By James Wall
Pronounced Tro-fort-ay, this is a fertiliser that is gaining in popularity. It is a different philosophy in feeding plants. It’s not all about nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK), but more about making existing nutrients in the soil more available to the plants. It does have a small amount of NPK, but it also has lots of minerals. The amazing thing about this fertiliser that really sets it apart is the fact it contains live microbes which are triggered off once the fertiliser gets watered and begins to break down. Microbes already exist in soils, especially where there are worms. The problem is though, there are lots of tired old soils that have become acidic from years of conventional fertilisation. You dig down and there are no worms. What the microbes do is convert existing nutrients in the soil, to a much more available form, that the plants can use.
The other things about the product I like is the fact you can only buy a minimum of 3.5 kg. As a society, we use too many little packets of things rather than a more efficient big packet. Seeing little packets of food snacks packaged in big packets really irks me. The empty plastic tub is also returnable to the nursery and recyclable. The other thing I like is that this product is made in Australia. Too many of our fertilisers are produced packaged in foreign countries before being shipped out here on boats. Surely we have the smarts to make our own fertilser.
The big question is, does it work. We consulted some gardeners in Darwin who have used this product for a while. They started using it because they liked the fact it was not going to be toxic to rivers if there was excess runoff, a big issue in the wet season in northern Australia. They also continue to use it, because it works. Early indications from our customers, is that plants are growing well and they are getting strong growth. Of course sometimes it is hard to tell, because other fertrtilisers like cow manure are also being applied in between applications of Troforte. It is something we are going to continue to monitor, but early opinions, are positive ones.
Below is some information provided by the manufacturer, and a video from the Garden Gurus. Troforte is available at Gardenworld, including the Rejuvenator, although this is kept behind the counter so we can explain the fact that the microbes are not coated in fertiliser so must be used with a spoon, so as not to get moisture from your hands and into the container which sets off all the microbes. This is not an issue in the regular, larger prill, as the microbes are coated.