Fritted Trace Element by Sandra Lee
Just as good nutrition is essential to sustaining a healthy body, it is the key to a healthy garden as well. Open any magazine and you will find that current trends advocate boosting the immune system to fight disease--attack the cause, rather than face a possible superbug.
Gardeners are moving away from the indiscriminate use of chemicals in an effort to walk softly in nature. Prudent use of fritted trace elements(finely divided elements)allow plants to overcome many problems associated with mineral nutrition. When your plants don't grow well, even though you have fertilized, or when your fruit trees bloom but do not produce fruit, or when plant foliage is lack-lustre or yellowed, look to your soil.
Plants require more than the basic fertilizer elements of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to be all they can be. While some plant nutrients occur abundantly in your garden soil, others are insufficient. Minor elements (trace elements) such as boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdimum and zinc will help with plant color, fruit and flower yield and general nutrient absorption.
The fritted trace elements are not water soluable. They need to be incorporated into the soil (dug in/dropped to root level through holes), where the acid from plant roots can slowly dissolve the elements for plant uptake.
As is usual, it is possible to get too much of a good thing. Do NOT overapply trace elements. Fritted trace elements are an inexpensive fertilizer with excellent coverage being obtained with just one gram applied per square foot. The fritted trace elements are released slowly, so use only once in approximately three years! Remember that too much is as bad as none at all. If you keep a garden diary, write down when and where you have applied this product. Otherwise, document usage by writing on the lid of your fertilizer container with a permanent marker.