What is calcium nitrate used for in agriculture?

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What is calcium nitrate used for?

How to use calcium nitrate in the vegetable garden? Tomatoes and eggplant

Calcium nitrate, represented by the specific chemical formula Ca(NO3)2, is a product widely used both in professional agriculture and in the hobby field, thanks to its various functions and its advantageous properties for both the soil and the plants.

What is calcium nitrate used for?

Thanks to the two elements it contains , calcium nitrate guarantees a double effect for plants: it makes nitrogen available (usually in a quantity equal to 15%) on the one hand and calcium (whose percentage is most of the time equal to 30%) on the other

Within calcium nitrate, nitrogen is present in nitric form and readily available. What are its advantages deriving from a nitrogen input? 

This element acts mainly through the strengthening of its structure. In addition, it also has an additional effect on the fruit, improving its color.

Calcium, on the other hand, is a useful element for facilitating fruit set and for increasing the size of the fruit, thus increasing production.

In addition, it is extremely important for the structure of the cells: in the right proportions, the presence of calcium makes the walls more elastic and resistant, acting positively on the qualitative and organoleptic characteristics of the fruits.

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What is calcium nitrate used for in agriculture? 

Mainly, the effect of calcium and nitrogen combined ensures:

• Increased resistance to pathogens and diseases
• Growth stimulation
• Speeding up the photosynthesis process

What are the effects of calcium nitrate on soil?

In addition to its typical nutritional function and promotion of the growth and development of the plants on which they are applied, Ca(NO3)2-based fertilizers regulate/increase the pH of the soil, lowering its acidity. In this way, calcium nitrate improves soil structure and increases the ability to retain water and nutrients useful to plants.

At what doses and when to use calcium nitrate?

It is possible to use this product not only in agriculture, but also for fertilizing the vegetable garden or for the care of garden plants (such as, for example, orchids). In the case of using calcium nitrate for gardening, it is customary to combine this product with magnesium and/or potassium.

When it comes to dosage, you should evaluate the doses according to the specific needs of each plant.

When to administer calcium nitrate on olive trees?

Our experience teaches us that it is possible to find an increase in oil yield if calcium nitrate is administered at specific times and with precise methods such as: 

• foliar treatments in the flowering phase (preferably with the addition of boron),
• of drupe growth,
• 30 days before harvest.

When to give calcium nitrate to citrus fruits?

Calcium nitrate has also proved to be a very important mesoelement for citrus fruits, thanks to which it is possible to avoid splits due to nutritional imbalances (so-called cracking).

However, it is important to emphasize that there is no "best time" for the administration of a nitrogen fertilizer, indeed it is of particular importance to provide calcium nitrate to citrus fruits periodically and within a common nutrition strategy.

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How to use calcium nitrate in the vegetable garden? Tomatoes and eggplant

Calcium nitrate on tomatoes

The tomato is one of the plants on which calcium nitrate shows the greatest benefits. The right amount of calcium, in fact, is essential to guarantee the fruit an excellent final quality and a good structure.

But what is calcium nitrate on tomato used for? 

A correct intake of calcium is essential toprevent apical rot. Calcium deficiency, in fact, is one of the causes of necrotic spots that usually occur on the tip of the fruit, leaving the plant intact.

The period in which this specific disease occurs most is that of the expansion of the fruit, following the pollination phase. At this specific stage, a calcium deficiency could contribute to an increased risk of apical rot on tomato.

For this reason, our advice is to administer calcium nitrate throughout the plant's production cycle and to apply it by foliar application, so that it can be mixed with other treatments. An excellent product turns out to be:

• Loess Ca, to be applied at a dosage of 30g/1L.

Another way to provide calcium nitrate to the plant is to do it by fertigation with a water-soluble fertilizer such as:

• Calcinit, to be applied at a dosage of 25kg/ha.

Calcium nitrate on eggplant

Calcium nitrate on aubergine has the function of fortifying the walls of plant cells, increasing the qualitative characteristics of the fruit which will be turgid and shiny. In this particular crop, potassium nitrate and magnesium nitrate will also contribute to the improvement of coloration and shine.

Football, moreover, is an element that has an exclusively upward trend. Therefore, it is necessaryto supply calcium to the plant in a preventive manner and, above all, when the fruits, in this case of the eggplant, have the highest rate of transpiration.