General information

   

Basic Information

Slow-release mineral fertilizers (Slow Release Fertilizer) SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® are special complete fertilizers with a high nutrient content. These nutrients are released gradually and over a long period of time, for 6 to 12 months or longer.

The fertilizers are intended for fertilization and supplementary feeding of a wide range of crops, especially perennial plants. They are produced in tablets of various weights as well as in powder form.

Nitrogen and a Long-Term Source of Nutrition

The fertilizers contain the primary nutrient—nitrogen—in the form of urea-aldehyde condensates (Ureaform), characterized by varying water solubility depending on the length of the polycondensation chain.

They provide a source of slow-release nitrogen nutrition. At the beginning of fertilization, no undesirably high nitrogen concentration is created in the soil solution, and nitrogen losses from the soil are not increased.

Phosphorus, Potassium and Magnesium

A major advantage of SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers is the presence of sparingly soluble double potassium-magnesium phosphates, which ensure the gradual release of additional essential nutrients: phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium.

The reduced solubility of all nutrients in these fertilizers is caused by the chemical properties of the active substances and is not fundamentally affected by physical processing of the fertilizer material, such as tableting.

For this reason, the nutrient dissolution rate does not significantly differ between the tablet and powder forms.

Effect on Soil pH and Environmental Aspects

The double phosphates contained in the fertilizer exhibit significant buffering capacity within the neutral to slightly alkaline pH range.

This positively influences the pH of the soil solution at the site of fertilizer application, particularly in acidic and strongly acidic soils.

This property, together with the long-term nutrient release effect—which eliminates environmental burden—predestines SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers for use in areas with high pollution loads.

Plant chemotropism also plays a role. Nutrients are utilized not only during a single growing season but also in subsequent seasons.

Due to their low solubility, nutrients from SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers are efficiently utilized and their penetration into surface and groundwater is minimized.

This is of considerable importance for safe application in water protection zones.

Under European climatic conditions, nutrients from the slow-release fertilizers of the SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® range are released for a minimum of two years, depending on precipitation and temperature.

Environmental and Operational Advantages

The combination of high nutrient content in SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers and their limited solubility significantly increases nutrient utilization efficiency.

The fertilizers contain no undesirable impurities or chlorides. Thanks to their overall properties, they minimize the negative environmental impacts typically associated with conventional fast-release industrial fertilizers (Fast Release Fertilizers) and are therefore highly environmentally friendly.

Advantages of the Tablet Form

The tablet form of the SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizer range represents a significant innovation offering numerous advantages.

Tablets are particularly beneficial for application to plants in hard-to-access locations or where conventional fertilization methods cannot be used.

They provide an ideal solution for individual fertilization of each plant, creating a sufficient nutrient reserve in the soil or substrate without the risk of undesirable increases in soil solution concentration or nutrient losses through leaching.

Application is simple and localized, allowing precise dosing directly to the plant and minimizing unproductive fertilization outside the root zone.

The use of tablet fertilizers results in significant savings in time, labor, and additional site visits for supplementary fertilization.

There is no need for the labor-intensive mixing of substrates with conventional fertilizers. Handling tablets is highly hygienic, as they do not produce dust during application—unlike powder or partially granular fertilizers.

Economic Benefits

A significant economic benefit lies in improved seedling growth when applying SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers, shortening production cycles for ornamental plants and increasing overall wood increment.

Recommended Use

The use of SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers is essentially universal. However, they are particularly well suited for fertilizing and supplementary feeding of young plantings and seedlings of long-term growing plants.

In these cases, plants optimally utilize nutrients from the fertilizers for a minimum of two growing seasons.

The fertilizers have proven especially effective in:

• fertilizing forest plantations and seedlings in forest nurseries,
• planting trees and shrubs after land reclamation,
• roadside plantings,
• ornamental horticulture and bonsai cultivation,
• growing fruit trees, grapevine, raspberries, gooseberries, currants, strawberries, and blackberries.

Starter fertilization is also highly effective for tropical and subtropical plantings (coconut palms, olive trees, banana plants, citrus trees, orange trees, rubber trees).

The tablets can also be successfully applied in pots and balcony planters.

Outstanding results have been achieved with SILVAMIX® FORTE, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers in the cultivation of geraniums (including trailing geraniums) and petunias.

The powder form of SILVAMIX® fertilizers is successfully used in the preparation of forestry and horticultural substrates and for broad-area supplementary fertilization of forest seedlings under plastic covers as well as in open fields.

Vegetation trials conducted and evaluated by renowned institutions in the Czech Republic and abroad repeatedly confirm the excellent properties of SILVAMIX®, SILVAGEN®, and SILVAFORM® fertilizers as long-term storage fertilizers for specialized plant cultivation.