Agricultural sulphur: Why is it essential for horticultural crops?

• The main advantage of elemental sulfur in horticultural crops lies not only in its ability to provide a progressive supply of sulfates, but also in its potential as an ecological amendment to improve soil pH and salinity.
• Products featuring AFEPASA’s SULTECH™ technology offer an integrated, sustainable and ecological solution to enhance the natural protection, nutrition and biostimulation of plants throughout their growth.

Nowadays, it is practically impossible to conceive the development of horticultural crops in our country, particularly those grown in greenhouses, without the support provided by pollinating species or biological pest control.

In this context, sulfur becomes an ideal complement for the natural growth and increased productivity of these crops, as it is a sustainable and ecological solution with no harmful effects on agricultural microfauna, while also providing an integrated solution thanks to its great value as a fertilizer, biostimulant and plant protection agent.

The main advantage of elemental sulfur in crops lies not only in its ability to provide plants with a progressive supply of sulfates, avoiding the leaching associated with other products based on liquid sulfates and reducing the need for multiple applications. The true added value of products featuring AFEPASA’s SULTECH™ technology lies in the fact that, in addition to its nutritional properties, it also acts as an ecological soil amendment capable of improving soil pH and salinity.

When applied directly to agricultural soil through the root zone, SULTECH™ products, including Microsul 40S and Triumphalis, significantly and naturally improve soil composition, increasing its microbiota and unlocking soil nutrients, thereby facilitating the essential uptake of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and zinc, which are fundamental for plant growth and flowering.

In this respect, the main difference offered by SULTECH™, compared with other sulfur-based products and compounds available on the market, lies in its microcrystal formulation. These microcrystals are obtained through biological processes rather than by grinding elemental rock sulfur. Their size is therefore optimal for uptake by the soil microbiome, significantly accelerating the transformation of sulfur into sulfates and allowing visible improvements in soil salinity and pH to be observed over a much shorter period.

If foliar sulfur application is added to this approach, beyond the natural plant protection properties of sulfur as a sustainable and ecological solution, plant strength and resilience can also be enhanced through biostimulation. This is because the plant receives the sulfur required to produce amino acids such as cysteine, significantly increasing its natural resources to protect itself against diseases and hostile abiotic conditions, including drought and sudden temperature changes.

Therefore, if you are looking for a solution for your horticultural crops that combines the full fertilizing, biostimulant and plant protection potential of agricultural sulfur in a single product, we recommend relying on AFEPASA products featuring SULTECH™ technology, and applying high-quality solutions such as the aforementioned Microsul 40S, Triumphalis, as well as other specific solutions from the range, including Organosul 20S, Organosul NS and Organosul KS.