Me neither. I do know chelating prevents phosphor from fucking up the metals into an unusable form, it keeps elements apart after uptake as well allowing for better mobility of the elements.
I remember a while ago, in a thread that was too good, contained too many facts, so was deleted, we discussed organic vs synth nutrients uptake and someone brought up something negative about the commonly used EDTA chelate and I found a doc that explained H&G uses the newer and better chelate EDDHA. Not sure if that's in anyway taste related.
It's easy to find research on how chelates affect taste in fruits and vegetables.... it's improved because it facilitates optimal nutrient uptake.
DynagroW Bud blaster (
) contains Citric Acid monohydrate and NPK 2-15-4. Citric acid monohydrate is also used as a chelating agent... improved iron (and Mn, Mg, Zn) uptake that could otherwise be possibly fucked up by that high P. H&G Top Booster is basically a PK booster with iron (EDDHA-Fe) added based on similar logic (high P additionally antagonizes iron uptake) .
I think the suggestion that AN happens to use the better chelates than others is just as silly as the "better salts" argument. It's more related to the old organic vs synth taste discussion.
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Iron can be applied as ferrous sulfate or in a chelated form.
Ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) contains about 20% iron. This fertilizer is inexpensive and is mainly used for foliar spraying. Applied to soil, it is often ineffective, especially in pH above 7.0, because its iron quickly transforms to Fe3+ and precipitates as one of the iron oxides.
Iron chelates. Chelates are compounds that stabilize metal ions (in this case - iron) and protect them from oxidation and precipitation. Iron chelates consist of three components:
- Fe3+ ions
- A complex, such as EDTA, DTPA, EDDHA, amino acids, humic-fulvic acids, citrate.
- Sodium (Na+) or ammonium (NH4+) ions
Different chelates hold iron ions in different strengths at different pH levels. They also defer in their susceptibility to iron replacement by competitive ions. For example, at high concentrations, calcium or magnesium ions may replace the chelated metal ion.
Fe-EDTA - This iron chelate is stable at pH below 6.0. Above pH of 6.5, nearly 50% of the iron is unavailable. Therefore this chelate is ineffective in alkaline soils. This chelate also has high affinity to calcium, so it is advised not to use it in calcium-rich soils or water.
Note that EDTA is a very stable chelate of micro-elements, other than iron, even in high pH levels.
Fe-DTPA - this iron chelate is stable in pH levels of up to 7.0, and is not as susceptible to iron replacement by calcium.
Fe-EDDHA - this chelate is stable at pH levels as high as 11.0, but it is also the most expensive iron chelate available.
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