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"Florikan's commitment to the environment establishes the
company as a leader in the Horticulture Industry by developing products that
reduce nutrient inputs and run-off. Together, the Southeastern Nursery Industry
and Florikan promote the use of Best Management Practices and
environmentally-sound growing methods."
Jimmy Palmer Regional
Administrator Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Atlanta, GA
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Sustainability, it's a word you hear a lot these days. It's not a new
word for Florikan. As a matter of fact, we have built our company around the
principles of sustaining our natural resources. For 25 years, Florikan has
developed production systems for the professional horticulture industry. The
initials - E.S.A. - in our name stand for "Environmentally Sustainable
Agriculture." We have developed products to that standard since 1981 and
manufacture controlled release
fertilizers that have reduced impact and reduced potential leaching on the
environment. We also manufacture plastic
nursery pots using 100% post consumer recycled plastic resin for the
professional horticulture industry.
As a
fertilizer manufacturer, our company takes environmental stewardship seriously.
Florikan advocates that if the ecological systems of our watersheds are
endangered, due to the quantity and timing of flows of nutrients into the
estuaries, it is our responsibility to improve the stewardship of nutrient
usage. We have been fortunate to have received recognition for this
effort
our Staged Nutrient Release fertilizer received a
2005 Gulf Guardian Award from a program administered by the
Environmental Protection
Agency Gulf of Mexico Partnership. |
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TECHNOLOGY - Florikan's Patented Fertilizer
Technologies
The Finest Controlled Release Fertilizer:
NUTRICOTE We are the exclusive distributor of Nutricote
Controlled Release Fertilizer in the Southeastern U.S. Nutricote is known
throughout the horticultural industry as a proven, dependable, growers
problem-solver. Florikan operates a fertilizer blending facility where slow
release fertilizers are custom-blended to meet growers' precise needs. We also
manufacture our signature Staged Nutrient Release® (SNR) technology as a
cost effective and environmentally preferable alternative to traditional
fertilizers.
Nutricote is manufactured by coating nitrate compound
fertilizers with a special resin. The duration of releasing nutrients is
controlled by the composition of the resin and the quality of a special
"chemical release agent" added to the resin. The special release agent has
resulted in a dramatic technological improvement in the consistency and
precision of nutrient release.
The
composition of Nutricote's resin and the release controlling agent added to it
produce molecular passageways in the coated resin in a maze-like structure.
When Nutricote is applied to the soil, the water in the soil enters the
granule through the passageways and dissolves the nutrients. The nutrient
solution will then be controlled released steadily through the same
passageways.
Other slow
release fertilizers depend on the thickness of their resin coating to control
the release period. This results in a wide variation in particle size and a
dependence on the physical properties of the granule for consistent release. It
limits the range of release periods available and also contributes
significantly to the weight and cost of the product.
Only the
amount of the special release agent in Nutricote's resin coating varies
according to the required period of release. This special release agent is what
controls Nutricote release.
The coating
thickness is the same for all release types. All Nutricote granules are
uniform. This results in uniform crops of excellent quality.
Nutrient
supply through Nutricote nicely matches the physiology of plant response
to temperature. The release rate of Nutricote is not significantly
influenced by soil moisture levels. This release is also unaffected by soil
type or soil pH and Nutricote does not depend upon microbiological
decomposition for its action.
The company's
signature technology, Staged Nutrient Release® (SNR), is a cost effective
and environmentally preferable alternative to traditional fertilizers. SNR
works by timing the controlled release of nutrients to a plants needs so
that Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium are available during the appropriate
time of a crop cycle. If a fertilizer is feeding a plant nutrients that a plant
cannot absorb then there is only one place for those nutrients to ultimately
go, and that is eventually into the groundwater.
For its
efforts in developing SNR, Florikan received the 2004 National Society of
Professional Engineers (NSPE) Most Innovative New Product Award (Small
Business) for the United States. As the NSPE award winner, Florikan received a
research and development award grant from the NASA funded
Space Alliance
Technology Outreach Program. Through this grant, Florikan gained the
expertise to polymer coat its own component fertilizers. This new technology
known as
Florikote, is an impervious polymer that is liquefied
and sprayed on the surface of fertilizer granules. At a precise point in the
coating process a predetermined amount of a second polymer is added resulting
in a catalytic reaction between the two polymers. The result of this catalytic
reaction is an expected series of microscopic release passages (small
imperfections) in the coating. The addition of the second polymer is what
controls the release of the nutrients by reverse osmosis.
By adjusting
the amount of the second polymer, Florikote can accurately predict the
release of the fertilizer in months over time. By adding layers of coating the
release can be even further accurately predicted. The patented technology of
Florikote permits the matching of the relative solubility of the nutrient
to the relative porosity of the polymer coating. Moisture enters the prill
through the channels, by reverse osmosis, starting the dissolution of the
nutrients which will then release by reverse osmosis back through the channels.
Florikote technology mirrors the technology found in some of the most
effective controlled release products in the world. |
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FLORIKOTE - Controlled Release Fertilizer
Coating Florikan is commited to providing the most advanced
fertilizers avalilable to reduce the potential of fertilizer nutrient runoff
and leaching into our environment. The development of
Florikote is our continued commitment to providing
superior innovation and environmental sustainability in a more cost-effective
fertilizer product. Click
here to view the Florikote brochure. |
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NUTRIENT LOADING & HARMFUL ALGAL
BLOOMS Nutrient run-off comes from many different sources: sewage
discharge, septic tanks, atmospheric deposition, and improper use of nutrients.
There is no single cause to blame for nutrient pollution. It's the TOTAL LOAD
of nutrient run-off which is the problem and it's the TOTAL LOAD which must be
reduced. Nutrients are essential elements for plant growth and are commonly
used in plant production and in landscape applications. Using different
nutrients can result in more efficient plant response. Using more Controlled
Release Magnesium and less Nitrogen or Phosphate can help plants produce
chlorophyll. Magnesium is the center atom of the chlorophyll molecule and the
plant requires Magnesium to produce green foliage.
World-wide,
relationships have been observed between increases in nutrient loading and
proliferations of specific types of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). If excess
nutrients leaching into estuaries, are known to be a contributing factor to
algal blooms, then the amount of nutrients applied to meet plant growth needs
should be the minimum amount required. In some locales, HABs have increased in
response to alterations in the type of nutrient, not only major nutrient forms
such as Nitrogen and Phosphorus, but changes in the chemical form of these
nutrients. |
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HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS RESEARCH In her peer
reviewed, published research entitled "Escalating Worldwide Use Of Urea - A Global Change
Contributing To Coastal Eutrophication", Dr. Patricia M. Gilbert states
"Although urea fertilizer is commonly assumed to be retained in soils, there is
growing evidence of urea transport to sensitive coastal waters. There is
mounting evidence that urea differentially stimulates the growth of some types
of phytoplankton in coastal waters and that it may, under some conditions,
promote a shift in phytoplankton species to organisms that are more noxious to
the ecosystem and to human health." There is no question that nutrients are
required by HABs, as they are by all algal species. Two nutrients in
human-derived sources, Phosphorus (P) and Nitrogen (N), are of most concern in
eutrophication.
The Cambridge Consensus of leading scientists on Land Based
Pollution and Toxic Dinoflagellates indicated that "Whatever the trends in
nutrient pollution may be, it is clear that, larger amounts of materials that
stimulate biological production were delivered from the land to the estuarine
rivers during 1996 and extending into 1997. Both experimental and field studies
around the world show that nutrient enrichment often results in the development
of high densities of small flagellated algae. The role of phosphorous or
Nitrogen depends on the relative concentrations of their available forms and
the nutritional status of the organisms, all of which are site specific and
variable over time. In the long term, decreases in nutrient loading will likely
reduce eutrophication, thereby improving water quality." |
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REDUCING THE TOTAL LOAD OF NUTIENT POLUTION Our
lakes, rivers, streams, and estuaries are currently under attack. The enemy is
a 3 billion year old microorganism called a Cynobacteria that produce a
neurotoxin called
cynotoxins that according to EPA scientist Dr. Kenneth
Hudnell can, after exposure, "result in multiple organ failure of a human
being." The stimulation of Cynobacteria production is directly related to the
proliferation of Harmful Algal Blooms which in turn are related to nutrients
(primarily Nitrogen and phosphate). Scientists fear that water quality may be
so seriously impacted that fisheries, drinking water, and even sustainability
of life, may be in jeopardy in a very short period time. There is no one factor
which one can point to as the primary source of nutrient run-off which is
contributing to the decline in our water systems. All the sources of nutrients
potentially stimulating algal blooms, include sewage, atmospheric deposition,
groundwater flow, agricultural and aquaculture run-off, and discharge and
residential uses of nutrients are contributing factors. It's the total nutrient
load we need to reduce, and adopting Best Management Practice is one way our
industry can be part of the solution. |
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REDUCING USAGE OF CHEMICALS For 25 years,
Florikan has not sold a chemical pesticide, herbicide, or fungicide. We
advocate the use of Sustainable Pest Control (SPC) principles which are based
upon a holistic view of crop production. Florikan provides live predatory insects,
biological controls, and natural oils to its customers for use as
alternatives to toxic chemicals.
Florikan also
educates its customers to reduce their costs by using less herbicides,
pesticides and fungicides and still get the result desired. Checking the pH of
water is one of the keys to doing so. Water is the primary delivery vehicle
when applying chemicals to plant material. Adjusting the spray tank water to be
a more efficient carrier is an important step in reducing the amount of the
chemical needed to do the job. This also reduces cost. Most chemicals have a
reaction called "pesticide hydrolysis" when mixed with alkaline water (pH of 7
or higher). Pesticide hydrolysis can significantly reduce the efficacy of the
chemical by as much as 50%.
Acidifying
the pH of the spray tank water to a pH of 5 will make the spray water more
efficient, resulting in the reduction of rate and amount needed to achieve
objective. This will also obviously save money! The first step is to make sure
you really need to spray before spraying. If after scouting the crops, the
chemical is determined to be needed, adjust the pH of the spray tank water to 5
by adding Indicate 5 until the spray tank water turns pink. When the water in
the tank is pink the pH is fixed at 5 and the chemical is then added at the
lowest rate. Reduction of chemical sprays by amount and frequency is a Best
Management Practice which can protect our environment and reduce
cost. |
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