Lithovit®

Lithovit® is a unique, highly effective foliar fertilizer made from natural minerals (carbonic acid lime), approved for use in both organic and conventional farming. Absolutely harmless to humans, animals and the environment and not hazardous to water.
The name Lithovit® is derived from a combination of “Lithos” (Greek: stone) and “vita” (Latin: life). Lithovit® therefore means “life-giving stone”.
Lithovit® is a natural mineral (carbonic acid lime), which consists mainly of important minerals such as calcium and magnesium, as well as numerous trace elements (micro-nutrients) essential for plant physiology, such as silicon, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, manganese, copper, zinc.

As an all-round foliar fertilizer, Lithovit® Classic Standard and, for high-quality crops with high added value, Lithovit® Classic Forte (finer ground and better activated) have proven themselves from the very beginning. Lithovit® Classic Amino 25, Lithovit® Classic Boron 05, Lithovit Classic Guano 25 and Lithovit® Classic Urea 50 are highly effective special developments for different fields of application. Lithovit® Soil was developed as a soil fertilizer granulate especially for the home, garden and greenhouse. Additionally we offer a huge range of crops-spesific Lithovit® fertilizer e.g. for Maize, Vine, Coffee, Cocoa… You can find them at the Lithovit® Special page. If you have a customized demand, please do not hesitate to contact us personally.

Yes. Lithovit® works excellently on all photosynthetic plant species (C3 and C4 plants). Many institutional studies and field trials in all continents, but even more countless satisfied users worldwide on a wide variety of crops (cereals, canola, rice, soybean, cassava, peanut, kiwi, banana, roses, orchids, citrus, wine, coffee, tea…) prove the profitability of any Lithovit® application.

From FiBL Projekte GmbH, Frankfurt, in the Input-list fpor organic faming in European Union the following Lithovit® Classic products are listed as fertilizers (foliar and trace element fertilizers) and thus approved and biodegradable for organic farming in the EU: Standard, Forte, Soil, Amino 25, Guano 25 and Bor 05. In addition, many of our non-EU distributors have approved Lithovit® for organic farming in their distribution countries (from Tanzania to Egypt to Chile and the USA…).

From the chemical point of view, Lithovit® has an unlimited shelf life. It should not come into contact with acids or acidic moisture, otherwise the carbonate will dissolve, releasing the CO2 , and no effect can be achieved with Lithovit®. By contact with alkalis or with alkaline moisture, the magnesium Mg(OH)2 forms an insoluble gel-like compound which clogs the spray nozzles. Lithovit® should always be stored dry and closed.
The starting granules of carbonated lime/limestone/dolomite are ground into a very fine powder with a particle size smaller than the stomatal opening of the leaf in specially developed high-tech mills with high spped through particle collision. During the grinding process, the particles are highly activated and micronized. When Lithovit® mixed with water is sprayed as a suspension onto the leaves, the fine particles are taken up through the stomata into intercellular areas of the leaf tissue. There, they release additional CO2 according to a chemical reaction at the cell membrane. This significantly increases photosynthesis.

Of course yes! We will gladly arrange contact with the distributor responsible for you or send you the recommended test product and the test quantity free of charge by DHL to any country worldwide after consultation. Please request you free sample here.

Application

Depending on the crop, different application rates and times are recommended. Please get in touch with us and we sill send you the exact application recommendation for your crop.

No.

No. Lithovit® is absorbed through the leaf and since the unique effect unfolds inside the leaf, the pH of the soil has no influence on the mode of action.

Yes.

As a rock powder, Lithovit® does not dissolve in a water suspension. The water-insoluble Lithovit® fine particles float well mixed in the water and settle to the bottom after some time without stirring.
Lithovit® is basically an additional foliar fertilizer that supports plants in their healthy, optimal growth process. We do not recommend dispensing with the usual plant protection products and fertilizers. Exceptionally, on well supplied soils, nitrogen fertilization can be reduced to 2/3 of the amount when using Lithovit® without reducing the yield. Many long-term Lithovit® users have now been able to reduce their other plant protection products and fertilizers to minimize costs and thus additionally increase their contribution margin.
Lithovit® only changes the properties and modes of action of other crop protection agents if their action requires an acidic pH. When combined with large quantities of soluble magnesium fertilizer, e.g. magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), precipitation of magnesium hydroxide as an amorphous gel and thus nozzle clogging may occur. Therefore, some ammonium chloride (sal ammoniac) must be added to the spray liquid beforehand.
All Lithovit® fine particles are many times smaller than any common nozzle diameter. Only in combination with Epsom salt can nozzle clogging occur. After use, the syringe should be cleaned professionally so that no residues settle.

In principle, the application periods should be adhered to. However, small time shifts usually have no influence on the effect.

In principle, every treatment helps. If not all applications can be carried out, this may have a less positive effect. However, damage does not occur as a result.

According to general recommendation, a 0.5 percent Lithovit® concentration should be sprayed. When using wetting agents, up to 100 g of Lithovit® can be saved per 100 l of spray liquid. For further exceptions, see crop-specific applications. The following dosage table gives the required Lithovit® application rate (in kg) for a given spray volume (in l) and concentration (in %).
Dosing table Spray quantity
Lithovit® concentration  50l  100l  150l  200l  250l  300l  500l  750l  1.000l  2.000l
0,50%  0,25kg  0,5kg  0,75kg  1kg  1,25kg  1,5kg  2,5kg  3,75kg  5kg  1kg
All Lithovit® products are highly effective and can therefore be overdosed, just like any other effective agent. As a general rule, the best application results, based on 10 years of experience, are achieved when adhering to crop-specific applications. Overdosage, for example, can lead to foliar damage such as necrotic sub-areas and, in perennial plants, can also cause adverse effects such as yield losses in subsequent years. All application recommendations are designed in such a way that minor, operational deviations from them have no negative impact on yield and product quality.

The effect and the effect will be less compared to the application recommendation. However, negative effects are not observed.

Yes. There is no minimum application area.

Smaller quantities of Lithovit® water suspension (1-5 l) can be stirred/shaken and reused without problems even after many months in combination with wetting agent. Larger quantities in tanks should be used up in a few days after renewed intensive mixing. Cleaning/rinsing of the nozzles must generally be carried out after each application!
Since 2012, several distributors and customers have reported highly effective Lithovit® treatments on a wide variety of seeds. We recommend dry dressing with 2% Lithovit® Standard (20g per 1kg seed). Add some malt beer or dextrose solution as an adhesion agent. For seeds that pre-swell / pre-sprout like wet rice, soak the seed in 2% Lithovit® water suspension for 24-48 hours and then sow. Seeding should not be done until the Lithovit® film on the seeds is completely dry. This “coating” significantly optimizes, among other things, the initial supply of minerals and trace elements to the seedlings in the Lithovit® fine particles. The result is visibly faster and healthier growing seedlings with stronger, more branched root systems.
Yes. Wetting agents increase the efficacy, reduce gray spray spots by reducing the surface tension, so that the sprayed suspension does not remain as small droplets on the leaf surface but covers it evenly. As a result, more stomatal pores are supplied with Lithovit and significantly higher effects are achieved. The Lithovit® dosage can therefore be reduced by up to 100 g per 100 l of spray liquid when wetting agent is used.
First add water (pH between 6 and 10) and, if necessary, other fertilizers/plant protection agents to the spray tank. Then add Lithovit® while stirring continuously, making sure that the fertilizers/plant protection agents keep the pH of the spray liquid between 5 and 10.

In principle, spraying should be carried out in dry weather. Any agricultural crop protection sprayer with agitator (nozzle diameter >50 μm and a pressure >3 bar) or commercial garden sprayer (with repeated shaking) is suitable. The spray broth is to be applied as a very fine spray mist to the leaf surfaces – separately or together with a combined fertilizer/plant protection spray. To be fully effective, the wetted crops must dry completely after spraying. After use, the sprayer must be properly cleaned of residues.

Do not inhale Lithovit® powder/dust or spray mist. Avoid eye contact. For further information, see the Material Safety Data Sheets for each Lithovit® product. International emergency telephone number advice line: +49-(0)89-19240 (24 h) – German and English.

Effect and economy

Wherever crops do not grow close to optimum, i.e. under unfavorable growing conditions and a wide variety of stress factors: in short, actually in every crop. Lithovit® supports natural growth, plants treated with Lithovit® are more vital, healthier, grow faster, cope better with extreme situations (e.g. wet and dry periods), are more resistant to diseases and pests and guarantee increased crop yield, quality and storability.

No. So far, all tests and applications with the commercial fertilizers have not shown any negative change in their mode of action.

When Lithovit® is applied as prescribed, yields usually increase significantly and harvest quality is also visibly better. If, however, no increase in yield and/or improvement in quality can be observed, we will be happy to investigate the cause together. In the few cases in the past, unpredictable weather conditions or application errors were the main reasons.
During the high-tech grinding process, an extremely high level of mechanical energy is introduced into the system. Energy can neither be destroyed nor created, but only converted from one form to another. Only a small part of this mechanical energy is converted into heat by friction. The largest part, however, is converted into activation energy of the fine particles. During the collision of fine particles hurled at very high velocity, their lattices are deformed not only in the surface layer but also in some underlying layers. However, the most important form of activation is that the electric charges within the ultrafine particles polarize in such a way that the negative charges are shifted toward the surface, while the positive charges remain practically in the center. This charge polarization plays the decisive role for CO2 -release from Lithovit®.

No. On the contrary. This layer acts as a long-term depot, supplying the plant with important minerals, trace elements and CO2 directly on the leaf surface over a longer period of time. The CO2 diffuses right through the stomata into the intercellular space to enhance photosynthesis.

There are two mechanisms by which CO2 is released from Lithovit®: First mechanism: The Lithovit® fine particles entering the intercellular space dock with their negative surface to the cell membrane and generate a negative potential there. In the first step of photosynthesis inside the cell, water is split. This produces protons (positive hydrogen ions). These are attracted by the negative potential through the membrane, dock to the negative carbonate groups on the surface of the Lithovit® fine particles forming unstable carbonic acid, which decomposes into CO2 and water. Second mechanism: The carbonate of Lithovit® remaining on the leaf surface absorbs both CO2 from the atmosphere and from plant respiration and water from dew and from plant respiration at night, and is thereby converted to hydrogen carbonate in a thermodynamic equilibrium reaction. During the day, the temperature rises and the water evaporates, thus removing it from thermodynamic equilibrium. The reaction is thus shifted to the left side with reversion of the carbonate and CO2, which is formed directly at the leaf surface and immediately diffuses through the stomata into the intercellular space. This “ping-pong” effect supplies the plant with CO2 as long as the Lithovit® layer exists on the leaf.
In rare cases, the pH value of the admixed agent, as well as the pH value of the final mixture, cause problems:
  • If the pH falls below 5.0, the Lithovit® fine particles dissolve releasing the CO2 and thus preventing a fertilization effect.
  • If the pH exceeds 9.8-10, the Mg(OH)2 is precipitated and clogs the spray nozzles. This also happens when large amounts of magnesium ions are added to the suspension, e.g. by adding Epsom salt (MgSO4). Such precipitation can be prevented by adding small amounts of ammonium salts, e.g. ammonium nitrate or ammonium chloride (both are fertilizers). How much ammonium salt should be added depends on the final pH of the mixture, on the concentration of the Lithovit® suspension and, of course, on the amount of magnesium salt added and must be calculated on a case-by-case basis.
  • If agents containing phosphates, e.g. the herbicide glyphosate, are to be added, the addition of ammonium salts is prohibited, as poorly soluble magnesium-ammonium-phosphate salts are formed, which also clog the spray nozzles.
No. Al toxicity takes place in the root zone, with positively charged Al ions docking to specific root tissue sites and blocking calcium transport as a complex by consuming the necessary ligands for their own complexation. Positively charged Al ions can only exist in acidic soil. Lithovit® is used as a foliar fertilizer where it does not cause toxicity. In addition, the pH of the suspension is weakly alkaline.
  • Lithovit® is a purely mineral natural fertilizer that does not emit any chemical residues harmful to the environment
  • Lithovit® is approved as a foliar fertilizer for both organic and conventional farming in the EU
  • Lithovit® accelerates growth, promotes a more branched root system, increases green coloration and photosynthesis, reduces water requirements, improves the supply of important trace elements to the plants, optimizes pH and nitrogen uptake and leads to stronger, healthier and more stress-resistant plants.
  • Lithovit® increases vitality and resistance to physiological stress such as lack of water, drought, wetness, frost…, against diseases, fungal attack and pests.
  • Lithovit® improves crop yield, quality and storability, increases dry matter and biomass
A mechanism that depends on two factors is at work here:
  • The first factor is the wall structure of the cells enclosing the stomatal pores (sphincter cells): The walls of the sphincter cells, which separate them both from neighboring cells and from the intercellular space, are thin, elastic, and stretchable. In contrast, the walls enclosing the stomatal pores are thick and thus less elastic. Let us first consider a closed pore: if water flows from the neighboring cells or from the intercellular space into the closing cells, their thin elastic walls expand and swell outward. This causes the thick walls enclosing the stomatal pores to become concave, exposing the pores. When water is transported in the opposite direction, the sphincter cells shrink, with the walls enclosing the pores becoming elongated, constricting the pores and closing them.
What is the driving force for such water transport?
  • This force – the second regulating factor – is the gradient of osmotic pressure, or in the opposite direction, the gradient of water activity. Water activity is simplified as the concentration of free water molecules not bound to dissolved substances. This gradient is formed between the closing cells containing chloroplasts and performing photosynthesis and the neighboring cells not performing photosynthesis on the one hand, and the intercellular space on the other. When the concentration of substances formed by photosynthesis and dissolved in water increases in the closing cells, the water activity decreases there. The water is transported from the neighboring cells or the intercellular space into the sphincter cells. The stomatal pores open according to the mechanism mentioned above. If photosynthesis stops in the dark, no carbohydrates and sugars are produced in the sphincter cells. As a result, their concentration falls below that of solutes in neighboring cells or in the intercellular space. Water is transported in the opposite direction and the stomatal pores close. When it gets hot, the water vapor pressure in the atmosphere drops below that in the intercellular space. The plant initially loses water through transpiration. At the same time, the concentration of solutes there increases (water activity decreases). Water flows from the closing cells into the intercellular space and the stomatal pores close. By entering the intercellular space, it releases CO2 (or H2CO3, HCO3), which binds water molecules as a hydrate shell. The water activity additionally decreases, so that the stomatal pores close faster. Despite the closure of the stomatal pores, photosynthesis continues because CO2 continues to be supplied inside the leaf by Lithovit®. Furthermore, Ca2+ ions cause accelerated closure of the pores by promoting the production of the hormone ABA (abscisic acid), which transports the signal to the closing cells. In addition, the polarization of the cell membrane due to the docking of the Lithovit® with its negative surface is thought to play a role in this regard.
Lithovit® increases CO2 in the solution of the intercellular space, enhances photosynthesis and thus the formation of carbohydrates and sugars in the aqueous solution of the plant. Since, according to thermodynamics, the freezing temperature of water decreases with increasing content of substances dissolved in it, Lithovit® increases the plant resistance to frost. Furthermore, CO2 prevents the formation of ethylene, which acts as a maturation hormone (inhibiting photosynthesis by degrading chlorophyll), so that photosynthesis, metabolic processes and associated energy (heat) turnover continue even in frost. All this increases the plant’s resistance to frost.

The ripening process of vegetables and fruits undergoes various chemical reactions under the catalysis of enzymes. Ultimately, ripening depends on the formation of the gas ethylene, which is considered a ripening hormone. In vegetables and fruits harvested while still green, photosynthesis continues until the chlorophyll is broken down by ethylene.

For affected crops, it is recommended to add appropriate wetting agents, use a 0.3% Lithovit® suspension, and stop spraying before flowering so that the offending gray Lithovit® layer is washed off/metabolized by rain until harvest.
Yes, because as long as it exists, the gray Lithovit® layer on the leaves acts as a long-term depot for supplying the plant with CO2, important minerals and trace nutrients.

The reason has not yet been conclusively researched. Epigenetic effects may also be responsible.

Almost 20 years of experience of countless users on more than 70 different crops prove that the achievable additional yield, quality improvement and partial saving of pesticides/fertilizers exceed the pure Lithovit® costs many times over, the contribution margin increases significantly. So the cost-benefit-ratio is very positive.

Tribodyn GmbH

Tribodyn GmbH develops and produces environmentally friendly and uniquely proven Lithovit® foliar and soil fertilisers for use in organic and conventional cultivation and markets them via a worldwide network of national sales partners. The fertilisers are suitable for all field crops, grassland, forage crops, intensive crops, horticulture and forestry. The further developed Lithovit® speciality product ranges for certain crops guarantee higher yields and quality, not only under unfavourable stress and growth conditions in economic cultivation. Tribodyn GmbH’s primary objective is natural growth, protection of natural resources and healthy nutrition in harmony with nature.
Tribodyn GmbH produces exclusively environmentally friendly in Germany. Therefore, all Lithovit® products are 100% “Made in Germany”.

All Lithovit® products can be purchased directly and in more than 30 countries worldwide from national sales partners or via the respective local agricultural trade.

All Tribodyn distributors are thoroughly trained, have many years of in-depth product experience and provide expert support for virtually any task.

Technical expertise is also guaranteed at all times by the company’s own R&D department.

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