Fertilization

We have to apply fertilizers to feed the plants.  We add fertilizer, in part, to replace the berries that we take off each year and also to give the perennial plant food for next years crop.  We use a machine to spread the fertilizer on the field.  We don't have to go into the field, the fertilizer is spread from the dike by means of a boom and propelled to nozzles by a large fan.  

We can apply just what the plants need when they need them... that way the fertilizer is not wasted or leached into the ground water.  We generally apply about 12 tonnes a season in 3 rounds based on the growth stages of the cranberry vine.

This is our granular product spreader used to spread fertilizer.  The machine can accurately apply as little as 15 kg of product per acre.  We generally apply a fertilizer in a ratio of 1:2:1.  Also, we apply only about 12 kg of N per acre per year as the breakdown of the peat liberates N each year.