How To Mix & Use Front Row Ag Products

The 2 Types of Fertilizer Preparation

Stock Concentrates:

Turning dry soluble fertilizer into concentrated liquid fertilizer.

Stock Concentrates are highly concentrated solutions prepared in advance. They can be added as a DTR solution, or injected using dosing or fertigation equipment. This method allows for precise control and automation, less mixing frequencies, and lasts longer than DTR due to higher salinity.

Direct to Reservoir (DTR):

Adding fertilizer part-by-part into liquid to create ready-to-feed solution.

In DTR, fertilizer is directly added to a batch tank or reservoir following the prescribed order and mixing between each addition. This solution is fed directly to plants.

DTR a common practice for facilities that do not have access to dosing or fertigation equipment. Fertilizer can be added directly to water holding reservoirs of any size/capacity.

With either method, the order in which you mix the products matters.

By following the prescribed mixing order for Front Row Ag’s 3-part fertilizer system, you ensure optimal solubility, effective pH management, efficient micronutrient delivery, balanced nutrient ratios, and minimized risk of precipitation.

With either method, the order in which you mix the products matters.

By following the prescribed mixing order for Front Row Ag’s 3-part fertilizer system, you ensure optimal solubility, effective pH management, efficient micronutrient delivery, balanced nutrient ratios, and minimized risk of precipitation.

WHY MIXING ORDER MATTERS

When using Front Row Ag’s 3-part “A, B, and Bloom” dry-soluble fertilizer system, following the correct mixing order is important for creating an effective and stable Ready-To-Use (RTU) fertilizer solution. Here’s why the mixing order matters:

Optimizing Solubility

Part A goes in first because it contributes the most weight and electrical conductivity (EC). Starting with the highest weight product that has the least salinity makes it easier to dissolve. As we progress through Part B and Bloom, the EC and weight contributions gradually decrease while acidity of the parts increases. This helps maintain solubility as new components are added.

Preventing Precipitation

Non-organic additives that might form precipitates are added early in the process. This ensures they mix with the lowest EC water and are at their most dilute when encountering the main fertilizers, reducing the risk of precipitation.

Micronutrient Delivery

Micronutrients are included with Calcium Nitrate in Part A.

This strategy serves multiple purposes:

1. It provides a high concentration and quality ratio of micronutrients, which are crucial for plant performance.

2. By combining micronutrients with Calcium Nitrate, we ensure that an optimal and precise quantity of micronutrients will be applied automatically with the macronutrients.

3. This combination makes it easier to validate the presence of micronutrients, as independent micronutrient packages can be difficult to verify due to their low EC.

Balanced Nutrient Ratios

While Calcium is important, it’s easy for a formulation to have too much. By including Potassium Nitrate in the mix, we maintain the necessary Nitrogen values while reducing Calcium to ideal levels.

pH Management

More acidic components are added later in the process to aid in solubility. Additionally, we recommend the principle of “pH down first, pH up last” to maintain optimal solubility throughout the mixing process. Most minerals have higher solubility at lower pH. By the time you reach the Bloom part, which is more acidic, the other components are already well-dissolved.