Jason Klotz

Fine-tuning fertiliser under the canopy: Jason Klotz’s Tow and Fert story

Jason Klotz grows macadamias across two properties near Bundaberg, Queensland, 80 hectares at the home farm at Elliott Heads and a further 130 hectares south towards Childers, spread across five varieties.

For years, fertiliser under the trees meant fertigation and broadcast spreading, granular product applied across the block and left to work its way into the root zone. Over time, Jason found that approach wasn’t precise enough for what the trees actually needed. Nutrition had to be more variable, targeted to the drip zone directly under the canopy, where the most active roots could make use of it quickly.

That thinking led him to liquid application. Dissolving fertiliser and applying it as a liquid meant Jason could place nutrition exactly where the roots were working, rather than across the whole block and hoping enough of it found its way to the right place.

Dust control turned out to be a practical bonus of the switch. Liquid application gets full coverage on the ground, with none of the drift or unevenness that can come with spreading fine, dusty product.

The same precision has mattered for trace elements. Getting a conventional spreader to lay down very small quantities accurately across a broadcast area is difficult. With the Tow and Fert, Jason can measure out a small quantity, as little as 25 kilos, and apply it evenly across ten hectares.

Timing has been one of the biggest shifts. With granular fertiliser, getting nutrients plant-available meant waiting on rainfall, or running the irrigation system through multiple cycles to move product down through the soil profile, often five rounds or more before any real benefit showed. With the Tow and Fert, Jason can apply fertiliser and have it plant-available within hours, using only a small amount of irrigation to carry it through.

That speed has mattered most in dry conditions. In a season with effectively zero rainfall, Jason has relied heavily on underground irrigation water that runs high in salt, magnesium and manganese. By monitoring EC (electrical conductivity) levels in the soil, he can see when salinity is starting to build and respond quickly, applying a corrective product before it becomes a problem for the trees.

For Jason, it comes down to a simple point: no other equipment lets him get products plant-available as fast as the Tow and Fert does.

“We could not put on the products we’re using, to be plant available as quick as what we do with the Tow and Fert, with any other machinery. Honestly, you can’t do it. It’s that simple. There’s nothing else out there.”