# Thoughts on Foliar liquid hay booster?



## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

The local Co-op has a liquid "hay booster" from Idaho that they call "Bucksnot". It is 5-10-5 and $5.17/gal. Recommended application rate is 3 to 5 gal/acre.

My question is this, given that the other ingredients are proprietary and we don't know what it is, Is there a benefit to using it? I have heard that there is some Boron in it but don't know that for a fact.

FWIW, this is heavy ground.

Anyone heard of it? Used it? Know anyone that has used it or something like it? Most importantly, does it pay?

My thoughts are to use this stuff in between cuttings and spread granular fertilizer as per soil samples in the late fall. It is also my understanding that this stuff depletes the soil as it goes straight to the plant.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I'd price it per lb of fertilizer against other fertilizers available there. There is a fish emulsion fertilizer sold here as a foliar fertilizer for big $ per lb fertilizer value. People buy it but I'm not sure they should.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

Most states make it mandatory to list all ingredients on fertilizer labels.

You can make your own liquid fertilizer by dissolving urea, potassium chloride, mono potassium phosphate, etc. in water. All of the billions of dollars in research shows the same things over and over again. There is no magic bullet. In this case, you are paying for the water + profit the company makes. I say pass on it if there is no complete label.


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## TJH (Mar 23, 2014)

I am an experimenter, and on 10 to 15 acres try new things every year just to see. The one thing that I have found out abort foliars is if you don't have enough fertility in the soil you are wasting your time and money, they are a boost at best. They will help in a well balanced program, but concentrate on your soil first. That's my buffalo nickles worth.


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## Hugh (Sep 23, 2013)

Foliar feeding works. What the leaves don't take in will be washed off the foliage by rain or irrigation and down into the soil. (However, some forms can be lost by volatilization) Some plants are more efficient in taking in nutrients through the leaves than through the roots. For example, in highly alkaline soils, sometimes the only way to get iron to a plant is through foliar feeding.

The problem with most liquid fertilizer sales is that companies deliver fertilizer dissolved in water and the bottom line is that they are depending on the ignorance of the farmer to make their profits. Nothing wrong with this. In the same fashion, Heineken makes a very good profit from me by combining yeast, hops and barley because I just don't know how to make beer.

However, making good beer is a 1000 times more complex than tossing 20 pounds of urea + 20 pounds of muriate of potash in 100 gallons of water and selling this as a "Super Plant Tonic."

Basically, this is what many companies are doing.

If you contact a large fertilizer supplier, get a list of raw ingredients, find out which of these are soluble, then, you too will be in the liquid fertilizer business.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

Hugh said:


> Foliar feeding works. What the leaves don't take in will be washed off the foliage by rain or irrigation and down into the soil. (However, some forms can be lost by volatilization) Some plants are more efficient in taking in nutrients through the leaves than through the roots. For example, in highly alkaline soils, sometimes the only way to get iron to a plant is through foliar feeding.
> 
> The problem with most liquid fertilizer sales is that companies deliver fertilizer dissolved in water and the bottom line is that they are depending on the ignorance of the farmer to make their profits. Nothing wrong with this. In the same fashion, Heineken makes a very good profit from me by combining yeast, hops and barley because I just don't know how to make beer.
> 
> ...


 The best advice that I have heard yet.....

I know well that there is no silver bullet when feeding soil and plants. I was looking into using it as a supplement to my regular fertilizer program.


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## Holte-Hoff (Jul 31, 2015)

TJH said:


> I am an experimenter, and on 10 to 15 acres try new things every year just to see. The one thing that I have found out abort foliars is if you don't have enough fertility in the soil you are wasting your time and money, they are a boost at best. They will help in a well balanced program, but concentrate on your soil first. That's my buffalo nickles worth.


 We have a biological farm and use Ag-grand 4-3-3, works well! You do need to have your soil health up for best results!


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Dad was involved in several forage studies with Purdue years ago when we still milked cows.

Regardless of rate used or brand, it only ever paid for itself and a little more if you were already making the trip across the field with the sprayer anyways, making a separate trip with a sprayer just to foliar feed was a money loser. However, this soil was as good as good could be according to soil tests, if you just picked some hay ground up and the soil tests are out of whack it may show a better return.

We foliar feed soybeans on all the lighter more drought prone ground and it does help, but we also only foliar feed while spraying for weeds, never make a special trip just for foliar feed, also don't bother applying it to our heavier soils as haven't seen enough return to justify the cost.


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## Lostin55 (Sep 21, 2013)

That is good to know as I was looking at spraying weeds on the same pass. The observations about heavy ground are also prudent in this case.


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

It appears that the application information that you need is in the notes at the bottom of the test results form. Your fertilizer guy is trying to sell you a 'bill of goods' telling you to apply 90-90-90 now.

Also important is weed control. Google weed control in newly sprigged bermudagrass...


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

I toss in a couple three 2.5 gallon jugs of DEF in my sprayer (300 gallon) 3 point mount and go spray that on a field in the evening. It gives a quick boost but don't last.

DEF is good for something other than diesel emissions....

DEF= 32% urea and deionized water.


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