Foliar Nutrition: A Smart Strategy for Productive, Resilient Pastures
Introduction
If you’re growing pasture for grazing, now is the time to think about how you’re going to care for it. Unless you’ve nailed excellent grazing management and plant diversity, your pastures will need nutrients to grow productively. And here’s the good news – foliar nutrition offers a smart, efficient way to deliver those nutrients while building long-term resilience.
Efficient Application of Nutrients
Instead of relying solely on nutrient uptake through the roots, foliar sprays deliver nutrients directly to the leaf surface, where they’re absorbed quickly and efficiently. This method is especially useful when soil conditions limit nutrient availability or when you want to give plants a boost during critical growth stages.
Joel Williams has been at the forefront of improving crop and pasture nutrition through foliar application, and highlighting the important role biology (through biostimulants) plays in nutrient efficiency. There are plenty of resources on his website, Integrated Soils.
Increasing Efficiency
NutriSoil Biological Solution is a plant biostimulant derived from a unique vermiculture recycling system. It’s packed with plant-available nutrients, growth promotants, amino acids and beneficial microbes. When applied as a foliar spray, it doesn’t just feed the plant, it activates biology on the leaf and in the soil, improving nutrient cycling and strengthening plant health.
The Hidden Benefits of Balanced Nutrition
As John Kempf explains in The Biological Farming RoundTable’s two-part podcast series on disease and pest resilience, plant health is the foundation of immunity. In Part One, he outlines how balancing plant chemistry through foliar nutrition helps plants develop passive immunity, meaning they’re naturally less attractive to pests and diseases. In Part Two, he dives into active immunity, where vigorous biology helps plants produce compounds that actively defend against threats.
Pasture Nutrition
Some growers are already using tissue and sap testing to determine which macro or micronutrients their crops need, and may even be ordering customised nutrients based on the results. Not everyone is at this stage, and not everyone needs to be. There are plenty of options to purchase broad-spectrum nutrient products. NutriSoil frequently recommends products from Best Farming Systems and Ectol. Both combine well with NutriSoil’s Biological Solution for improved pasture health.
The Takeaway
Nutrients aren’t just about growth, they’re about strength. Strong plants are better equipped to handle pest pressure, disease outbreaks, and climate stress. And foliar nutrition is most efficient and effective when combined with biology, building that strength from the plant and into the soil.
Farmers using NutriSoil report better pasture performance, more even grazing, and improved water infiltration. They’re also seeing economic benefits: less reliance on synthetic fertilisers, fewer chemical interventions, and healthier livestock outcomes.
So if you’re looking to support your pastures this season, consider foliar nutrition as part of your strategy. It’s not about going “cold turkey” on fertilisers, it’s about making smarter choices that support biology, reduce risk, and build resilience. Because when your plants are strong, your system is strong.