GROWER’S CORNER

Winter is almost upon us, and this time of year, some growers are reluctant to topdress their new production with a Control Release Fertilizer (CRF). This fear is due to their plants that are still actively growing when they should be transitioning to a dormant state for winter. Fortunately, the makers of these products built a regulator into the Prill coating that’s based on the ambient temperature. At 58 degrees, basically all release stops. During awarmer-than-normal late Fall, some growers experience tip damage by an early-season frost orfreeze. My experience has been that this type of damage is mostly caused by the precedingwarm temperatures and not by the presence of Control Release Fertilizers (CRF). In my over 20 years as a production scheduling manager on a 400-acre nursery, we potted crops every month,even through the dead of winter, and had little or no cold damage, in the late fall due to CRFs. Sleep a little sounder tonight and pot away.

Happy Holidays!

Danny Dudoich, Grower Specialist