Too good to be true ?

[peachy]

I have always been skeptical about the effectiveness of foliar feeding. It is so quick, easy and economical compared to feeding with a watering can, but does it work as well doing it with spray pack ? I am interested in hearing other opinions about it and if anyone has had any noticeable ben Puzzled efits from feeding this way.

A Puzzled Peach

[Kim]

I suppose it only depends on your garden style -- Martha Stewart with flowered gloves and watering can or Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs with hard helmet and the spray pack. I would expect the effectiveness to be similar, possibly more of an even application with the sprayer, giving it a slight edge. Just a guess.

[Tomas]

A question I asked myself too. It was demonstrated that plants absorb nutrients through leaves spraying with radioactive elements that were later detected distributed in the whole plant. The way of penetration are mainly the stomata, but many palms have them only on the lower part, so spraying from below should be essential.

My few cents of worth, I am not an expert at all.

Tomas

[richnorm]

Never noticed much if any benefit with palms but there again I typically have only used it to try and green up "cold" palms.  

[Moose]

Inefficient method in my opinion. Palms are not orchids. Most nutrient uptake is via the roots in nature, it's what they do.

 

 

 

[Cindy Adair]

Hi Peachy! I have no idea about palms and foliar feeding, but just wanted to say hi to you from across the world! 

However I am enjoying reading the answers from others on this subject, thanks.

 

[Gonzer]

Adding a small dose of a surfactant (sticker/spreader) will greatly increase the effectiveness the fertilizer's ability to bind to the frond surface.

[sonoranfans]

Most plants evolved by taking nutrients up through their roots.  Sure a falling raindrop can have some N2 in it, but nothing else as its natures condensate.  N2 diffuses into the drop as it falls, longer distances mean more N2 till a limit is reached.  Sprinkler water for instance, has nil N2 in it, not enough time to absorb it.  The process of evolution says that root uptake is far more important for every nutrient since nature supplies only Nitrogen and in limited amount to the leaves.  I have used all kind of foliar sprays and haven't noticed any difference between foliar plus rootzone vs root zone only. applications.  The more waxy the leaf, the more likely that water based delivery systems however well intended, dont penetrate well.  Some highly evolved plants like redwood trees absorb most of what they need through their leaves.  Perhaps some palms are that way, but my own experience says no.