Trace Mineral Magic – Shuttle Seven™

Trace minerals were once genuinely considered as “minor” minerals because their measurable presence in the plant was so minute. However, these minerals are now recognised as spark plugs that trigger numerous plant processes and their absence can be as costly as the lack of any of the major minerals. We have conducted thousands of tissue tests from around the globe and trace mineral deficiencies are universal. A high analysis blend of all seven chelated trace minerals has a huge role to play in all growing enterprises.

Why Chelate?

Sulfate-based trace minerals are much cheaper than chelates but far less effective. The leaf is negatively charged and most of the trace minerals are positively charged. The major entry point into the plant is via the tiny breathing pores called stomates, located on the underside of plant leaves. Zinc sulfate, for example, rushes like a nail to a magnet toward the stomates and rapidly clogs these entry points. This magnetically driven, traffic jam seriously reduces the potential uptake of the zinc (or any other unchelated trace mineral). The word chelate means “claw” and this is exactly what a chelating agent does. It wraps itself around the mineral in question, neutralises the positive charge and ensures that there is easy access into the plant with no unwanted traffic jams.

What are the Best Chelating Agents?

The most popular chemical chelating agent is EDTA but these chelates are expensive and they have some negatives. They effectively introduce a chemical contaminant into the plant that must be disposed of and they can also drop their mineral load within the plant and latch onto some other mineral sponsoring an unintended deficiency as a result. There are natural chelating agents that are vastly preferable and the best of these are fulvic acid and kelp. However, the champagne of all chelating options is the proprietary Nutri-Key Shuttle® Mineral Delivery System from NTS and here is why:

The Shuttle® Difference

In this unique approach, the trace minerals are grouped together in a nanocluster, like livestock in a holding pen. A biochemical called a shuttle ligand is drawn to this cluster and extracts a positively charged trace mineral. This Shuttle® delivery vehicle is then magnetically drawn to the negatively charged plant where it bobs against the leaf surface, like knocking on a door. The surfaces of all living organisms are constantly vibrating and in the process tiny openings appear and disappear. The persistence of the bobbing shuttle ligand with its trace mineral load is rewarded when an opening coincides with an inward thrust and the trace mineral is deposited into the plant. The “empty” shuttle ligand is then drawn back to the holding pen and the process repeats itself again and again. This a remarkably effective method of mineral delivery and it is a World first.

The Seven Benefits of Nutri-Key Shuttle Seven™:

1. Shuttle Seven™ is much more cost effective than similar EDTA chelates and it also works better. Just compare the two with relative leaf tests and you will soon discover the superiority of Shuttle Seven™.

2. Shuttle Seven™ features luxury levels of all trace minerals including cobalt and molybdenum.

3. Shuttle Seven™ can be used as a powerhouse foliar in dairy pastures, in liquid inject blends in broadacre, as a monthly foliar corrective in orchards and vineyards and as a fortnightly trace element boost in vegetable crops.

4. Shuttle Seven™ is the perfect partner for applications of fish, kelp or fulvic acid as it will add some mineral meat to the bones of these bio-promotants.

5. Shuttle Seven™ ensures that trace mineral deficiencies do not limit crop yield or resilience and it also supplies a blend of supporting major minerals.

6. Shuttle Seven™ supplies molybdenum which can be the missing link in many growing enterprises. Molybdenum allows access to free nitrogen from the atmosphere and it also governs conversion of nitrates into proteins within the plant. Unconverted nitrates increase pest pressure.

7. Shuttle Seven™ offers trace mineral insurance to avoid the blotches, stripes and pale colours that limit photosynthesis and always reduce yield and profitability.