bool(false)

mostrar

A Polish strawberry fertigation program based on Ultrasol® NPK’s near Grojec in Poland, showed increased yield and better-quality fruits, allowing the grower to access the most economically rewarding local fresh market - SQM Specialty Plant Nutrition

Artículos

A Polish strawberry fertigation program based on Ultrasol® NPK’s near Grojec in Poland, showed increased yield and better-quality fruits, allowing the grower to access the most economically rewarding local fresh market

A Polish strawberry fertigation program based on Ultrasol® NPK’s near Grojec in Poland, showed increased yield and better-quality fruits, allowing the grower to access the most economically rewarding local fresh market near Warsaw.

After a first demonstration in 2020 with a dedicated Ultrasol® Strawberry Soil based program that resulted in a 10% yield increase at the Fudecki farm, the SQM Agronomist in Europe was requested to define a full program for the 2nd year fertigation of Arosa variety strawberry. The goal of the growers from the Fudecki family was to access the local fresh market with better prices, as long as the results proved to be premium quality.

A fertilizer program based on Qrop® Speedfol® and Ultrasol® standard range NPK’s was compared with a local program based on mainly high P and high S NPK’s. The components of the SQM program included Qrop Mix® Initial 10-20-10+12CaO+3MgO in the base dressing, Speedfol® High K SP to initiate bud break after dormancy, Ultrasol® Development 18-9-18+3MgO+TE and Ultrasol Production 13-6-40+TE together with Ultrasol® Calcium as a calcium source. Focus of the SQM program was to optimize the levels of K, Mg and Ca uptake increasing yield and quality aspects like firmness and sugar content. This not only by improving the overall nutrient balance but also specifically by increasing the nitrate to ammonium balance so that these cations are more easily taken up.

Another important aspect in the SQM program was to alleviate salinity, amongst others by reducing the excess in sulphates compared to the local program. Approximately 1 Ha fertigation plot was applied with the SQM program and 1 Ha with the local program. A comparison between the total nutrient gift is seen in table 1.

Table 1. Program Design Strawberry VERDI 2022.

A 9% yield increase in the highest quality class and an overall 4% yield increase (see table 2) showed a satisfying economical result, estimated by the grower to be around 10%. The satisfaction testified by the grower related mainly to the quality result that allowed him to access a local network of fresh markets with higher economical rewards: better firmness important for both the bite experience and the shelf life and a sweeter taste were clearly noticed by both the farmer and were satisfying for the local sales point.

Table 2. Yield results measured during the picking season.

This type of testimonial helps to further professionalize the Polish strawberry industry. Investments in strawberry production by mainly family-owned companies continue to be done, while not only the crop is attractive for an increasing group of consumers, also for the growers this cash crop results in return already in one year after shifting to this crop.

Figure 1. Outlook of the demo trial field.

Figure 2.  Size, colour, firmness and taste improvements testified thanks to the SQM fertigation program.

 

 

 

 

Author

Koen D’Haeyer

Related articles
Ultrasol® ProP® K Plus produced higher yields per acre than standard grower fertility programs in strawberry production
Benefits of KNO3-based fertilizers in strawberry crops

Suscribe for more technical information 

Suscríbete para más información técnica

*
*
*
  • loading...