Articles
Higher profits with planting hole treatment in red currant
Article number
1277_34
Pages
239 – 244
Language
English
Abstract
Depending on selling price, investment in a planting hole treatment when planting red currants (Ribes rubrum L.) can be amply recouped.
The use of potting soil or (enriched) substrate provides extra growth and yield.
This was demonstrated in a trial that was carried out from April 2016 to February 2019 on a plot in the Netherlands with 14 planting hole treatments for red currant cultivar ‘Rovada’ with 1-year-old plants with two branches.
The planting hole treatments consisted of potting soil based on peat and compost and also added fertilizers.
In the first growing season, the plants grew well with a good setting and gave the first fruit production.
Treatments to which fertilizers were added had better growth and higher production.
High shoot growth was also correlated to large fruit production.
In the second year, plant growth increased in all treatments.
Treatments with controlled released fertilizers gave the highest fruit production, followed by the treatments with only potting soil.
In the third year, a fertilization trial was performed on the plot.
The differences in growth between treatments declined.
All treatments gave a higher yield compared to the untreated control.
In the untreated control, 16 t fruit ha‑1 were harvested during the first three years whereas treatments with potting soil with a controlled release of fertilizer produced a total of 22 t ha‑1. The use of potted soil with controlled released fertilizers in the planting hole leads to higher investment costs due to, among others, higher labor costs and higher material costs.
From a complete production cost comparison between planting directly in the soil, use of potted soil and the use of controlled released fertilizers, it appears that the additional investment can be amply compensated by higher yields in the first growth seasons if selling price are high enough.
The use of potting soil or (enriched) substrate provides extra growth and yield.
This was demonstrated in a trial that was carried out from April 2016 to February 2019 on a plot in the Netherlands with 14 planting hole treatments for red currant cultivar ‘Rovada’ with 1-year-old plants with two branches.
The planting hole treatments consisted of potting soil based on peat and compost and also added fertilizers.
In the first growing season, the plants grew well with a good setting and gave the first fruit production.
Treatments to which fertilizers were added had better growth and higher production.
High shoot growth was also correlated to large fruit production.
In the second year, plant growth increased in all treatments.
Treatments with controlled released fertilizers gave the highest fruit production, followed by the treatments with only potting soil.
In the third year, a fertilization trial was performed on the plot.
The differences in growth between treatments declined.
All treatments gave a higher yield compared to the untreated control.
In the untreated control, 16 t fruit ha‑1 were harvested during the first three years whereas treatments with potting soil with a controlled release of fertilizer produced a total of 22 t ha‑1. The use of potted soil with controlled released fertilizers in the planting hole leads to higher investment costs due to, among others, higher labor costs and higher material costs.
From a complete production cost comparison between planting directly in the soil, use of potted soil and the use of controlled released fertilizers, it appears that the additional investment can be amply compensated by higher yields in the first growth seasons if selling price are high enough.
Authors
G. Heijerman, G. van Gessel
Keywords
Ribes rubrum L., planting hole treatment, controlled released fertilizer, growth, yields, economic results
Online Articles (71)