With the vagaries of bulk fertiliser supply and prices, and the need to get a greater return on investment in crop nutrition, growers are increasingly turning to specialty products.
This includes minerals like lime and gypsum used as fertilisers and ameliorants to optimise soil health and crop growth to take best advantage of crop nutrition products.
Lime and gypsum – in the correct refined ‘plant available’ form – are vital inputs to horticultural production and also in improving broadacre soils to improve soil structure, enhance soil moisture holding and penetration and address imbalances in soil pH and potential toxicity to crops.
While gypsum and other soil ameliorants like agricultural lime might seem like ‘old school’ products, the world has moved on and these days not all products are the same.
This demand for refined products suitable for fertigation, boom spraying and applying in liquid formulations at sowing, led to the development of a range of innovative and unique flowable gypsum and lime-based products by Victorian-based Ultimate Agri Products which supplies product across Australia.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then Ultimate Agri Products should be very flattered indeed as its original concept developed some 25 years ago has spurned a number of ‘me-too’ products in the marketplace.
However, the highly refined calcium and sulphur product, GYP-FLO has remained a firm favourite among long-time users for its unique chemistry and fine (5 micron) particle size. This provides a stable formulation which remains in suspension without causing clogging or other issues when used in fertigation systems.
Ultimate Agri Products managing director, Glenn McDonald started off as a vegetable grower in 1983 and was always interested in new technology. He started to research new liquid suspensions to replace "the old" bulk gypsum and lime, and by mid 1999 GYP-FLO and the lime-based product, pH PLUS were released to the market.
Mr McDonald said GYP-FLO is a liquid suspension of calcium and sulphur applied to improve soil structure by reducing sodium build-up and increasing calcium levels in the soil.
“GYP-FLO is much easier to handle and apply via boom spray, drip systems and overhead irrigation compared to spreading bulk gypsum, not to mention the dust issues.
“GYP-FLO is also a great source of calcium and sulphur for plant nutrition and its benefits have made it a mainstay source of nutrition among leading corporate horticultural growers, including intensive vegetable production and tree crops.”
Today, both GYP-FLO and pH PLUS are still leaders in their category due to their suspension technology and effectiveness in their results. The fine particle size makes the elemental calcium and sulphur in GYP-FLO immediately and uniformly available to plants, giving much greater ‘bang for buck’ than any bulk or dry formulations.
Compared to the makeup of bulk lime and gypsum, the formulation of GYP-FLO and PH-PLUS are like night and day, with high ratios of available and soluble elements the key to the effectiveness of these highly refined specialty products.
The properties of the Ultimate Agri Products provide a stark contrast to bulk products, as shown in the table below:
Mr McDonald said it was important that users knew what they were buying as the definition of ‘gypsum’ currently varies from state to state.
According to the CSIRO Australia Soil Fertility Manual (2000), gypsum is defined by regulations in some states as material containing the sulfate salt of calcium (Ca) in either hydrated or anhydrous form where the amount of that salt in the material is not less than 50%.
In most states the label or the advice notice must state the grade of the gypsum. In some states, the percentage of gypsum capable of passing through a 2mm sieve must be specified. The generally agreed standards are for the three grades of natural mined gypsum. These range from a minimum of 12.5%–19% calcium and 10%–15% sulphur for bulk gypsum.
The technology in GYP-FLO provides two to three times higher specification: 35% calcium w/v and 25% sulphur – which delivers a much higher concentration of elemental calcium and sulphur in a more available form (more than 80% available to the plant).
GYP-FLO has been widely adopted by horticulturists and also broadacre growers during the 2022 season, with ample product available for supply Australia-wide from Ultimate Agri Products in Victoria.
Ultimate Agri Products first started supplying the horticultural sector in June 1997 with a small range of three products. Some 25 years on, Ultimate has developed a product portfolio of a dozen solutions and remains a leader in its field.
