Over the past few years, Floratine has heard of competitors incorrectly using SALT INDEX and SODIUM ADSORPTION RATIO (SAR) to disparage the quality of our products and implying there is greater burn potential with our products than theirs…
Salt Index was developed in 1943 to help minimize crop damage due to excessive sodium and chloride.
SALT INDEX WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE ADAPTED TO FOLIAR FEEDING WITH LIQUID PRODUCTS THAT WERE DILUTED IN A SPRAY TANK!
The basis for Salt Index was Sodium Nitrate and was assigned the value of “100” and it was the ‘break-point’ between the potential for crop damage and no crop damage.
Floratine® does NOT put sodium, chlorides, acetates, hydroxides, or oxides in its products. BUT a lot of our competitors DO and the archaic Salt Index does not account for those. So they are playing games with the customer’s reputation and livelihood on the line.
The table above highlights the Salt Index for some of Floratine’s® best selling products and as you can see they are all safely below the range for damage or burn potential as outlined below.
Finally, Floratine® is so confident in the quality and efficacy of its proprietary foliar products that we recommend the lowest possible spray volumes of 20-40 GPA / 187-374 L/ha. Ever wonder why some of the other ‘foliar ‘ products recommend higher rates? Perhaps because for them dilution is the best solution to burn pollution?
Now on to Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR): It was developed by the USDA in 1954 as a gauge primarily for irrigation water and crop compatibility…NOT as some of our competitors spin it as a product quality gauge!
If someone asks “What are the SAR values for Floratine products?” …the answer is twofold:
There is no such thing. SAR was not created to assign such numbers to foliar fertilizers, it was created to gauge the sodicity of irrigation water, but in either case, Floratine® doesn’t use sodium in its foliar products.
