By Lela Kelly
Recently, I paid a visit to a grower who told me that he was concerned that his Dosatron did not seem to be injecting enough fertilizer. When he showed me his stock tank, the problem became clear immediately: the grower was using a lower quality fertilizer which had not dissolved completely, leaving chunks at the bottom of the stock tank.
I run across this sort of thing from time to time. Growers, trying to save a little here and there, use this less expensive fertilizer. What they don’t consider is that this fertilizer will cost them in more ways than just the price of purchase:
- A lower quality fertilizer that does not dissolve well will not inject properly, which means you may need to use more of it to obtain your desired results. If you spend less per bag, but use more bags total, you may actually be spending more on your fertilizer.
- If your fertilizer leaves chunks of un-dissolved matter in the stock tank, there’s a chance that those chunks will end up drawn into the Dosatron, where they will act as debris and possibly impair the check valve or score the inside of your injector. If this happens, you may end up facing additional costs for replacement parts or repairs.
- If you mix your stock tank with a poorly-dissolved fertilizer, even if it does not affect your fertilizer budget or your Dosatron, it may be that your plants aren’t getting the full amount that they need, which could lead to damaged or stunted crops.
This is why it is so important to keep the big picture in mind when deciding on which products to use. We recommend high quality fertilizers with good solubility. Using an agitator pump may also help keep your stock tank mix consistent.
On a related note, I was contacted by grower recently who believed his Dosatron was over-injecting. He was injecting acid, and his pH readings seemed to indicate that the output blend contained too much acid.
Since acid is heavier than water, it needs constant agitation to keep it properly mixed with the water in your stock tank. The method I see growers use most commonly is the highly-scientific “stir it with a stick” technique. This will not work for additives that are heavier than water, and an in-tank agitator will probably yield much better results.
Your chemical manufacturer can answer any questions you have about solubility and the correct method to keep your stock tank homogenous. And if you have any questions about your Dosatron injector, we’re always here for you at 800-523-8499, or drop us a line in the comments.
