What is the difference between water-soluble fertilizers with different prices?

As micro-fertilizers and flushing water-soluble fertilizers are becoming more and more important in the agricultural field, it is inevitable that new liquid fertilizers will replace the original chemical fertilizers in the future. However, the prices of flushing fertilizers and water-soluble fertilizers in the market are also different. What factors lead to such a large price gap?

1. Raw material level

Raw materials are the most fundamental factor determining the price of water-soluble fertilizers. There are four levels of raw materials for the production of water-soluble fertilizers: food grade, feed grade, industrial grade, and agricultural grade. The grade of raw materials directly determines the price of water-soluble fertilizers, and there is a big difference. High-quality water-soluble fertilizers are generally produced with industrial-grade raw materials, which are expensive, and are significantly superior to agricultural-grade raw materials in terms of fertilizer nutrient content, water solubility, absorption efficiency, heavy metal content, and product stability. Inferior water-soluble fertilizers are produced with agricultural-grade raw materials, which are cheap and difficult to guarantee quality. Unscrupulous manufacturers even use full water-soluble fertilizers to make a fuss, adding pure magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride or potassium nitrate and other raw materials to make huge profits.

2. Phosphorus source

In water-soluble fertilizers, the source of phosphorus is very important. The source of phosphorus plays a very important role in promoting flowers and fruits, and promoting root development. The phosphorus content in water-soluble fertilizers is represented by phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5). Qualified water-soluble fertilizers should be 100% fully water-soluble, mainly emphasizing that the product has no impurities and will not block the tiny dripper of the drip irrigation pipe, and the water-insoluble matter is ≤0.1%-0.2%, which shows that the source of raw materials for various water-soluble fertilizers is high-purity chemicals , generally reach the level of industrial grade (TECH-GRADE), and some are called drip irrigation grade or greenhouse grade. Poor choice of phosphorus source means poor fluidity, the product is easy to agglomerate, and it is also easy to block drip irrigation pipes and drippers, resulting in solid deposition and scaling in user fertilizer tanks. Poor phosphorus sources are mixed unevenly with other raw materials as compound raw materials, and the absorption rate is low.

3. Potassium source

There are four main sources of potassium: potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate. Generally speaking, the fertilizer price of potassium chloride type is the lowest, followed by potassium sulfate type, and the best is potassium nitrate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate type. Because the potassium sulfate type and potassium chloride type contain a large amount of sulfate ions and chloride ions, long-term application can easily lead to calcium deficiency in crops, which can easily lead to cracked fruits, rotten heads, blackened root tips, stop growth, yellow leaves, navel rot and other diseases. . In addition, long-term use of fertilizers containing sulfate ions and chloride ions will greatly reduce the absorption efficiency of nitrate nitrogen, and the soil salt in greenhouses will be enriched and aggravated, and the soil will be compacted, which is not conducive to the growth of crop roots. However, with potassium nitrate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate water-soluble fertilizers, any element in these two types can be absorbed and utilized by crops, and the above symptoms such as salt accumulation will not occur, and the corresponding price is also the highest.

4. Formula

On the basis of the formula, according to the technical advantages of each manufacturer, good water-soluble fertilizers will add some additives to formulate water-soluble fertilizers to prevent product caking, add chelating agents to prevent leaching and loss of elements, and improve fertilizer utilization. Improve crop yield and quality. Some unscrupulous manufacturers are good at adding hormones and other substances to water-soluble fertilizers. Hormone fertilizers will cause excessive cell expansion and damage the growth of plants. The early effect is very obvious, but it is easy to cause premature aging and reduce plant resistance in the middle and late stages. It affects the mid-to-late yield of plants, and it is easy to cause phytotoxicity, and the final victims are farmers. In this regard, high-quality water-soluble fertilizers generally do not have obvious ammonia smell and pungent hormone taste, which is also very important.