HEALTHY PLANTS NEED HEALTHY SOIL
Most plants apart from a few epiphytic ones, need soil, water, carbon dioxide and oxygen to grow and reproduce. The air provides carbon dioxide and oxygen, rain provides water and the earth provides soil. It doesn’t matter how clean the air is or how much water rains down upon the earth, if the soil is dead, plants will face an uphill battle to thrive. The modern thinking of regenerative agriculture pleads for healthy soil, and it is not different for ornamental plants in garden or home garden vegetable cultivation. Soil must be alive, meaning it must team with beneficial bacteria, nematodes like earthworms and fungi that all assist plants to take nutrients up from the soil.
Protek’s two organic fertilizers, namely Guanoflo and Guanosol are ideal for regenerating soil and plant health. It is manufactured from seabird guano that is full of natural nutrients and beneficial for live organisms. It can be applied to ornamental plants, lawns, vegetables, pot plants, bonsais and even fruit-bearing trees as both a foliar feed and as a soil applied natural fertilizer.
The results of applying either Guanoflo or Guanosol are nothing but spectacular: don’t expect an immediate response in plant growth but keep your eyes open for about two weeks after the first application with a pair of garden sheers and the lawnmower on standby because that is when plants virtually explode in vividness and growth vigour. Its action is two-fold namely the natural nutrients that boost plant growth and secondly the inoculation of soil with live microbes that trigger better soil health and better ability of plants to absorb soil nutrients.
At the dilution rate of 1:40 (in other words 25 ml per litre) the Guanoflo can be safely applied to even the most tender herbs as it does not burn plants like chemical fertilizers may sometimes do. A second application four weeks after the first one is a good idea to replenish the nutrients and to add to the beneficial inoculants in the soil.
For the less energetic amongst us, the Guanosol tablets are a real blessing. Simply dig one tablet into the pot plant or bonsai’s clay pot and see the effect after two weeks. For larger trees like fruit trees or roses, one to four tablets can be applied to the soil depending on the age and size of the trees. The tablets slowly release the nutrients, and a replenishment is required four weeks after the first application. Bonsais in particular thrive on the Guanosol tablets and require no other fertilization.
Indoor orchids like Cymbidium and Phalaenopsis require very gentle nutrition that will not burn their air roots and leaves; there is hardly anything that beats Guanoflo for orchids. The Guanoflo will also boost the microbes of bark-based growth medium of orchids if applied bi-weekly.
Lawns that suffered herbicide damage (yes, we know of some who overdose with herbicides and damage their lawns!), can be rescued by liberal application of the 1:40 mixture of Guanoflo every second week. The results become evident between two and four weeks after the application of Guanoflo with new growth and vivid green colours.
The Guanoflo mixture is best applied early morning or late afternoon on plants and soil while the atmosphere is still cool. Irrigation after application onto plants should be held off for a day or two to allow the plants to take up the natural nutrients. After that the plants should be irrigated normally if there is no rain.
GUANOFLO AND GUANOSOL POSE VIRTUALLY NO RISK TO PEOPLE OR PETS; KEEP IT OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN AND DOGS WHICH MAY ATTEMPT EATING THE GAUNOSOL TABLETS
IMPORT MEASURES WHEN USING PROTEK’S GUANOFLO AND GUANOSOL
- Keep children or pets out of the area where these fertilizers are going to be applied
- Do not overdose as it is unnecessary; keep the 1:40 mixing ratio for Guanoflo
- Use rubber gloves when preparing the Guanoflo mixture or working with the Guanosol tablets
- Once the containers are empty, rinse properly and recycle
- Always keep these two fertilizers locked away out of the reach of children and dogs
The Griffon Poison Information Centre endorses Protek’s Guanoflo and Guanosol as highly effective organic fertilizers for a wide variety of safe applications and to rekindle soil health
GRIFFON POISON INFORMATION CENTRE
24 HOUR POISONING EMERGENCY HELPLINE 082 446 8946
Guanoflo (B3415, group 2 fertilizer) and Guanosol (B3416, group 2 fertilizer), registered in favour of Farmworx (Pty) Ltd., P.O. Box 645, Heidelberg 1438, and is distributed by Protek, a division of PE-BEE Agri (Pty) Ltd, P.O. Box 72, Heidelberg 1438