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Advance Ni™
The first nickel nutrient supplement for Nurseries!
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General Information:
NIPAN LLC has developed a foliar and drench applied nickel fertilizer called Advance Ni to correct mouse ear in river birch (Betula nigra) and pecans (Carya illinoinensis) grown in nurseries. Advance Ni contains 5.4% nickel as nickel lignosulfonate and 10% nitrogen to provide an effective dose that is rapidly absorbed by the foliage and roots. Depending on when the application is made, a growth response generally occurs within 1 to 2 weeks. The USDA and the University of Georgia have tested Advance Ni.
Background:
A deficiency of nickel was discovered in 2003 to be the cause of “mouse ear” of river birch. This occurred soon after the discovery at the USDA Southeastern Fruit and Nut Laboratory in Byron, Georgia that a deficiency in nickel was responsible for mouse ear in pecans. Mouse ear is typically identified as very small, deformed leaves shaped to resemble the ear of a mouse usually with necrosis at the leaf tips. Mouse ear can affect an entire tree or occur randomly throughout the canopy on single major limbs or in terminal branches. It generally appears on the spring flush or in the middle of the growing season when roots fill the container. Mouse ear generally occurs in container-grown pecans in the second year of production.
Bark-based soil mixes typically used by nurseries do not contain any nickel and micronutrient products do not contain sufficient nickel required by river birch and pecans. High fertility levels maintained in nurseries can inhibit the uptake of nickel leading to a deficiency. Mouse ear is actually the symptom of a urea toxicity caused by the buildup of urea in leaf tissue when nickel is lacking. Nickel is required by the urease enzyme in plants for the efficient conversion of urea to ammonia.
Symptoms of nickel deficiency in river birch and pecans include:
> pale green foliage
> blunted leaf or leaflet tips
> thickening of leaves or leaflets
> curling of leaf or leaflet margins
> necrosis of leaf or leaflet tips with dark green
zone adjacent to necrotic zone
> brittle wood (reduced lignification)
> reduced growth and vigor
> dwarfing, short internodes
> weak shoot growth, failure to survive dormant
season (cold injury)
> rosetting, loss of apical dominance
> dead or dark colored roots, reduced number of
feeder roots
> death of shoots and limbs
> tree death
Nickel has been known to be an essential plant micronutrient since the late 1980’s but was not recognized by the American Association of Plant Food Control Officials until 2004. Advance Ni was developed specifically for nursery-grown river birch and pecans to be applied at 1 pint/100 gallons of water after trees leaf out in the spring. Another application 30 to 60 days later will prevent the reoccurrence of mouse ear and improve overall plant health. If mouse ear is severe in the late summer, an application of 2 pints/100 gallons in late September will prevent mouse ear in the spring flush. Advance Ni can be applied as a 1% drench one time in the spring, summer or fall when mouse ear symptoms occur.
Nickel has been extensively studied in other crops and has several significant roles in plant growth and development.
Other benefits that have been attributed to good nickel nutrition include:
Required for seed germination
Associated with iron uptake
Stimulates natural defenses against plant diseases
Improved nitrogen efficiency
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For more information please contact
NIPAN LLC
P. O. Box 5611
Valdosta, GA 31603-5611
Tel: 229-460-5922
Fax: 229-242-2965
Where to buy Advance Ni™
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