Fertigation

Abstract: For centuries horticulturists have attempted to modify the environment in which vegetable crops are grown. A wide variety of techniques, such as glass cloches, hotcaps, cold frames, hotbeds, and various types of glass greenhouses, have been used to extend the production season. The discovery and development of the polyethylene polymer in the late 1930s, and its subsequent introduction in the early 1950s in the form of plastic fi lms, mulches, and drip-irrigation tubing and tape, revolutionized the commercial production of selected vegetable crops and gave rise to a system of production known as plasticulture. Simply defi ned, plasticulture is a system of growing vegetable crops where signifi cant benefi t is derived from using products derived from polyethylene (plastic) polymers. The later discovery of other polymers, such as polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, and polyesters, and their use in microirrigation systems, pipes, fertigation equipment, fi lters, fi ttings and connectors, containers for growing transplants, picking and packaging containers, and row covers further extended the use of plastic components in this production system. The complete plasticulture system consists of plastic and non-plastic components: plastic mulches, drip-irrigation, fertigation/chemigation, soil sanitation (fumigation and solarization), windbreaks, stand establishment technology, season-extension technology, integrated pest management, cropping strategies, and postharvest handling and marketing. In the plasticulture system, plastic-covered greenhouses, plastic mulches, row covers, high tunnels, and windbreaks both permanent and annual are the major contributors to modifying the cropping environment of vegetable crops, thus enhancing crop growth, yield, and quality. In addition to modifying the soil and air temperatures, there are also the benefi ts of protection from the wind and in some instances rain, insects, diseases, and vertebrate pests.

Abstract: 1. Greenhouse horticulture 2. Fertilizers and soil improvers 3. Soil solution 4. Soil and substrate testing to estimate nutrient availability and salinity status 5. Tissue tests 6. Water uptake and water supply 7. Salinity and water quality 8. Crop response to an unequal distribution of ions in space and time 9. Calcium nutrition and climatic conditions 10. Chemical effects of disinfestations 11. Substrates: chemical characteristics 12. Nutrient solutions for soilless cultures 13. Nutrient management in substrate systems 14. Fertigation management of potted plants 15. Fertigation in soil grown crops 16. Nutrient management in soil grown crops 17. Plant nutrition in future greenhouse production Definitions Appendices