§ 14521 Chelated Plant Nutrient Definition

• •Chelated nutrients are metal nutrients bound to organic molecules.
• •The binding lets the nutrients stay usable in soils where they would otherwise be insoluble.
• •The definition was updated in 1990 under Chapter 504, Section 2.

A farmer sprays a liquid fertilizer that contains chelated iron on a field with high pH soil; the chelated iron stays soluble and the plants can absorb it, preventing yellow leaves.

Because the product uses organic chelating agents, the iron remains available to the plants even though the soil is alkaline, which is exactly what the statute describes.