True amino readily absorbed

Arnd and Heidi Enneking take a biological approach on their 1100-hectare mixed farm at Greenpatch, where they crop 600ha of wheat, canola, barley, oats, lupins, beans, cover crops and sunflowers, alongside a 2500-head Merino flock.

The property has acid soils with hostile subsoils, which has been a challenge with fertilising.

“We have ironstone soils; they tie up fertilisers,” Mr Enneking said.

“I didn’t like how much fertiliser I was putting on and the damage it was doing. We wanted to work with the biology in the soil and rebuild the fertility.

“We tried no fertiliser with just biological stimulants but that wasn’t enough. 

“We needed something soil friendly that got nutrients into the plants and didn’t tie up in the soil.”  

Mr Enneking tried commonly used trace elements, including making his own dissolved sulphates, but was not happy with the effectiveness.

“Only 10 per cent of common fertilisers gets into the plant,” he said.

“We did a lot of liming, but we put so much on, it put our soils out of balance.

"The calcium magnesium balance was out of whack.”

In 2014, the couple came across a new product – true amino acid liquid fertiliser – produced by Cropping Solutions, Adelaide, which boasted being able to fix soil fertility.

The product – called CS Red – consist of nutrients in amino acid form.

The product was developed so the nutrient was integrated into the amino acid, instead of merely coating the nutrient.

Mr Enneking said this helps the acid – and in-turn the nutrient – be more readily absorbed into the plant.

This particular product also includes phosphorous, manganese, copper, zinc, boron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, sulphur, molybdenum and nitrogen. 

Mr Enneking said they applied it with the seed. 

“We have observed a noticeable increase in rooting depth and fine root hair development,” he said.

“Where we used to have L shaped roots, we now have roots that go straight down.

“Soil health is improving with increased worm activity, softer soil and more stable aggregates.”

They also apply true amino acid calcium liquid fertiliser CS Calx in-crop to further boost soil fertility and crop health.

The fertiliser is 12pc calcium and also contains biostimulants including kelp, fish and worm juice.

Excess calcium is excreted through the roots, into the soil, modifying the root-zone.

“It’s completely changed what we can grow,” Mr Enneking said.

“We can grow beans, peas and lucerne.”

Mr Enneking said his neighbour also tried the biostimulant-rich liquid calcium fertiliser.

“Their yield doubled in one paddock,” Mr Enneking said.

“It was a good result, as he had really struggled with that paddock.”

Mr Enneking prizes the liquid nutrient.

“The advantage of liquid is we can customise our fertiliser,” he said.

“We can fine-tune our fertiliser in each batch; we can find paddocks that need more copper or zinc and add it to the liquid stream.

“We can also add soil inoculants to fix soil biology. After years of being hammered, we have coaxed the soil back to life to work for us.”