See Original Article Here

Summary

Humic acid and Liquid Sea Minerals were applied to avocados. At harvest, the fruit weight was increased by10%. By supplying soil biology foods, the soil structure and nutrient availability improved thereby allowing heavier fruit to be produced. Bio-Booster was not used in this trial.

Trial

The trial was conducted on an Avocado farm near Childers. The treatment consisted of applying Humic Acid at 15L/ha and Liquid Sea Minerals at 5L/ha to three rows of the Sheppard variety. The application was made by injection into the under-tree irrigation. The first application was on 3October 2018, a second on 29 November and a third on 26 February 2019. The treated rows were in the centre of a fiel,d and the adjacent rows were the control.

By 8 May 2019, the soil in the treated area felt softer and wetter than untreated rows. This was assessed by feel by two farmworkers and two trained ag-consultants who all agreed. At harvest, the average bin weights in the control rows each side of the treated rows was 416 kg. The 10 bins from the 3 treated rows averaged 460 kg, an 11% increase in weight. This indicates more sugars and minerals in the fruit – higher nutrition for people.

Sugars are produced in leaves through photosynthesis. This is the complex process in which plants combine sunlight with water and minerals from the soil and carbon from the air into sugars. It needs many minerals to work well. Leaf sugars were measured with a refractometer* on 2 April and 8 May 2019. On both occasions, the results, called Brix readings, were 10% higher in the treated rows compared with adjacent control rows. Higher Brix readings mean healthier plants. The healthier a plant is, the less attractive it is to insects, the more resistant to diseases and the more nutrients for people. An increase in sugars also indicates an increase in the minerals that give fruit its distinctive taste. As approximately 50% of plant sugars produced by photosynthesis may be exuded via the roots to feed the soil biology, the soil biology in turn can increase soil carbon levels and structure. This starts a virtuous upward cycle of improvements.

Result

For an outlay of about $200, a return of $600 was achieved, along with lasting soil improvements.