Assessing Maturity of Rotary Barrel Green Waste Composts for Use as Tomato and Sweet Pepper Seedling Starter and Transplant Growth Substrates
| Autor: | Chaney C. G. St. Martin, Bruce Lauckner, Kezia C. Black, Richard A. I. Brathwaite, Gaius Eudoxie |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of Vegetable Science. 20:28-58 |
| ISSN: | 1931-5279 1931-5260 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/19315260.2013.763317 |
| Popis: | Maturity, which significantly affects the potential use of compost as a peat alternative substrate, or substrate component, is difficult to measure, and laboratory-based testing methods are generally unattractive to farmers, due to cost and time delays. The accuracy of relatively simple, quick, and inexpensive plant-exclusive and -inclusive methods for evaluating maturity of rotary barrel composted banana leaf (BL) and lawn clipping (LC) for use as seedling starter and transplant substrates for production of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and sweet pepper (Capsicum annum L.) seedlings were investigated. Nine substrates were tested: BL or LC compost mixed at rates of 20%, 50%, 80%, and 100% (by volume) with 0% compost; that is, PRO-MIX ‘BX’/Mycorise PRO (Premier Horticulture Ltd., Dorval, Canada) alone as the control. Compost rate affected substrate electrical conductivity (EC), which, in contrast to seedling emergence, survival, and aerial growth, increased with increasing compost inclusion rate. Compos... |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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