The 5 key benefits of using Gypsum

Source of calcium and sulfur for plant nutrition

Gypsum is an excellent source of sulfur for plant nutrition and improving crop yield. Meanwhile, calcium is essential for most nutrients to be absorbed by plants roots. Calcium helps stimulate root growth.

Improves acid soils and treats aluminum toxicity.

One of gypsum’s main advantages is its ability to reduce aluminum toxicity, which often accompanies soil acidity, particularly in subsoils. Surface-applied gypsum leaches down to the subsoil and results in increased root growth.

Improves soil structure

Flocculation, or aggregation, is needed to give favorable soil structure for root growth and air and water movement. Soluble calcium enhances soil aggregation and porosity to improve water infiltration.

Improves water infiltration

Gypsum also improves the ability of soil to drain and not become waterlogged due to a combination of high sodium, swelling clay and excess water. Increased water-use efficiency of crops is extremely important during a drought. The key to helping crops survive a drought is to capture all the water you can when it does rain. Better soil structure allows all the positive benefits of soil-water relations to occur and gypsum helps to create and support good soil structure properties.

Helps reduce runoff and erosion

Agriculture is considered to be one of the major contributors to water quality, with phosphorus runoff the biggest concern. Gypsum helps to keep phosphorus and other nutrients from leaving farm fields. Using gypsum as a soil amendment is the most economical way to cut the non-point run-off pollution of phosphorus.