Sunburn of plants: kaolin in agriculture

Climatic conditions are changing: summers are getting hotter and hotter, drought and strong solar radiation seriously compromise the quality of crops, causing major sunburn to plants and greatly endangering your harvest.

Our team's proposal is to intervene preventively against sunburn, through the use of products that, in their simplicity, are able to help plants and their fruits to better withstand excessive heat and prevent sunburn.

Index:

Sunburn of plants

Rock dust: what is kaolin used for in agriculture?

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Sunburn of plants

As you certainly know from experience, the heat, combined with drought and dry wind, represent a great danger for the plants and, in particularly hot years, damage from sunlight and consequent sunburn can affect more than 40% of your crops.

Unfortunately, solar, infrared, and UV radiation affects plants at any vegetative stage, endangering the productivity and subsequent yield of your crops at all times.

In young seedlings, for example, there is a risk of sunburn in the most exposed parts, in particular on the collar (part of the plant between the beginning of the stem and the end of the root) and on herbaceous stems, because obviously less resistant than the leaves to sunlight.

As for fruits, sunburn manifests itself with dark and necrotic spots and compromises the harvest and economic yield. On the other hand, sunburn on branches not sheltered by the leaves causes the death of the cambium (the one responsible for the formation of the xylema and phloem, or the "blood vessels" of the plant) and a strong reduction in the vitality of the plant or part of it: the leaves are smaller and with a dull color.

As we mentioned earlier, dry wind is also dangerous for crops and fruits. Let's see together why:

Wind damage manifests itself through dehydrated leaves, which crumple like cigars, thus reducing their vital function to the detriment of production. If good irrigation is lacking, it can even lead to the death of the youngest twigs, especially on non-advanced citrus fruits, giving the sensation of dry sickness (a disease caused by a fungus that feeds on the plant's nutrients).

How to act in advance to avoid sunburn?

The preventive solution that we would like to recommend, after numerous tests and field trials, has to do with products that are extremely low-cost, but which guarantee truly effective results: these are treatments based on rock powder. Let's now find out what it is in detail.

Rock dust: what is kaolin used for in agriculture?

Kaolin is a rock powder composed of kaolinite and other clay minerals: its natural origin and structural characteristics make kaolin a biological product suitable for countless functions in agriculture.

Among its best-known functions, in addition to being an excellent repellent against the olive fly, there is precisely that of protecting plants and fruits from thermal stress, such as excessively high temperatures. Let's find out together how kaolin works in this case and why our choice is to recommend this product:

If applied by foliar application, this rock powder leaves a very thin film of micronized particles on the green part of the plant and its fruits. In this way, a whitish patina is created which, acting as a shield, can guarantee a double effect:

1. reflecting solar radiation, protecting the plant from the excessive heat of the sun's rays
2. reduce the temperature of the plant at the epidermal level, managing to decrease the temperature up to 6-8°C

Based on these considerations, our team has chosen to recommend three products, as an alternative to each other:

• this, wetting powder that protects plants from high temperatures 
• this, reflective rock flour, used as a shading against heat peaks. One of its main characteristics is that it dirties relatively little plants and fruits on which it is applied
• this, which, thanks to the presence of silicon inside, has a greater reflective action and also acts as a fertilizer

   

     

The farmer's experience:

     

Giacomo Romeo

     "I turned to the technicians of Perfarelalbero because I have some expanses of citrus fruits that I wanted to protect from the heat. It is a very large citrus grove and I did not want to risk losing my entire harvest and seeing my citrus fruits split in two due to sunburn. The Perfarelalbero team advised me to use kaolin, dilute it in water and apply it by foliar application. The results were excellent considering that the expense I incurred was really low"    "     

   

  

 

We remind you that you can contact our technicians whenever you need clarifications or information