Do you know Culticonsejos? They are pills of information and training about agricultural issues en different crops.
This cultivation tip deals with root compaction and asphyxiation in red fruits.
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Or read the CultiConsejo below.
Typically, after the previous season's harvest, farmers remove the structures protecting the strawberries, remove the plastic, turn over the soil, apply top dressing, and re-mound the ridges and lay down new plastic. This prepares the bed for the new plants that will arrive from the nurseries in late September and early October.
Leaving the ridge from the previous season is a relatively common practice in strawberry cultivation, but this year, due to social and economic conditions, it will be more common than in previous years.
While this practice saves us a lot of money in materials, time, and labor, it also tends to have some negative repercussions that we'll see in our plants this season.
Generally speaking, we'll end up with more compacted ridges, which will make it difficult for the roots to develop normally and will increase the difficulty of water and nutrient filtration. What we'll be able to see will be less vigorous plants with potential problems of chlorosis due to poor nutrient uptake.
To solve these problems, the technical department of Cultivator we recommend Oxifort. Oxifort It's a product that's applied dissolved through irrigation and reacts with water, releasing oxygen molecules into our soil in a controlled manner. In this way:
- Decompress the soil, thus improving its physical structure, facilitating the development and regeneration of roots, as well as the penetration of water and nutrients
- We will oxygenate the soil, helping to prevent anaerobic diseases.
- This same oxygenation will facilitate nitrification, with the consequent improvement in fertilization.
What we will see in our fields after applying this product will be: much lighter and less compacted soil, and more vigorous plants without problems of waterlogging, wilting, or nutritional chlorosis.
Recommendations from the technical department of Cultivator are:
That for strawberry plantations on old ridges they apply Oxifort weekly or fortnightly, depending on the severity of the problem, with a dose of 1,5 and 2,5 kg/ha.
Another of the most common root asphyxiation problems is blueberry cultivation. Blueberries are adapted to light, waterlogged soils with a high nutrient and organic matter content. Therefore, their roots tend to be shallow and have few root hairs, making them highly susceptible to root asphyxiation.
Another factor that exacerbates this asphyxiation problem is that Huelva's soils are characterized by poor drainage. They typically have a sandy surface layer between 30 and 150 cm, but beneath this layer, a compact, impermeable, and clayey zone can be seen. This will cause excess moisture in the soil, which will displace air from the pore space. In the short term, the O2 concentration will decrease and the CO2 concentration will increase, leading to anaerobic decomposition of organic matter and the reduction of nutrients such as iron and manganese. Ultimately, this will result in asphyxiated plants that appear wilted, with problems with vegetative development, and various chlorosis.
For this reason, from the Cultifort technical department, we recommend applying between 5 and 10 kg/ha of shock treatment for blueberry plantations with serious root asphyxia problems. Oxifort. And for mild cases of waterlogging or maintenance in heavy soils, the application should be between 1,5 and 2,5 kg/ha of Oxifort weekly or biweekly.
Root asphyxiation in blueberry
Other important points to know about this product are that it is completely harmless, leaves no residue, and also provides a significant source of nutrients.
We hope it will be of great help to you during this upcoming campaign. And for any questions about the product or to find your nearest distributor, please don't hesitate to contact us.