Bulk blending is an efficient and advantageous way to apply micronutrients to your soil. Bulk blends give farmers the flexibility to prepare only the necessary amount of fertilizers with just the right ratio of nutrients for a given field. However, bulk blending can also cause you headaches when issues including dust, caking, and product segregation arise.
What causes bulk blending issues?
Dust
Dust occurs when a product breaks down into powder, often during handling and transport. Dust can lead to wasted product, decreased air quality, and uneven application. Dust can also lead to caking, which renders the product difficult to use.
Caking
Caking happens when fertilizer particles create contact points with each other that are typically formed by salt bridges, adhesion, or surface diffusion from porous granules. A product with a high amount of dust can lead to caking when the dust comes into contact with moisture, such as through ambient humidity. The dust absorbs the moisture, becomes sticky, and the product clumps together.
Caked fertilizer has expensive consequences. Caking can cause equipment to clog and wear out faster. It can also cause poor nutrient distribution in the fields, which in turn may affect plant health and yields.
Anticaking agents can help, but research has shown that these treatments are most effective if the fertilizer is well made. Specifically, the International Fertiliser Society found that anticaking treatments worked best when the treated fertilizers consisted of evenly shaped granules and at least 90% of the granules were more than 2.0 mm in size.
Segregation
Segregation occurs when inconsistent granule sizes and shapes cause a product to distribute unevenly in a blend and thus irregularly on the field. Ideally, the average size of granules is consistent within a given product as well as between all of the products in a fertilizer blend.
What can you do?
When it comes to boron supplementation, look for a refined product with an average particle size greater than 2.0 mm and a uniform particle size distribution. Particle size distribution describes the range of particle sizes within a given product. The more variable the particle size, the more likely the product is to segregate when blended.
A borate product to ease blended fertilization problems
Granubor® is a refined boron product specifically designed to prevent dust, caking, and segregation. Its average particle size is 2.8 mm and bulk density is 942.5 kg/m3, which makes it compatible with the granules in most NPK blends. Research has shown that Granubor also has a uniform particle size distribution similar to common blends—further reducing the chances of segregation.
Its high abrasion resistance makes Granubor unlikely to degrade into dust during transport and handling, which in turn reduces the likelihood of caking.
The product is available in bulk super bags as well as 50 multiwall kraft-paper bags incorporating a polyethylene barrier layer and 25 lb plastic bags. U.S. Borax packaging is designed to provide maximum protection and satisfactory results when reasonable care is taken during storage and handling. For added protection, pallet shipments are stretch-wrapped.
When handling and storing Granubor, avoid puncturing bags that can result in spillage and air exposure. For optimal results:
- Keep containers in a dry warehouse
- Store product off the floor on wooden pallets, limiting pallet layers
- Do not stack pallets on top of each other for extended periods
- Keep temperatures below 29°C (85°F)
- Maintain a relative humidity of less than 45%
- Always use the First In/First Out (FIFO) principle: Use the oldest material first
By following these guidelines, Granubor will mix evenly into blends and distribute evenly on the field, providing the most consistent, high-quality results. It’s a money saver, too, because less product is left as dust in the storeroom or caked in equipment.
But don’t take our word for it, see for yourself. Request a sample of Granubor to perform your own field tests.
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