Written by Mike Hamilton, CCA & President of Turf Dietitian
“I’m a personal trainer for plants.”
Boron may not be on your radar when considering what nutrients to apply to get your turf as strong as possible. So, why is boron the nutrient of the month in March?
Because March is the month when turf in most parts of the country is waking up and starting to grow!
One of boron’s primary responsibilities is to assist calcium in enhancing cell strength, elongation, and reproduction.
Suppose there are insufficient levels of boron in the plant when spring growth initiates. In that case, plant cells are compromised, and the reproduction of new cells may be limited, making the plant more susceptible to disease and environmental stress.
The usual diagnosis is environmental stress when a disease attacks a stressed plant in the summer. However, the Theory of Trophobiosis, hypothesized by Dr. Francis Chaboussou, states all plant disease begins with a nutrient deficiency.
What if the cause of those stubborn diseases is something as simple as a boron deficiency?
I admit, if plants are under a pathogen attack, I wouldn’t necessarily immediately think of boron. However, when plant growth is at its peak in the spring and fall, proper boron management can eliminate it as the culprit.
What are the primary roles of boron within the plant?
Boron plays a part in assisting calcium in cell division, cell wall strength, and cell formation. (Because the plant requires twice as much calcium during the reproductive process, monitoring and applying both is essential when the plant’s rapidly growing.)- Boron is involved in nitrogen metabolism and protein formation.
- Boron is a part of the process of building sugar and carbohydrates in leaves after photosynthesis.
- Boron is also responsible for moving sugars and carbohydrates through plants and into the roots.
- Boron moves starches and immobile cations from cell to cell and throughout the plant.
- Boron works directly with potassium to regulate water loss by opening and closing the stomata in leaf tissue.
- Boron is responsible for forming specific proteins and regulating hormone levels.
- Boron is essential in the transportation of potassium and calcium throughout the plant.
Boron and the nutrient delivery system
If you were to ask any farmer that grows dicot crops if boron is mobile in the plant, their answer would be no. However, boron is highly mobile in monocots, making it unique from all other essential nutrients.
Nutrients transport through the plant’s vascular systems; xylem and phloem. Nutrients are then taken into plant roots as inorganic molecules, and transported upward through the xylem tubes.
The xylem is responsible for transporting water and nutrients upward and depositing them in leaves and branches. The phloem is responsible for transporting organic molecules (acids, sugars, carbohydrates, and starches) in all directions to the plant, depending on the time of day. The phloem also deposits food and nutrients to the necessary plant parts.
Immobile nutrients can’t make it into the phloem without help. In monocots, boron helps stationary cations into and through the phloem. Because boron has a negative charge, it pulls in immobile cations with positive charges (Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Mn) by attaching magnetically and delivering them to where they will be utilized. This process makes monocots more efficient than dicots.
A lot of nutrients are exhausted before they ever reach their target. Knowing how nutrients move in the plant will help you to apply nutrients at the right time during the season. Keeping boron levels sufficient in the plant when it’s actively growing will ensure that essential cations reach their targets.
Weekly tissue testing is the only way to monitor boron levels in the plant. Give us a call, and we can show you how easy it is to assure you are feeding the plant a balanced diet.
