Staged Nutrient Release Blends

After opening its blending facility in 1995, Florikan began researching how it could create custom controlled release fertilizer blends which perform according to a plant’s specific need or uptake pattern. Plants need different nutrients at different times of its growth cycle. Many greenhouse operations feed plants through liquid fertigation (drip lines) which gives a grower the ability to provide a plant with the right nutrients at the right time. Florikan challenged itself to find a way to replicate this precise form of fertilization in an outdoor, nursery or field-grown environment.

 

This effort in custom blending research lead to the invention of Staged Nutrient Release (SNR)™, which Florikan has patented. SNR™ works by blending controlled release forms of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Minor elements so that they are available when required by the plant, and then limits the nutrient availability when they are not needed.

 

Florigraph

 

SNR™ is cost effective in that a grower is not paying for nutrients that a plant does not need. It is also environmentally preferable as it limits the potential for nutrient run-off through an efficient means of fertilization that reduces waste. If a plant cannot absorb certain nutrients at a specific point in its crop cycle, then those nutrients are wasted and they leach into the soil and groundwater over time.

 

Florikan uses its Nutricote® and Florikote™ technologies, along with granular fertilizers, to design an SNR™ blend. We also take into account important cultural factors such as pH, soil type, temperatures, and rainfall. As a result, SNR™ blends will often result in higher quality plants or improved yields and faster growth cycle.

 

For its development of SNR™, Florikan earned the following prestigious state and national awards:

  • The State of Florida Governor’s Best New Product Award
  • The National Society of Professional Engineers Most Innovative New Product Award (USA Small Business Category)
  • The Gulf Guardian Award (from a program administered by the EPA’s Gulf of Mexico Program Partnership)

Mr. Jimmy Palmer, Regional Administrator of the EPA in 2005, stated that “Florikan’s commitment to the environment establishes the company as a leader in the Horticulture Industry by developing products that reduce nutrient inputs and run-off...The reduction of nutrient run-off to the Gulf of Mexico is a significant challenge. Together, the Southeastern Nursery Industry and Florikan are meeting this challenge through the use of Best Management Practices and environmentally-sound growing methods.”