Plant Food Systems was founded in 1981, by Carl J. Fabry, Owner and President, as a specialty liquid fertilizer manufacturing facility, for fruit, vegetable, turf, ornamentals and field crops.

He has over 32 years of liquid fertilizer manufacturing, agronomy, sales and marketing experience, covering all facets of crop production, around the world. He pioneered the commercial use of high analysis, complete suspension, and clear liquid fertilizers for organic and mineral vegetable soils, including the unique application technology, necessary. He also developed high analysis foliar fertilizers, for application on citrus and vegetable crops, in the late 1960’s, by introducing practical, low cost NPK blends, for both aerial and ground application.

In cooperation with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s National Fertilizer Development Center, and Allied Chemical Corporation, he produced and introduced Ammonium Poly Phosphates for vegetable and ornamental crops. Also developed were efficient starter and side dressing liquid fertilizers, agronomy, formulas, application techniques and machinery, for row applications.

In behalf of Allied Chemical Corporation, Carolina Power and Light, Clemson University, and the Delmonte Corporation, he developed the “constant feeding” technique of fertigation. Small daily doses, of up to 12 essential nutrients are applied, which are scientifically determined, based on soil, water and plant chemistry, uniformly through out the irrigation cycle. This new type of soil hydroponics resulted in dramatic crop yield increases, especially on poor soils, while reducing the amount of fertilizer applied significantly. Another environmentally important result was the near elimination of fertilizer losses to ground water, due to infrequent, less efficient, luxury fertilizer applications, by conventional means. This early work, in the 1960’s, led to the development of computer controlled constant feeding for low volume micro-jet and drip irrigation for all crops, in cooperation with Motorola Israel, and TMB pumps, also of Israel.

Plant Food Systems was also responsible for assisting the Volcani Institute, in the development of agriculture on the high sodic soils of the Negev Desert, in Israel, through it’s unique constant feed fertigation process, as opposed to the single nutrient application that was in practice. A cation exchange process was developed; whereby, high soil sodium salts were efficiently exchanged with magnesium nitrate salts, from a low cost process, developed and patented, by Carl J. Fabry. With the addition of Plant Food Systems magnesium nitrate process, together with scientifically determined rates and ratios of potassium and calcium nitrates, all controlled by computer controlled constant feeding, a small, chemically friendly, low chloride micro climate forms, under drip irrigation patterns, on otherwise unusable, high salt soils.

Through it’s patented process, in producing chemical heat of reaction, pure, high analysis, “hot mix” liquid fertilizers, Plant Food Systems remains one of the world’s leading producers of specialty liquid plant nutrients and fungicides.