Tank mix compatibility: Why some tank mixes clump, settle or clog

What you’ll learn in this blog:

• Why tank mixes with liquid fertilizers like 10-34-0 and UAN clump, gel, settle, or plug nozzles at planting.
• How Fertilizer-Compatible (FC) formulations built with Allosperse® Delivery Technology stay mixed with liquid fertilizer, so you can apply crop protection and fertility in a single pass.
• How to run a jar test to check tank mix compatibility before you fill the planter or sprayer.

What causes poor tank mix compatibility at planting and how to prevent it

Ask a grower about their worst planting day and you will rarely hear a story about smooth productivity. You will hear about a plugged nozzle at six in the morning. A jug with product stuck at the bottom. An hour wasted flushing out the tank when two products won’t mix, leaving the planter sitting idle.

Planting windows are short, and spray intervals can be even shorter. What’s in the tank decides how many acres you cover before the window closes.

The problem

Two products can each perform exactly as labelled on their own, yet still fail when they meet. The failure is usually physical rather than chemical: the mixture coagulates, gels, or drops solids out of suspension. Sometimes it separates into layers. Sometimes it forms hard-packed agglomerates or oil globules that go straight into your screens and nozzles.

The consequences are costly:

• Plugged filters
• Product stuck to the tank wall instead of getting on the field
• Uneven applications, which show up weeks later as patchy stands

Liquid fertilizer makes this harder. Starter fertilizers like 10-34-0 and UAN carry a heavy salt load, and conventional solutions depend on surfactant systems that the ionic load destabilizes. Most in-furrow pesticides were never designed for mixability, which is why so many of them separate or plug the equipment.

That is the gap Vive set out to close.

The solution

Vive Crop Protection's Allosperse® Delivery Technology is a patented nano-polymer that surrounds each active ingredient molecule. Rather than leaving the active exposed to everything else in the tank, the polymer gives it a protective, water-compatible shell.

The active is carried through the mix instead of competing with it. In practice, that means the product disperses fast, stays in suspension longer, and holds together when added to a tank mix.

Vive doesn’t discover new active ingredients; it developed a technology that improves the way active ingredients perform. For example, the azoxystrobin in AZteroid® Pro fungicide is the same active growers have trusted for years. What Vive changes is how that active is built and delivered. While competitor and generic azoxystrobins tend to clump up when mixed with liquid fertilizers, making single-pass applications impossible, AZteroid Pro allows growers to actually mix their disease protection with their fertility program (and anything else that might go in the tank), delivering a better blend that stays in solution longer.

Re-formulation has long been treated as the last step in crop protection development. At Vive, it is the starting point.

Fertilizer compatible products

Our fertilizer-compatible fungicides, insecticides, and nematicides mix right into your liquid fertilizer, allowing you to apply your crop protection and fertility at the same time. That means:

• Growers often save a pass. Vive’s crop protection solutions can go in the same tank as liquid fertilizers, micronutrients, and other crop inputs. Every pass eliminated in a crop protection program is fuel, product, labor, and hours you get back, saving on expensive resources during a turbulent year.
• No special equipment is needed. No secondary tanks, no dedicated injection systems, no modifications to the planter. The products are built to work with the setup already in the shed.
• There’s room to work at low water volumes. In-furrow applications often run at very low carrier volumes, which is exactly where poorly built products concentrate and fall apart. Vive's solutions are designed to mix cleanly under those conditions.
• Fewer mixing mishaps. Fewer plugged screens mean fewer stops, less flushing out, and easier cleanup at the end of the day.

Perform a jar test

The Vive Crop Protection team has run well over 200 fertilizer mixing scenarios without complications, and that testing is why the confidence is warranted. However, it is always recommended to perform your own jar test using your operation’s water source, fertilizer blend, and other tank mix partners. Here’s how:

1. Use the same proportion ratios you plan to run in the tank, following any order of addition the label specifies.
2. Mix it thoroughly, then let the jar stand for at least twenty minutes.
3. If the combination is still mixed, or re-mixes readily with a shake, it is physically compatible. If it separates and will not come back together, it does not belong in your tank. 

The bottom line

An active ingredient that will not stay in suspension is not doing anything for your crop. Getting the tank mix to the field reliably, in one easy application, should be the standard application experience… It is the difference between finishing the field or parking your machinery.

Talk to your Vive Territory Sales Manager or your local retailer about how Vive's fertilizer-compatible solutions can fit into your at-plant or foliar program: https://www.vivecrop.com/contact 

Important: Always read and follow label directions and check state registrations. AVERLAND FC AND BIFENDER FC ARE RESTRICTED USE PESTICIDES. Allosperse®, Averland®, AZteroid®, Bifender®, Phobos® and the Vive logo are trademarks of Vive Crop Protection Inc. ©2026 Vive Crop Protection Inc.