Reviewed: June 2005
In the past, fertiliser practices for many of the fruit crops grown on the North Coast of New South Wales were adopted from research conducted on subtropical fruits in Queensland and on low-chill stone fruits from the high-chill producing areas. This was done without consideration for differences in vegetative growth and fruit growth cycles, geographic locations, soil types, tree management, and varietal and environmental factors. As a result, many fertiliser recommendations and rates applied were not appropriate, and resulted in overfertilising the soil.
Overfertilising is a major concern in fruit production, as it:
Sustainable fertiliser management involves:
For these reasons, crop nutrient replacement provides a sound basis for determining annual fertiliser recommendations.
Recent studies on some subtropical fruit crops at the NSW Centre for Tropical Horticulture in Alstonville has resulted in the development of new recommended fertiliser rates, using a crop nutrient replacement strategy. With crop nutrient replacement:
Application rates for fertilisers are based on these calculations, rather than on prescribed amounts.
This fertilising method should prevent underfertilising and overfertilising. On a highly fertile soil, replacing all nutrients that have been removed may not be necessary due to adequate soil reserves. This is why monitoring using soil and leaf analysis is so important.
Growers can now calculate the crop nutrient replacement for a range of fruit types by using a relatively simple software program (spreadsheet). The following information is entered into the spreadsheet:
The program then calculates:
and constructs graphs of:
Variety | Hass |
---|---|
Block | House |
Age (years) | 8 |
Between-row spacing (m) | 10.0 |
Within-row spacing (m) | 8.0 |
Package weight (kg) | 6 |
Yield (packages/plant) | 16 |
Report date | 20-Sept-04 |
Leaching/fixation factor | |
Nitrogen (%) | 30 |
Phosphorus (%) | 80 |
Potassium (%) | 20 |
Calcium (%) | 10 |
Magnesium (%) | 20 |
Calculations | |
Plant density (plants/ha) | 125 |
Yield (tonnes/ha) | 12.0 |
Nutrient requirements | Nutrient replacement (kg/ha) | |
---|---|---|
Fruit only | Estimated total | |
Nitrogen (N) | 46 | 84 |
Phosphorus (P) | 8 | 17 |
Potassium (K) | 68 | 99 |
Calcium (Ca) | 6 | 41 |
Magnesium (Mg) | 7 | 20 |
A monthly fertiliser schedule (Table 2) can be calculated for the major nutrients — nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium — by inserting a percentage figure in the months during which you want to apply your fertilisers. Growth cycle stages can be used in lieu of the month, if required.
Month/ Growth stage | Nitrogen | Phosphorus | Potassium | Calcium | Magnesium | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Applic. (%) | (kg/ha) | Applic. (%) | (kg/ha) | Applic. (%) | (kg/ha) | Applic. (%) | (kg/ha) | Applic. (%) | (kg/ha) | |
January | 30 | 25 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | |||
February | 0 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | |||||
March | 25 | 21 | 50 | 9 | 25 | 25 | 50 | 20 | 50 | 10 |
April | 0 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 0 | |||||
May | 25 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
June | 20 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
July | 0 | 50 | 9 | 0 | 50 | 20 | 50 | 10 | ||
August | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
September | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
October | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
November | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
December | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
TOTAL | 100 | 84 | 100 | 17 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 41 | 100 | 20 |
In addition, fertiliser calculators (Table 3) can be used to calculate the rate of fertiliser (straight or N:P:K mixes) required per hectare or per plant to meet crop replacement rates for both ground-applied and fertigation programs.
Using straight fertiliser | Nutrient (%) | Fertigation rate (%) | Replacement rate (kg/ha) | Amount of fertiliser | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
(kg/ha) | (kg/plant) | ||||
Nitrogen (N) | 46 | 100 | 84 | 183 | 1.5 |
Phosphorus (P) | 9 | 100 | 17 | 192 | 1.5 |
Potassium (K) | 41 | 100 | 99 | 242 | 1.9 |
Calcium (Ca) | 20 | 100 | 41 | 205 | 1.6 |
Magnesium (Mg) | 54 | 100 | 20 | 37 | 0.3 |
Using N:P:K fertiliser | Nutrient (%) | Replacement rate (kg/ha) | N:P:K (kg/ha) | Amount of fertiliser | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
(kg/ha) | (kg/plant) | ||||
Nitrogen (N) | 12 | 84 | 84 | 702 | 5.6 |
Phosphorus (P) | 3 | 17 | 21 | ||
Potassium (K) | 14 | 99 | 98 |
Links to Excel spreadsheets are provided for the following fruit crops so that you can calculate crop nutrient replacement:
Dirou J & Huett D 2000, ‘Passionfruit nutrient replacement’, in The Passion Vine, Feb. 2000.
Dirou J & Huett D 2001, ‘Crop nutrient replacement for avocado’, in Talking Avocados, Mar. 2001.
Huett DO & Dirou JF 2000, ‘An evaluation of the rationale for fertiliser management of tropical fruit crops’, in Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 40, 1137–1143.
Slack JM, Huett DO & George A 1996, Fertilising low-chill stonefruit, Technical Bulletin (28 pp.), NSW Department of Primary Industries.
Users of agricultural (or veterinary) chemical products must always read the label and any Permit before using the product, and strictly comply with the directions on the label and the conditions of any Permit. Users are not absolved from compliance with the directions on the label or the conditions of the Permit by reason of any statement made or not made in this publication.
Author: John Slack, John Dirou