Bill Daly in the paddock.
With the season delivering excellent rainfall, now is the ideal time to use one of the most valuable and cost-effective tools available: Plant Therapy Analysis, also known as Leaf Tissue Testing.
Leaf Tissue Testing reveals what the plant is accessing from the soil and photosynthetic activity at that point in time, making it a powerful decision-making tool for in-season nutrition.
According to Rhonda Daly, founder of YLAD Living Soils, “Leaf Tissue Testing helps remove the guesswork from in-season nutrition decisions and helps avoid spending money where it’s not
necessary.”
The process measures actual nutrient levels within the leaf, helping growers identify deficiencies, imbalances, or hidden stress before visual symptoms become severe and before yield potential is affected. Even when soil fertility is adequate, cold conditions, moisture stress, compaction, or nutrient tie-up can limit nutrient uptake.
“Yellowing leaves, poor vigour, slow growth, or reduced photosynthesis are often signs that something is limiting plant function,” Rhonda explains. “Leaf Tissue Testing allows us to identify those limitations early and respond with targeted nutrition before production is affected.”
Your Leaf Tissue Test report provides a comprehensive, colour-coded guide to plant and crop health — detailed, practical, and easy to understand. It’s like having a personal plant nutritionist at your disposal.
This is where foliar fertilisation can play a strategic role.
Once results are received from the lab, YLAD Living Soils takes a precision-based approach to correcting deficiencies. Nutrient imbalances shown in the tissue analysis are assessed, and a targeted foliar fertiliser blend is designed to match the crop’s immediate needs.
Customised foliar programs can deliver the exact nutrients the plant is lacking, whether key macro elements such as nitrogen, calcium, or potassium, or trace minerals including zinc, manganese, boron, copper, and molybdenum. By applying nutrients and biology directly through the leaf, plants can respond quickly, supporting uptake efficiency, plant health, photosynthetic activity, and overall performance.
At YLAD Living Soils, we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all nutrition. Every blend is tailored to the crop, growth stage, environmental conditions, and lab data, ensuring plants receive balanced nutrition exactly when they need it most.
Recent results from local Harden grower Glenn highlighted this approach, with a multi-species crop sown with YLAD Living Soils Germinate Plus responding strongly after rainfall and a customised Foliar Nutrition Program.
“As soon as the rain arrived, the paddock really took off,” Glenn says.
By taking regular leaf tests and having YLAD Living Soils personalise your liquid inputs, you are choosing a targeted pathway to higher yield and superior quality.
No more, no less — just the right nutrition for your crops to thrive.
To learn more about Plant /Leaf Tissue Testing and Foliar Fertiliser Programs, contact YLAD Living Soils on 1300 811 681or email info@yladlivingsoils.com.au
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