Soil Drench or Foliar Spray??? The experts say Sprench

EVALUATION OF APPLICATION METHODS OF COMPOST TEA AND FULVIC AND HUMIC ACIDS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON PLANT GROWTH
Menoufia Journal of Soil Science
September 2021
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       The great science minds of the world have done it again.  This time it's a group of agri-heros out of Menoufia, Egypt.   The scholars wanted to see if how they went about applying compost tea, humic acid, or fulvic acid affected the yield and quality of beans and potatoes, while also seeing if they could reduce the need for conventional fertilizers.  
      To do this they planted farm plots with beans or potatoes, half of those plots received  the recommended application rate of conventional fertilizer, the other half received half of the recommended amount.   Then, those plots were divided up and treated with either compost tea, humic acid, or fulvic acid.  Some of the fields were not treated and were used as the control group to compare results against.   Within those groups, the experimenters applied the tea/humic/fulvic via either foliar spray, soil drench, or a combination of the two, of which we affectionately refer to as the "sprench". 
      After 60 days, the yield and quality of the produce was determined.  It was shown that the application of...... you guessed it!!!  compost tea was the most beneficial.  And the application method that proved best was.... the sprench!!!  According to the paper sprenching compost tea  "resulted in a high yield, quality and reducing the environmental pollution as a result from reducing the additions of the mineral fertilizer ".   Increasing yields, increasing quality, and decreasing fertilizer usage, sound like a win, win, win.  Thanks to our Egyptian compost-counterparts for moving us forward along the path to sustainability. 
     

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