Where does the silica in seabird guano come from?

Learn how the silica is formed in our Madura Guano Gold products.

Guano Sulphur Gold is sourced from what is basically seabird droppings on coral reefs that have been uplifted and become part of an island. Seabirds feed on fish which have as their original food source chlorophyll rich diatoms.

These one-celled diatom organisms are 90% of the food for everything that lives in the sea.

The importance of this lies not so much in the chlorophyll itself, but the skeletons that these microscopic creatures create. Incredibly, these one-celled organisms take silicon and oxygen from seawater and construct tiny chlorophyll-containing baskets out of spun silica.

The skeletal material is Silica or Silicon Dioxide SiO4, and its porous nature makes it accessible to other microscopic creatures for digestion. This then moves through the food chain until it becomes excreted from sea birds.

When we get our Guano Sulphur Gold –bags or bulk, we are the recipients of not only phosphorus, sulphur and calcium but also about 25% in weight of diatomic skeletons are made up of soluble Silica.

Silica in seabird guano fertilizer comes from chlorophyll rich diatoms, one-celled organisms which represent 90% of the food for everything that lives in the sea - including the fish the seabirds feed upon.

WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY

Being so far away from our markets, durability is critical and the Silica is really good in terms of hardening up the skin and making the melons better to transport.Ord River WA irrigator David Menzel-Barradale

The problem with many organic fertilisers is that they have very low rates of nutrients, meaning you need to put out high rates. A product like Guano Gold has 12pc P, whereas Guano Sulphur Gold has 10.5pc P, obviously with additional sulphur. These figures compare very favourably with something like a single superphosphate product. Agronomically, it’s a good product in any setting, not just for organic producers.Garry Allison, Landmark Agronomist. Mount Gambier, SA

For the broadacre croppers, Guano Gold works really well in paddocks where they have had issues with nutrient tie-up. He said the majority of synthetic P products have large rates of water soluble P. The problem with that is that you can have instances where it ends up tying up zinc in the soil so you run into problems with zinc deficiencies. Not only does the slow release nature of the Guano Gold product work well over the entire season, it also contains zinc for the crop as well as the other nutrients.Moree agronomist Rob Drewitt

We strongly recommend the Guano Gold products to fellow farmers if they are looking at improving their Calcium and Silica levels using various methods of application such as foliar and granular.James and Aimee Thomas Falkirk Macadamia Farm

I have recommended Guano Gold products for 20 years and in all cases had excellent long-term results increasing in pasture productivity.Paul Baguely - PB Ag Consulting

They are high analysis products so you get your nutrients without having to put too much fertiliser out.Anthony Beutel, Googa Farm Organics

We have known since the 1930s that phosphorus is one of the main elements required to grow a successful crop of not just the (flax) plant but the seed. It was one of those products that was first out in a granular type form and it was so much easier to get an even coverage over the ground, rather than a powder form. Later on the product became a little more refined, so we could put it through our air-seeder. We also broadcast some of it, prior to seeding, when we are cultivating ground. The products have great characteristics in relation to phosphate and silica, which is exactly what we need for flax.Waltanna Farms flax-seed farmer & Ambassador for Guano Australia, Michael Nagorcka

Where does the silica in seabird guano come from?

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WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY