Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

some tolerance of waterlogging. Rice has a hollow stem so that oxygen can reach In general, arable and root crops need a fairly ...

The Benefits of Humus Humus, which consists of organic matter that has partially or fully decomposed, improves the properties of ...

one currently being used, or “mined”, for its humus. As the third heap is used up, any undecomposed material in it is returned t ...

If a crust forms on soils already growing a crop, the crust should be broken up, with a hoe for example, to allow water to perco ...

Some Notes on Saline Soils Most crops are more sensitive to soil salinity in hot, dry conditions than in cool, humid conditions ...

Moderately Tolerant Chickpea Cicer arietinum Pineapple Ananas comusus FigFicus carica Sorghum Sorghum bicolor Mung Bean Vigna ra ...

Analysis of soils is the determination of the composition of soil by various chemical and physical methods. Analyses are normall ...

Figure 6. The Soil Triangle Describing Soil Types / Soil Textures It is not normally necessary to go to the trouble and expense ...

Soil Types Sand, silt and clay, as well as variable amounts of organic matter, are mixed together in soils in many combinations, ...

The presence of Clubroot disease in Brassica crops. The presence of acid tolerant weeds such as gorse, bracken, foxgloves, sorr ...

Some varieties of Groundnuts have some tolerance of acidic soils. ** Lima Beans tolerate acid soils better than most other bean ...

If more than about 8 MT/ha is needed, this should be applied in two applications with the first ploughed in several weeks or mon ...

as trace elements, though because they are needed in relatively large amounts they are sometimes known as secondary nutrients. K ...

The Effect of Soil pH on Trace Elements In many cases the deficiency or toxicity of trace elements can be cured by altering the ...

Symptoms: although plants may be dark green, they are stunted. Older leaves may be purple in colour (D). Potassium (K) Function: ...

Manganese (Mn) Function: assists the transformation of nitrogen and the assimilation of other elements to form sugars and protei ...

Sodium (Na) Function: to allow plants of the Chenopodiaceae family (beet, spinach etc.) to develop properly. Indicator plants: b ...

Chlorine, Silicon and Aluminium are also taken up by plants but do not appear to be essential for plant growth. 1D. FERTILISER A ...

phosphates, bone meal, flour etc. The main content of these are chlorides, also known as muriates. Examples: muriate of potash, ...

sophisticated machines are needed to do an efficient job, and these can be difficult to regulate and maintain. Most subsistence ...