New, improved Osmocote Fusion

When you choose Osmocote® controlled-release fertilizers (CRF) for your growing operation, you can rest assured you’ve chosen the finest CRFs available. Fueled by innovation throughout its evolution, Osmocote is trusted by more growers worldwide than any other coated fertilizer.

Maximizing the ROI on your Osmocote investment starts with the right product and proper application. But when you’re topdressing existing container stock, your next big challenge is keeping your surface-applied CRF in place.

High winds, heavy rains, plants tipped for shipping—even automated plant pruning equipment or plant handlers—can all mean tipped pots and spilled fertilizers. When your CRF ends up on the ground instead of in the pot, that’s not good for the plant, the environment, or your bottom line.

We took a big step toward solving that problem several years ago, with Fusion bonding technology to help your surface-applied CRF stay put. Now, thanks to new ICL innovations, Fusion is more versatile, more efficient, and more cost-effective than ever before.

How has Fusion changed?

For those of you who topdress containers with Osmocote CRF, Fusion’s sticking agent is a game-changer. Activated by water, this unique ICL technology bonds surface-applied CRF to your growing media.

Once that bond is created, Fusion dramatically reduces fertilizer loss—and related labor expenses—without interfering with the release of your Osmocote CRF.

Matt Gladden, our Turf and Ornamental Marketing and Business Development Lead, explains that the old Fusion was limited to mini-prill products. But that limitation is lifted, and we have new capabilities as a result.

“Mini-prills didn’t allow us to offer much in terms of custom blending or new products, but with the new Fusion, we’re able to use our standard Osmocote prills. Now we can really add it to any product or program a grower is already using,” Matt says. “If somebody’s interested in trialing this, it could be as simple as just adding Fusion to their current fertilizer.”

What could that mean for you? Ongoing Fusion research in our South Carolina R&D Department has generated some eye-opening answers on that point.

Lucia Villavicencio, our Product Development Senior Research Scientist, shares that trials comparing tipped containers with and without Fusion gelling technology show that Fusion can reduce fertilizer loss from spillage by up to 60%.

In Lucia’s research, at seven days after topdressing, untreated pots lost 40% of their fertilizer in a single tipping. That’s compared to just 10% lost in pots in a single tip where CRF treated with improved Fusion bonding technology was involved.

At 28 days, with weekly tipping, the containers with Fusion’s sticking agent technology had lost about 22% of their fertilizer to spillage. But the untreated pots, without Fusion, lost 80% of their fertilizer by that time. That adds up fast when you’re the grower with tipped pots.

How can Fusion help you?

With Fusion at work with your Osmocote fertilizer, your CRF stays in the pot—feeding your crops as intended and benefiting your operation in multiple ways. Straight to the point, Matt says new Fusion is cost-efficient in a way it couldn’t be before, and it offers better performance, too.

Here are three big ways new, improved Fusion can help you grow:

• With reduced spillage, nutrient application rates stay consistent across your crop. You circumvent low plant quality, longer growing cycles, off-color plant material, and reduced plant value caused by spillage-related nutrient insufficiencies.
  

• Plants grow at similar rates, stay on schedule, and ship together as planned—with faster turnover and promises to your customers intact. You’ll have simpler sorting and grading, greater scheduling flexibility, lower shipping costs—and happier customers.

• Your CRF program and your fertilizer investment stay optimized. With fertilizer in the pot where it belongs, you eliminate the need for extra fertilizer applications, extra fertilizer costs, and extra labor expenses. And we don’t have to tell you what that means for your ROI.

“Fusion can now be added to any Osmocote product at a potentially lower cost and with better performance than in the past,” Matt says. “We’re not limited to mini-prills, the cost-and-use has the potential to be lower with this new formulation, and we have some better-performing products that we can add this to.”

If you’re ready to learn more about how Fusion’s cost-effective bonding technology can help you optimize your program and increase your ROI, don’t wait any longer. Just give us a call.

Your ICL Growing Solutions Territory Manager can help you run a personalized cost-and-use analysis for your growing operation. Let us help you discover how Fusion can help you grow.