Vegetable seedlings grown in a float system
2003
Carrasco, G. | Martinez, A.C. | Marquez, O. | Osorio, D. | Urrestarazu, M. | Salas, M.C.
Methylbromide is still accepted for sterilising vegetable seedbeds in Chile. However, as a toxic sterilising agent it will be prohibited in a near future. Thus, other alternative methods are being evaluated for producing vegetable seedlings including the float system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using different substrates for growing seedlings of tomato, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and lettuce utilising the float system. The experiments were carried out under cold greenhouse conditions at South Central Chile (35º26’SL, 71º85’WL) from October 2000 to May 2001. Treatments were: composted pine bark, peat, perlite and their mixtures. For brassicas, it the quality of transplants using two cell volumes of trays was also evaluated. The emergence % was registered during the two weeks after seedling. At the seedling stage, the leaf number, stem diameter and the total seedlings grown per tray were measured. After, the seedlings of each treatment were established in soil. 20 days after seedling, the established plants were counted. The composted pine bark is a feasible substrate to grow seedlings of most vegetables and is available locally. No differences were found between 20 and 40 cc/cell for brassicas. The average of established seedlings of all evaluated vegetables was over 90 %.
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