"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. Together, the Southeastern Nursery Industry and Florikan promote the use of Best Management Practices and environmentally-sound growing methods."

Jimmy Palmer
Regional Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
Atlanta, GA

Sustainability, it's a word you hear a lot these days. It's not a new word for Florikan. As a matter of fact, we have built our company around the principles of sustaining our natural resources. For 25 years, Florikan has developed production systems for the professional horticulture industry. The initials - E.S.A. - in our name stand for "Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture." We have developed products to that standard since 1981 and manufacture controlled release fertilizers that have reduced impact and reduced potential leaching on the environment. We also manufacture plastic nursery pots using 100% post consumer recycled plastic resin for the professional horticulture industry.

As a fertilizer manufacturer, our company takes environmental stewardship seriously. Florikan advocates that if the ecological systems of our watersheds are endangered, due to the quantity and timing of flows of nutrients into the estuaries, it is our responsibility to improve the stewardship of nutrient usage. We have been fortunate to have received recognition for this effort…our Staged Nutrient Release fertilizer received a 2005 Gulf Guardian Award from a program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency Gulf of Mexico Partnership.

TECHNOLOGY - Florikan's Patented Fertilizer Technologies
The company's signature technology, Staged Nutrient Release® (SNR), is a cost effective and environmentally preferable alternative to traditional fertilizers. SNR works by timing the controlled release of nutrients to a plant’s needs so that Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium are available during the appropriate time of a crop cycle. If a fertilizer is feeding a plant nutrients that a plant cannot absorb then there is only one place for those nutrients to ultimately go, and that is eventually into the groundwater.

For its efforts in developing SNR, Florikan received the 2004 National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Most Innovative New Product Award (Small Business) for the United States. As the NSPE award winner, Florikan received a research and development award grant from the NASA funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program. Through this grant, Florikan gained the expertise to polymer coat its own component fertilizers. This new technology known as Flori-Kote, is an impervious polymer that is liquefied and sprayed on the surface of fertilizer granules. At a precise point in the coating process a predetermined amount of a second polymer is added resulting in a catalytic reaction between the two polymers. The result of this catalytic reaction is an expected series of microscopic release passages (small imperfections) in the coating. The addition of the second polymer is what controls the release of the nutrients by reverse osmosis.

By adjusting the amount of the second polymer, Flori-Kote can accurately predict the release of the fertilizer in months over time. By adding layers of coating the release can be even further accurately predicted. The patented technology of Flori-Kote permits the matching of the relative solubility of the nutrient to the relative porosity of the polymer coating. Moisture enters the prill through the channels, by reverse osmosis, starting the dissolution of the nutrients which will then release by reverse osmosis back through the channels. Flori-Kote technology mirrors the technology found in some of the most effective controlled release products in the world.

NUTRIENT LOADING & HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS
Nutrient run-off comes from many different sources: sewage discharge, septic tanks, atmospheric deposition, and improper use of nutrients. There is no single cause to blame for nutrient pollution. It's the TOTAL LOAD of nutrient run-off which is the problem and it's the TOTAL LOAD which must be reduced. Nutrients are essential elements for plant growth and are commonly used in plant production and in landscape applications. Using different nutrients can result in more efficient plant response. Using more Controlled Release Magnesium and less Nitrogen or Phosphate can help plants produce chlorophyll. Magnesium is the center atom of the chlorophyll molecule and the plant requires Magnesium to produce green foliage.

World-wide, relationships have been observed between increases in nutrient loading and proliferations of specific types of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). If excess nutrients leaching into estuaries, are known to be a contributing factor to algal blooms, then the amount of nutrients applied to meet plant growth needs should be the minimum amount required. In some locales, HABs have increased in response to alterations in the type of nutrient, not only major nutrient forms such as Nitrogen and Phosphorus, but changes in the chemical form of these nutrients.

HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS RESEARCH
In her peer reviewed, published research entitled "Escalating Worldwide Use Of Urea - A Global Change Contributing To Coastal Eutrophication", Dr. Patricia M. Gilbert states "Although urea fertilizer is commonly assumed to be retained in soils, there is growing evidence of urea transport to sensitive coastal waters. There is mounting evidence that urea differentially stimulates the growth of some types of phytoplankton in coastal waters and that it may, under some conditions, promote a shift in phytoplankton species to organisms that are more noxious to the ecosystem and to human health." There is no question that nutrients are required by HABs, as they are by all algal species. Two nutrients in human-derived sources, Phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N), are of most concern in eutrophication. The Cambridge Consensus of leading scientists on Land Based Pollution and Toxic Dinoflagellates indicated that "Whatever the trends in nutrient pollution may be, it is clear that, larger amounts of materials that stimulate biological production were delivered from the land to the estuarine rivers during 1996 and extending into 1997. Both experimental and field studies around the world show that nutrient enrichment often results in the development of high densities of small flagellated algae. The role of phosphorous or Nitrogen depends on the relative concentrations of their available forms and the nutritional status of the organisms, all of which are site specific and variable over time. In the long term, decreases in nutrient loading will likely reduce eutrophication, thereby improving water quality."

REDUCING THE TOTAL LOAD OF NUTIENT POLUTION
Our lakes, rivers, streams, and estuaries are currently under attack. The enemy is a 3 billion year old microorganism called a Cynobacteria that produce a neurotoxin called cynotoxins that according to EPA scientist Dr. Kenneth Hudnell can, after exposure, "result in multiple organ failure of a human being." The stimulation of Cynobacteria production is directly related to the proliferation of Harmful Algal Blooms which in turn are related to nutrients (primarily Nitrogen and phosphate). Scientists fear that water quality may be so seriously impacted that fisheries, drinking water, and even sustainability of life, may be in jeopardy in a very short period time. There is no one factor which one can point to as the primary source of nutrient run-off which is contributing to the decline in our water systems. All the sources of nutrients potentially stimulating algal blooms, include sewage, atmospheric deposition, groundwater flow, agricultural and aquaculture run-off, and discharge and residential uses of nutrients are contributing factors. It's the total nutrient load we need to reduce, and adopting Best Management Practice is one way our industry can be part of the solution.

REDUCING USAGE OF CHEMICALS
For 25 years, Florikan has not sold a chemical pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide. We advocate the use of Sustainable Pest Control (SPC) principles which are based upon a holistic view of crop production. Florikan provides live predatory insects, biological controls, and natural oils to its customers for use as alternatives to toxic chemicals.

Florikan also educates its customers to reduce their costs by using less herbicides, pesticides and fungicides and still get the result desired. Checking the pH of water is one of the keys to doing so. Water is the primary delivery vehicle when applying chemicals to plant material. Adjusting the spray tank water to be a more efficient carrier is an important step in reducing the amount of the chemical needed to do the job. This also reduces cost. Most chemicals have a reaction called "pesticide hydrolysis" when mixed with alkaline water (pH of 7 or higher). Pesticide hydrolysis can significantly reduce the efficacy of the chemical by as much as 50%.

Acidifying the pH of the spray tank water to a pH of 5 will make the spray water more efficient, resulting in the reduction of rate and amount needed to achieve objective. This will also obviously save money! The first step is to make sure you really need to spray before spraying. If after scouting the crops, the chemical is determined to be needed, adjust the pH of the spray tank water to 5 by adding Indicate 5 until the spray tank water turns pink. When the water in the tank is pink the pH is fixed at 5 and the chemical is then added at the lowest rate. Reduction of chemical sprays by amount and frequency is a Best Management Practice which can protect our environment and reduce cost.