Press · Trädgårds Nytt
How Allgrow was written about in Trädgårds Nytt
Sune Gullans at Schetelig was the person who brought the product to the Nordics, and wrote this piece for the trade magazine Trädgårds Nytt. It is worth reading for one reason: it describes the mode of action in a way that still holds, by someone with nothing to sell.
Read it as a document of its time
The article is several years old and two things in it no longer hold. It gives foliar spraying at 5–7 %, far above the ceiling we set after working through our own dose trials — follow the dosage for your crop instead. And it describes the product as approved for organic cultivation, which it is not at present. We have chosen not to quietly edit those passages out, but to state plainly that they have been superseded.
On what the product actually is
It is really wrong to call Allgrow a fertiliser in the true sense. The nutrient content is too low to supply enough nutrition on its own. The microalgae help in another way. As an added stimulant, Allgrow opens up nutrients that are locked in the soil and therefore unavailable to the plant.
On why the hormones matter more than the nutrients
The nutrient content of the microalgae is really of secondary importance. What matters are the hormones cytokinin and auxin. Cytokinin promotes cell division and side-shoot formation. Auxin stimulates growth in shoots and roots. When ordinary chemical fertilisers are used, these natural hormones are absent entirely.
On how the product is made
A culture of microalgae is allowed to multiply in water under optimal conditions, through a continuous supply of nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide and artificial light. After about a month the microalgae have reached maximum density and the product is ready.
On what growers reported
I have never had such a good root system as this year. — It is the first year I have got through without leaf scorch on this tomato variety. — We normally get leaf-edge scorch on the lettuce during the summer months, but not this year. We changed nothing in the fertilisation or the climate.
On yield increase
I expect a yield increase averaging 10–15 %, but the qualitative yield in certain crops can be considerably greater — I am thinking mainly of leaf and root vegetables such as lettuce, dill, parsley, potatoes and brassicas.
Sune Gullans, Schetelig. Published in Trädgårds Nytt (tradgard.fi). The extracts are reproduced with attribution; the full article remains the copyright of its author and the magazine.