Effect of Current Fertilization Practices on Nutritional Status of Double-Cropped Tomato and Cucumber Produced With Plasticulture

Abstract

When vegetables are double-cropped on polyethylene mulch, fertilizer recommendations for each crop may need to be adjusted because liming and preplant applications are done prior to laying plastic. When current fertilizer recommendations for single crops were used for cucumber following tomato, the cucumber plants looked like green, indicating a nitrogen (N) and=or potassium (K) deficiency was developing, suggesting that nutrient availability for the second crop was not adequate for producing the highest yields. Therefore, the nutritional status JOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION, 25(1), 1-15 (2002) 1 ORDER REPRINTS of both crops was diagnosed using sufficiency range data and DRIS norms to determine which nutrient(s) was limiting crop nutrition. Regardless of N source used as a sidedress injection material (at a rate of 7 kg N ha À 1 wk À 1 as ammonium nitrate or calcium nitrate) or liming material used to adjust soil pH to 6.5 (carbonate-or oxide-based calcitic or dolomitic lime), foliar levels of N and K, and possibly phosphorus (P) were found to be limiting factors according to sufficiency range data and DRIS norms. This study suggests that current fertility recommendations for tomato and cucumber grown as single crops in Alabama need to be reevaluated for double crops.

Leaf Analysis in Citrus: Interpretation Tools

“…DRIS has shown its application in both annual crops, viz., lettuce (Sanchez et al 1991 ) , tomato (Caron and Parent 1989 ) , potato (Parent et al 1994a) , onion (Caldwell et al 1994, cucumber (May fi eld et al 2002 ) , and carrot (Parent et al 1994b ) as well as perennial crops, viz., apple (Goh and Malakouti 1992 ) , grapes (Bhargava and Raghupathi 1995 ) , pecan (Beverly and Worley 1992 ) , peach (Sanz 1999 ) , mango (Schaffer et al 1988 ) , mango (Raghupathi and Bhargava 1999 ) , pomegranate (Raghupathi and Bhargava 1998 ) , banana (Angeles et al 1993 ) , sapota (Appa Rao et al 2006 ) , litchi (Hundal and Arora 1996 ) , and papaya (Bowen 1992 ) with equally reproducing results. To overcome perceived weakness in the traditional DRIS approach to tissue nutrient analysis interpretation, three revisions and two new methods were applied to data for oranges cv Valencia.…”

DRIS: concepts and applications on nutritional diagnosis in fruit crops

“…Among the main horticultural species already diagnosed by this method are the lettuce (Sanchez et al, 1991), tomato (Caron & Parent, 1989;Caron et al, 1991;Hartz et al, 1998;Parent et al, 1993;Rouin et al, 1988;Mayfield et al, 2002), potato (Mac Kay et al, 1987;Meldal-Johnsen & Sumner, 1980;Navvabzdeh & Malakouti, 1993;Parent et al, 1994a), onion (Caldwell et al, 1994), cucumber (Mayfield et al, 2002), and carrot (Parent et al, 1994b) There are few research works in the literature about the application of DRIS method in ornamental plants. Some of them refer to the Christmas pine (Abies fraseri) (Rathfon & Burger, 1991a;1991b;Arnold et al, 1992).…”

Influence of root zone nitrogen management and a summer catch crop on cucumber yield and soil mineral nitrogen dynamics in intensive production systems

“…Due to the requirements of high yield and good quality it is necessary to maintain adequate N concentrations and water supply in the root zone in greenhouse vegetable (including cucumber) growth (Mayfield et al 2002). However, rapid growth rates and poor root systems in greenhouse vegetables result in relatively high critical levels of water and nutrient supply.…”