Protect Your Yield Potential by Maintaining Foliar Nutrition

But if there’s one area we strongly advise you not to cut, it’s foliar nutrition.

At ProCam UK, our trials data clearly shows that well-timed foliar nutrition can enhance winter wheat yields by more than 0.9t/ha. That’s not a marginal gain — it can be the difference between protecting profit and leaving yield potential in the field.

Don’t Let False Economies Cost You Yield

In lean years, foliar nutrition is often one of the first inputs to be dropped. We understand why. But in our experience, that’s a false economy — especially this season, when many wheat crops have come out of winter with genuine yield potential.

If you want to protect biomass and safeguard output, your strategy must combine:

• A robust fungicide programme to control septoria, rusts and mildew
• Targeted foliar nutrition to ensure crops can grow strongly and defend themselves

Healthy, well-fed crops are more resilient. They fight disease better. They convert sunlight more efficiently. And ultimately, they deliver higher yields.

Our ProCam trials demonstrate this clearly:

• Wheat receiving fungicide plus foliar nutrition during stem extension yielded up to 0.7t/ha more than fungicide alone.
• Crops receiving foliar nutrition at T1, T2 and T3 (without fungicide) still yielded 0.92t/ha more than untreated crops receiving neither fungicide nor foliar nutrition.

The message is simple: nutrition drives output.

Feed the Crop at the Moments That Matter

Wheat yield is built from two key components:

• Ears per square metre
• Grain number and grain size per ear

That means feeding the crop at the growth stages that influence these drivers most — particularly during stem extension and again at flag leaf emergence.

Remember:

• The flag leaf contributes around 40% of final yield
• The ear contributes around 20%
• Leaf two adds another 20%

Up to 60% of your yield depends on the flag leaf and ear functioning efficiently. That’s why we are meticulous about fungicide timing. But nutrient supply at these stages is just as critical.

Nitrogen, magnesium, potassium and sulphur all support photosynthesis and grain quality. Micronutrients such as boron, copper and zinc play a vital role in grain set and reproductive development.

If any one of these elements is limiting, yield potential is compromised.

Why Foliar Nutrition Delivers

Compared with granular fertilisers, foliar products act faster and are less dependent on soil conditions.

When soils are cold, dry, compacted or sitting at an unfavourable pH, nutrient uptake through the roots can be restricted. Foliar applications bypass that limitation entirely. Nutrients are absorbed directly through the leaf, correcting deficiencies quickly and reliably.

That makes foliar feeding an essential tool for:

• Correcting hidden deficiencies
• Supporting crops under stress
• Improving nutrient efficiency
• Protecting yield during key growth stages

Don’t Guess — Test

One of the biggest risks we see is hidden deficiency. Crops can appear visually healthy while already suffering from nutrient limitations that reduce yield potential.

Soil testing has its place. But it only tells you what is present in the soil — not what is available to the plant or already taken up.

At ProCam UK, we strongly advocate tissue and sap analysis. This allows us to measure precisely what the plant has absorbed and identify deficiencies early — before yield is compromised. From there, we can design a targeted foliar programme that delivers exactly what your crop needs, when it needs it.

Invest Modestly, Protect Significantly

The cost of tissue testing and a well-designed foliar programme is modest compared with the yield response we consistently see in our trials.

If you’re serious about maximising output this season, the focus should not be on cutting nutrition — it should be on optimising it.

At ProCam UK, our agronomists work alongside growers to ensure every nutrient decision is technically sound, economically justified and tailored to individual field conditions.

If you’d like to review your crop nutrition strategy, discuss tissue testing or strengthen your disease and nutrition programme, speak to your local ProCam agronomist or visit ProCam.co.uk to find your nearest depot.

Let’s protect your yield potential — and make sure this harvest truly tests the capacity of your grain store.