Growing Food: A Guide to Food Production

Fertiliser in the Dry Tropics With irrigation, spectacular responses to fertilisers are often obtained, producing large increase ...

about the soil, the climate and the crop nutrient needs before recommending the use (including timing and quantity) of any ferti ...

climates, especially those with distinct rainy and dry seasons. If soils samples are taken at this time, misleadingly high level ...

Applying Fertiliser There are four main ways to ensure that most of the fertiliser is used by the plant: Broadcasting The fertil ...

E The Plant Sometimes biennials behave like annuals, often as a result of some form of stress, and produce seed in their first y ...

an international agreement about the general characteristics of plants, and how they can be described. Comprehensive details on ...

the legume (Leguminoseae) family are: Trifolium (clovers), Glycine (soybean), Phaseolus (field beans), Pisum (peas) and Vigna (c ...

identical. The word “cultivar” should not be confused with the word cultigen, the name given to a plant species which is found o ...

Wilting is not always caused by water loss; it can also occur as a result of certain wilt diseases, caused by both fungi and bac ...

Advantages of Vegetative Reproduction Plants are established quickly. Also, since all the progeny are identical to each other fo ...

Most of the crops mentioned above can also reproduce sexually by producing flowers and seeds and thus have two ways in which to ...

Day-neutral (“ever-blooming”) plants are unaffected by day length. Examples: tomato, cucumber, cotton, sunflowers and buckwheat ...

Varieties with a short growth period can often be planted at a time of the year which avoids periods which are difficult for pl ...

A rogue plant is any plant that is a visibly different type from other plants of the same crop growing together in the same fiel ...

The word seed is normally used for the part of the plant that is used for sowing, while the word grain refers to the same part o ...

Other species such as maize, the smaller cereals and many legumes such as beans and clovers will germinate in either light or da ...

Hypogeal germination, where the cotyledon(s) remain below the soil surface, within the testa and only the apex and first leaves ...

Germination Tests Before seed is distributed or planted it is essential to have it tested for germination if this is possible (t ...

When the seed is sent for testing, it can be useful—and avoid a lot of confusion—if an Analysis Label is tied to the seed bag. A ...

Both lots of seed are viable, but Lot A has lower vigour than Lot B because it takes longer to germinate. This characteristic of ...