Nutrient Uptake into the Plant

09.12.2020 – Foliar nutrition is a strong tool to supply your plants very fast with nutrients they urgently need. Key to a quick nutrient acquisition into the plant is a foliar fertilizer which is optimally adapted to the different requirements – like WUXAL. The advantages are numerous and not limited to:

• Rapid nutrient supply
• High nutrient efficiency
• Reduced soil pollution
• Improvement of spray mixture features

Before a nutrient can be utilized in the plant, it must be absorbed by the leaf or fruit tissue. There are several barriers and channels nutrients must go through within the very complex leaf structure:

1  penetration through the cuticle

2  penetration through the epidermal cell wall

3  nutrient uptake into the cells

4  distribution inside the plant (nutrient mobility)

The speed of nutrient absorption depends mainly on the quality of the spray film on the leaf surface. The better the spray film is distributed, and the pH is adjusted to the optimum, the better the nutrients can enter the plant.

Several other factors play a major role, too:

• The quality of nutrients and
• the presence of highly efficient adjuvants in the formulation.

Foliar absorption through the cuticle

The cuticle is a protective film composed of several layers, covering leaves and fruits. Nutrients can be absorbed through the cuticle or cuticular cracks or imperfections. The top layers of the cuticle consist of waxes that are water repellent. Lower layers are more water attractive.

The challenge is to develop products that adapt perfectly to the different environments and find the easiest and shortest way through those critical layers. We convert the knowledge from science and our longtime experience into the WUXAL products to design solutions for you that enter the plant extremely fast.

Foliar absorption through stomatal pores

Stomata are pores in the surface of leaves or fruits that control the gas exchange and transpiration of the plant. Stomata may contribute significantly to foliar absorption of nutrients, especially of larger molecules.

As stomata are not covered by a cuticle, the entrance barriers are lower than for the rest of the leave or fruit surface. Droplets cannot enter the plant directly but the nutrients in the solution can be taken up. The better the nutrient formulation is adapted to this mechanism, the higher is the uptake speed via stomata.

Your features in WUXAL:

• High performing WUXAL Additives like the Xtra Uptake Technology
• Ingredients of best quality with outstanding solubility
• Optimal uptake via stomata and the cuticle