Vegetable Transplant Nutrition

Abstract

The first objective of this paper is to review and characterize the published research in refereed journals pertaining to the nutritional practices used to grow vegetable transplants. The second objective is to note those studies that indicated a direct relationship between transplant nutritional practices and field performance. The third objective is to suggest some approaches that are needed in future vegetable transplant nutrition research. Even after review of the plethora of available information in journals, it is not possible to summarize the one best way to grow any vegetable transplant simply because of many interacting and confounding factors that moderate the effects of nutritional treatments. It is, however, important to recognize that all these confounding factors must be considered when developing guidelines for producing transplants. After thorough review of this information, it is concluded that transplant nutrition generally has a long term effect on influencing yield potential. Therefore, derivation of a nutritional regime to grow transplants needs to be carefully planned. It is hoped that the information that follows can be used to help guide this process.