SEVEN FIELDS, Pa. – The newest CrossOver formulation to be approved in California, CrossOver G can help alleviate drought stress. Based on research both here and globally, CrossOver G – for ag and turf -- is a highly refined, gypsum enhanced, calcium and magnesium silicate product that helps increase plant root weight and volume, thereby enhancing drought and salt tolerance. While there is no cure-all for severe drought, research has shown that supplemental silicon enables plants to tolerate reduced water input with less impact on plant performance.
As California’s record drought persists and growers rely increasingly on groundwater, CrossOver G’s blend of gypsum with calcium and magnesium silicate will provide an additional tool to help with a number of issues related to drought.
Registrations
The two standard-bearers in the CrossOver line of products – CrossOver Ag and CrossOover Turf -- were registered in California earlier this year. The CDFA recently approved the gypsum formulations for Ag and Turf on the same crops as the standard CrossOver Products. Those include all common cucurbits, fruiting vegetables, brassica vegetables, legumes and tuberous vegetables. It is also cleared for use on field crops such as corn (sweet, field and seed corn), soybeans, rice, wheat, sugarcane, sorghum, alfalfa, barley, oats and switchgrass. CrossOver G Turf is approved for all standard turf grasses. It should be noted that CrossOver G products have already been registered in most states along with the standard CrossOver.
Harsco felt CrossOver G would be an excellent formulation to round out the CrossOver product line. It broadens the spectrum of uses and plant species that can benefit from the plant available silicon in CrossOver.
About CrossOver G
CrossOver G Agriculture as well as the other CrossOver products are refined, calcium and magnesium silicate products in pelletized form. Their benefits are associated with the release of soluble silicon that, once absorbed by the plant, provide biochemical enhancements that improve the adaptive capacity – tolerance and resistance – to yield robbing environmental stresses such as drought.
Research to date confirms that the uptake, transport and deposition of silicon enhances the ability of plants to overcome constraints posed by water deficit stress and other abiotic stress conditions due largely to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of plant defense response systems.
While a wide variety of chemical options are available to control biological stresses, options for management and improved plant tolerance to abiotic stresses have been limited – until the beneficial effects of silicon became evident and refined silicon-rich products like CrossOver became available.