Below P10k/Hectare! Foliar, Dung Slurry Reduce Crop Fertilization Expense

In the short time since I decided to personally handle farm operations, I learned one very important lesson – for farming to be meaningful and successful, the farmer has to be directly involved and be present in the fields.
By doing this now, I am able to act on and respond immediately to issues confronting the Sorghum and Soybean farms.
In the process, I am also learning a lot.
One of the greatest discoveries I made is that the cost of fertilization for both Sorghum and Soybeans could be reduced significantly by using local materials supplemented with traditional inorganic fertilizer.
Working on the wisdom shared by Filipino-American farmer-scientist Rocky French, that just like infants and fish fry, young plants could not absorb a lot of food early on in their growth, I have done away with the basal fertilization, or the application of inorganic fertilizer during or before seeding.
By doing this, I have effectively avoided a phenomenon called phytotoxicity where, instead of nourishing young plants, inorganic fertilizer literally “burn” the seeds on contact resulting in low germination.
So, today, I have implemented a fertilization protocol where I use foliar fertilizer in the first nutrient application which is applied by spraying our young Sorghum and Soybeans 8 to 10 days after emergence.
The first significant fertilizer application would be on the 15th to the 20th day when the young plants, especially Soybeans, are presumed to have depleted whatever available nutrients it had or in the soil.
For Soybeans, it is a combination of 21-0-0 mixed in a drum with the Chicken Manure Slurry and applied on the ground through drenching.
For Sorghum, we start with Urea mixed with the Chicken Manure Slurry which could also applied through drenching and mixed with pesticides to address pests in the ground like Cutters.
The second Chicken Manure Slurry/Inorganic Fertilizer application is done on the 30th to the 35th day and that is our final fertilization.
Our foliar spray, along with pesticides application especially for Soybeans, is done three times during the period of growth of both crops, up to the development stage of the beans or the grains.
The Foliar Fertilizer which I have proven to be very effective is the AMO, short for Akoy Organikong Magsasaka, which is produced in Calasiao, Pangasinan.
Made by a company owned by former Congressman Eric Acuña, the seaweed-based AMO has really done wonders on the nutrition of our Sorghum and Soybeans now.
We apply one sachet per hectare three times during the growth of our crops, especially Soybeans, and the green to bluish leaf coloration is really evident.
I know that there are other Foliar Fertilizer made locally which may also be as effective as AMO but in my personal experience now, this seaweed-based foliar has done wonders in our farm.
With the combination of AMO Foliar, Chicken Manure Slurry and Inorganic Fertilizer applied through drenching, the numbers show that we could reduce our fertilization cost to less than P10,000 per hectare.

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