The advancement of irrigation technology has provided huge opportunities for growers to produce safe and abundant food and fiber to our growing US and global population.
However, intensive irrigation can also create soil conditions that can be toxic to plants, as irrigation water and fertigation accumulates salts in the soil during the dry season when there is no rain to leach salts from soils. The accumulation of salts leads to compaction, restricted root development, reduced nutrient availability and reduced water infiltration, leading to stress on crops.
Without rain to purify our soils of salts, growers must find another way to improve soil conditions and relieve crop stress. Without an effective plan, the salt buildup can become more damaging during the growing season and other high stress times of the year.
Amendments including components like soluble/active carbon, calcium and surfactants can all help to improve soil condition and improve plant growing conditions.
The addition of soluble carbon (fulvic acid, humic acid, longer chain carbon and carboxylic acid) components can help to improve soil nutrient availability, sequester salts, stimulate root growth, improve moisture holding capacity, improve CEC and stimulate soil biological activity. The addition of soluble carbon is particularly beneficial in intensively farmed soils as carbon becomes oxidized through tillage and intensive cropping practices.
Calcium is also an important soil conditioning amendment. Calcium in cation form (Ca++) flocculates or “opens” soils. High levels of sodium and/or magnesium tighten clay particle pore space due to the relatively small size of the Mg++ and Na+ cations that bind soil aggregates together. Ca++ is a much larger cation that creates larger spaces between soil/clay particles.
Another beneficial component to incorporate to improve soil condition is the use of surfactants. Surfactants act to reduce water surface tension, allowing water to move more easily through soil pore spaces. When irrigation water is applied to soils, it carries salts which can be beneficial as fertilizer. It also can become toxic for your plant when salt concentrations become too high, or the mix becomes toxic when containing excess levels of salts like sodium, chloride, boron, sulfur and others. Surfactants help to keep the soil solution moving through soil pores and reduce excess concentrations in the root zone.
Ultimately, the best solution will likely contain combinations of the above components. Incorporating surfactants with soluble carbon and/or calcium can provide a synergistic approach to improving soil condition.
Redox Bio-Nutrients is a leader in providing these technologies for growers. Please see some product descriptions below and reach out to us with specific questions on how these products can help improve soil conditions on your ranch.
Redox Bio-Nutrients celebrates Milestone 30th Anniversary in Agriculture
Burley, Idaho: From humble beginnings to becoming an industry leader across the U.S. and internationally, Redox Bio-Nutrients continues to help growers effectively and sustainably grow healthier plants .
“We started in 1994 with $10 in our checking account and an idea,” remarked Redox owner, founder and CEO, Darin Moon. “My wife, Valerie, took the role as supermom with our kids, while corporate agronomist John Kelly and I were on the road building the business. Through perseverance and sound science, we fought through the lean times and made the company what it is today. We couldn’t have done it without the growers and ag retailers who have been such great partners in this journey.”
Technology from Redox Bio-Nutrients includes 36 agricultural products, six of which are organic, and 13 golf and sports turf products through the Redox TurfRx line. Redox has obtained six patents and 40 trademarks, with products sold in 48 states and 20 countries.
Moon and Kelly remain extremely active in the company. Darin and Valerie’s family members play pivotal roles at Redox, including sons Colton and Kody. Colton is the company’s president and Kody serves in several roles within company leadership.
Redox was among the first to provide biostimulant technology, in addition to highly efficient, carbon-based plant nutrition. Today the plant biostimulant marketplace is occupied by some 1,200 companies.
“We are constantly challenging ourselves to help growers get the most from their fields and orchards,” said Colton Moon. “Sustainability must go beyond doing more with less to also factor in a grower’s bottom line. Just as our family business includes multiple generations, we are working hard to help ensure future generations of family farmers.”
Redox Bio-Nutrients LLC provides superior plant nutrition with biostimulants to help growers produce abundant, high quality crops through Redox Homeostasis, or plant charge balance. Find out more at redoxgrows.com/30th-anniversary/.
Is Your Crop Nutrition in Balance?
By Bill Schwoerer
All plants uptake their nutrition as charged ions. Nutrients like nitrogen (NO3–) and phosphorus (P04–) are applied at relatively high volumes, which can cause a charge imbalance in crops.
In order to maintain balanced nutrition and balanced charge in crop production, other crop nutrients with an opposing charge like potassium (K+) and calcium (Ca++) are critical to offset the negative charge imbalances from nitrates and phosphates.
In essence, charge imbalance from a grower’s fertility choices can create abiotic stress, which leads to oxidative stress, crop production losses and increased susceptibility to external crop stress.
The high value crops that we assist growers with in California’s coastal areas often face stress from a host of factors, including untimely rain, excessive heat, high winds and salt accumulation in their soils from irrigation and fertigation during our long growing season. Some of the most effective products we work with include Mainstay™ Calcium 2.0/Organic, Mainstay™ Si/Organic, Penecal™/Organic, diKaP™, H85™/Organic and Rx Platinum™.
Executing a balanced nutrition program will ensure that your crops are poised to weather the constant barrage of abiotic and biotic stress that your crop will encounter every day.
Redox Bio-Nutrients products are designed with this in mind, providing nutrition in ionic, plant-available form. Our products are chelated, complexed, and encapsulated, using carbon-based technologies to provide the balance your crop needs. We call this balanced approach achieving “Redox Homeostasis”.
Simply put, when you incorporate Redox products, your crop will receive a source of nutrition that will provide the balance your crop needs to deliver optimal productivity.
Exceptional nutrition for East Coast Specialty Crops Now Available
Consistent quality and continued innovation are keys to successful farming. A new expanded
partnership between longtime plant nutrition companies Redox Bio-Nutrients and Willard Agri-Service delivers on those elements.
This agreement builds on long-term synergy between the companies. Through it, Redox expands its reach into the Eastern U.S., and Willard expands into specialty crops. Redox products will be used to help growers boost crop quality, yield and marketability. Willard will use its superior service and valued relationships with growers to maximize the benefits of Redox products.
Redox technology is an ideal fit for Willard’s leadership in sustainable farming, as ultra-efficient inputs benefit farm efficiency, environmental stewardship and a strong bottom line for growers. “Our expanded partnership with Redox Bio-Nutrients will build on the already strong synergy we have had with Redox for years,” said Willard CEO, Billy Willard. “It fits perfectly into our core mission of helping producers grow more, while protecting crops, soil, and the environment.”
“This is a tremendously exciting program,” said Redox Bio-Nutrients Owner, Founder and CEO, Darin Moon. “When you factor in our high caliber partner, Willard, with our proven combination of superior nutrition with added biostimulants, we expect widespread benefits for all involved.”
In the coming months, East Coast specialty crop growers can look for updates from both
companies regarding crop programs and effective technology for agronomic success.
For the past 30 years, Redox Bio-Nutrients LLC has provided superior plant nutrition with
biostimulants to help growers grow abundant, high quality crops through Redox Homeostasis, or plant charge balance. Find out more at redoxgrows.com.
Now into its third-generation, Willard Agri-Service provides a wide range of plant nutrition and services to help growers excel. Our highest priorities are our customers, our employees and our planet. Learn more at willardag.com.
Farming today is so complex and competitive that every bit of insight into growing healthy plants is crucial.
A full understanding of what a redox reaction is and how it impacts plant health provides crucial insight into finding the agronomic approach that will bring optimum yield and quality.
The term redox reaction originated about a century ago, and it means the simultaneous chemical reaction of oxidation and reduction. Redox reactions are the basic biochemical reactions critical to all life on Earth.
The byproduct of a redox reaction is reactive oxygen species (ROS), which can be caused by actions such as photosynthesis (using sunlight to synthesize food), mitochondria processes (where energy production and respiration occur), and peroxisome activity (metabolic functions). Excessive levels of ROS can damage plants and organic molecules. In response, plants over time have developed antioxidants for self-defense.
The problem is any number of stresses, ranging from bad weather to disease, can severely reduce a plant’s ability to balance ROS. When a plant is out of balance, its growth and productive capacity suffer.
A healthy plant has the proper balance of cations (+) and anions (-). An equal amount of both creates redox homeostasis, or plant charge balance.
I have devoted 30 years to studying plants, with the goal of helping produce healthy farm fields and nutritious food for consumers. Through countless hours of research, payoffs have come and are now happening at a faster rate.
Technology from Redox Bio-Nutrients reflects our best, continually evolving scientific knowledge. Our products have highly targeted Redox Active Substrates, which act as critical molecules for plants to achieve redox homeostasis. These Redox Active Substrates are created using the highest quality material that is fractionated (broken down at the molecular level) through our painstaking process. The end results are exceptional products, which allow the plants to be more self-sufficient and have less need for large amounts of traditional synthetic fertilizers. Our Redox product line helps your plants achieve redox homeostasis, leaving them perfectly situated to devote their energy to growing healthier, stronger, higher-yield crops.
It is gratifying to know all our painstaking research is yielding such positive results. With all the challenges our world faces, sound science can truly help grow healthier plants with less synthetic fertilizer and ensure a brighter future for us all.
Burley, Idaho: Redox Bio-Nutrients has acquired 10 percent of the Axxion Corporation LLC, marking an important step in the companies expanding international presence. Axxion was founded 42 years ago by Mory Ogata, and provides a steadily growing amount of fertilizers and moisture management surfactants to golf courses throughout Japan. The company has also seen steady growth in plant nutrition for traditional agricultural crops in the country, including rice.
At the same time, Qvou, Inc., a fast growing marketing company, is the majority shareholder of this new partnership, with 80 percent of the total.
“I had additional opportunities, but partnering with Qvou and Redox were superior for a variety of reasons,” Ogata said. “Product development has pole-vaulted Redox to become one of the most impressive companies of its kind in the United States. Additionally, Qvou CEO Ryotaro Kubo has led his company to be one of the fastest growing mid-sized companies in Japan. I am honored to partner with both businesses.”
“The quality of courses and increasing interest in golf make Japan a highly-valuable market for our company,” remarked Redox Bio-Nutrients President Colton Moon, who will serve on the Axxion Board with Kubo and Ogata. “Mory has done an exceptional job expanding interest in our products, and there’s tremendous promise for our technology with many of Japan’s agricultural crops. We are excited about the opportunity to grow our agricultural product sales throughout East Asia.”
Axxion has long term purchase contractors with Redox and one other supplier for exclusive distribution rights in Japan.
Agriculture is a principal industry throughout East Asia, and Redox Bio-Nutrients technology can help growers bolster quality and yield of a variety of bountiful crops that flourish in the region. For the past 30 years, Redox Bio-Nutrients has provided superior plant nutrition with added biostimulants to help growers grow abundant, high quality crops through Redox Homeostasis, or plant charge balance.
Media contacts:
Redox Bio-Nutrients, Jim Morris, Director of Communications
208-250-6044 jim.morris@redoxgrows.com
About Redox Bio-Nutrients
Redox Bio-Nutrients exists to create passion and excitement in growing healthier plants. We help growers succeed in four primary areas, soil health, root development, abiotic stress defense and nutrient efficiency. Find out more at redoxgrows.com.
I have never been more excited about our understanding of plant physiology and the important role the right amounts of nutrients and biostimulants play in growing healthy food. As a result, we at Redox Bio-Nutrients are perfectly positioned to help agriculture during this paradigm shift in plant nutrition.
A critical process in our products that helps plants thrive is fractionation, which involves taking a large molecule and breaking it down into its individual parts, so it can be assembled into something different. Before fractionation begins, we also put significant care and effort into the quality of the desired minerals to be fractionated and their extraction process, which makes all the difference in the desired result.
Our years of experience using fractionation allows us to separate out the most beneficial materials that are blended in specific percentages to yield the best results. I know of no other company that takes these steps to the degree that we do. Fractionation is very expensive and takes an enormous amount of time, which deters many from pursuing it.
We fractionate amino acids, then reassemble them in optimal percentages. One of the clear victories from this painstaking approach is the glycine we use in our products. As a catalyst for building protein, the glycine we have fractionated is of the highest quality, which is a huge help in generating a beneficial plant reaction.
Auto racing provides a good analogy to the importance of fractionation. The worst thing a driver wants in a race car is extra weight. The same thing holds true for organic extracts. I want just what is needed, nothing else. We at Redox Bio-Nutrients are focused on active ingredients, instead of gross concentration. The greater specificity and higher quality the ingredients, the greater help they will be to plants.
Fractionation is not an esoteric concept without real world benefits. It is a difference maker for growers seeking the most effective, efficient ways to grow their crops. It is good to remember that how you nourish your crops is just as important as the seeds you plant.
As sustainability continues to have a greater role in the landscape of agriculture, a highly thoughtful approach to crop inputs is a good way to do more with less. Using Redox Bio-Nutrients products also makes sound economic and business sense because these carefully fractioned molecules allow reduced costs on other inputs while maintaining and increasing yields.
Growers take many risks and their crop nutrition shouldn’t be one of them. Here at Redox Bio-Nutrients, proving out our technology is a vital part of having full confidence that our products deliver as advertised.
Headed by Dr. Gifford Gillette, our research team had an extremely busy 2023. Results of their work are highlighted in our Redox Results 2023 Collection. Last year, we conducted trials with corn, apples, peanuts, lettuce, tomatoes, and a dozen other crops. We tested our product capabilities in the four core areas where we excel: root growth, soil health, abiotic stress defense, and nutrient efficiency.
The results confirmed that we continue to deliver unparalleled benefits.
One trial during a heatwave in California’s Central Coast showed significant abiotic stress defense. Even though temperatures reached 108 degrees, the wine grape vineyard where Mainstay™ Si was applied recorded a 48 percent reduction in raisining compared to untreated vines.
Continuing with extreme results, we quantified exciting nitrogen efficiency and plant nutrition gains in five trials with our newest technology being readied for the market, RDX-N™. It’s a stable, botanical extract bio-stimulant combined with organic carbon compounds. RDX-N™ includes proprietary, patent-pending extraction of the highest quality ingredients that consistently deliver nitrogen use efficiency unattained in agriculture until now.
We are excited about the depth and breadth of trials already underway this year whether on our research farm in Burley, Idaho or through cooperators. We will continue to share results and continue to challenge ourselves to ensure our products remain a tremendous asset to growers, as they provide more nutritious food to consumers.
As growers continue to seek better varieties, equipment and technology, we should bring the same focus to crop nutrition.
All too often, standard operating procedure for many growers involves large amounts of fertilizer, applied liberally. This is inefficient and a missed opportunity for farmers to reap the rewards that come with a more thoughtful, targeted approach.
Growers are in the business of purchasing energy in the form of fertilizer, and it is only going to get more expensive in the years ahead. Actively pursuing a better plan in this area is not only prudent, it also helps a grower’s bottom line.
To boost your input efficiency, it is important to understand these five action steps for fertilizer in soil:
- Bio Movement- how fertilizer moves in the soil.
- Bio Absorption- how well it is absorbed by the plant.
- Bio Translocation- how effective is movement within the plant.
- Bio Metabolism- how well the plant metabolizes nutrients.
- Bio Utilization- how effectively the plant uses the metabolized fertilizer.
Growers should ask themselves how well their fertility plans are achieving these five areas.
I should caution that using synthetic fertilizer without a carbon source won’t get the job done. Always seek out the best carbon source you can find.
If you simply carry out the old guard approach to fertilizer, you will get less in return. It would be like putting low grade fuel in a Ferrari. A newer, more efficient approach will also help you meet sustainability goals. With our 30 years of research and leadership in this space, we have dozens of bio-active, carbon-based products, both conventional and organic. We have spent 30 years developing and perfecting these products to effectively meet your fertilizer needs and to provide the healthiest environment for your crops to thrive.
At first glance, your farm field may appear to be calm and orderly. In reality, plants are under constant stress in many fields across the country. A wide variety of factors can cause this stress, including weather, pests, and even nutrition delivered without forethought to a balanced approach.
Each plant takes up nutrients, which all have an electrical charge, either positive or negative. As the plant grows, it strives to do what’s needed metabolically to have a 50-50 charge balance (homeostasis). If your fertility program creates an uneven charge environment, your plants will have to work much harder to achieve homeostasis and yield will be compromised.
The less plants need to work to reach homeostasis, the more time they will spend ensuring positive outcomes, including yield and crop quality.
Here’s the stark truth: the current mainstream fertilizer approach deals with pounds per acre and how you apply it.
I have dedicated more than half of my life to understanding plant physiology. I’m convinced that a more accurate way to view your fertilizer program is charge per acre, meaning the charge of the nutrients you apply.
By far the most common charge imbalance in a plant comes from nitrate nitrogen. The question you need to ask yourself is “does my system have enough carbon to convert the nitrate nitrogen to amino acids?” If not, nitrate nitrogen will sit in the leaf. That negative charge must be balanced. The greatest nutrient that balances this charge is potassium. Ideally, you would want potassium to spend its time moving sugars around in the plant, instead of balancing an all-too-common nitrogen charge imbalance caucused by overapplication. Whatever crop you grow and wherever you grow it, your plants will prosper when the plant can focus on effective movement of starch and sugar rather than balancing excess nitrogen charge.
Redox technology is formulated from the best natural sources with the highest quality extraction and manufacturing processes. We combine 13 key carbon chemistries with biostimulants, to promote improved root growth, healthy soil, efficient uptake of nutrients and abiotic stress defense. Our products go a long way to keeping your plants balanced, leaving more money in your pocket after harvest.
Other keys to our technology are active substrates we developed, which contain organic molecules in the form of antioxidants. They play a pivotal role in absorbing the free charges that are otherwise destructive to plants. In simple terms, our active substrates provide whatever electrons are needed to balance the needs of your plants. Understanding plant charge balance and dedicating yourself to achieving it is part of the Redox paradigm shift in agriculture. We in agriculture know better and now must do better for more productive farms and healthier food for consumers.