The low iron contents of these solutions, the difficulties in preparing the solutions along with the issues that are related to agricultural use of iron EDDHA and EDDHMA chelates in solid form (even following granulation, itself an pricey process) tend to restrict the agricultural usefulness of what might otherwise be an successful agent for remedying iron deficiency in soils. Similar challenges are expected to arise in the agricultural use of other iron chelate compounds.

The composition contains iron EDDHA and for iron EDDHMA in an agriculturally-acceptable organic solvent, preferably ethylene glycol. The composition is used in treating iron deficiency in soils and can have an iron content of up to 40 or 50 g dm -3 . The composition might also contain considerable amounts of water but still to be stable at room temperature, the aqueous composition having a significantly decreased viscosity relative to the water-free composition. The iron chelate have to have not be dry when incorporated into the composition. It could also be synthesized in situ within the solvent of the composition.
Iron EDDHA and iron EDDHMA are identified to be efficient agents for remedying iron deficiency in agriculture, especially in highly alkaline soils. Within the past, powders or granules of iron EDDHA or iron EDDHMA have been applied directly to the soil or have been dissolved in irrigation water. Both compounds however suffer from the disadvantage of low solubility in water; the powder forms are particularly tricky to deal with due to their tendency to cake or form lumps in the presence of water. Aqueous solutions of the compounds are correspondingly complicated to prepare.

Most commercial fertilizers consist of one or far more chelating agent and higher excellent fertilizers incorporate many of these agents. The chelating agent in the fertilizer is identified on the label beside the trace element it serves to create out there to plants. If the label on the pack has the letters EDTA beside some trace element, the fertilizer contains Ethylenediaminetetraacetate probably the most commonly utilised chelating agent. Higher excellent grades of fertilizers also include DTPA or Diethylenetriaminepentaacetate. Fertilizers that incorporate ethylenediaminedihydroxy-phenylaceticacid, denoted as “EDDHA” beside iron on the label are the highest top quality fertilizers.