil has pockets of air which contain about 80% nitrogen gas. The gas is absorbed by the Rhizobia bacteria and converted into the compound “nitrate”. When they die, nitrate is released into the soil as free fertiliser for other plants to use.

It has been estimated that if all 10 million hectares of New Zealand grassland contained 20% clover, then some 2 million tonnes of atmospheric nitrogen would be fixed into the soil/pasture/animal system each year.