296 Mineral Nutrition of Plants 



Many different systems of acquiring these plants are used. In the East 

 and Middle West the majority of the plants are transplanted with field 

 grown plants from southern Georgia. Between eight and ten thousand 

 acres of land are devoted to the production of plants in southern 

 Georgia. These plants are grown, for the most part, on the Tifton 

 sandy loam soil in the counties of Tift, Grady, Colquit, and Lowndes. 

 Plant production and transporting to the northern markets is a pains- 

 taking and nerve-racking job. 



First, the soil is a leached semilateritic type with a pH value be- 

 tween 5.0 and 5.5. The replaceable calcium and magnesium are ex- 

 tremely low, ranging between 100 and 300 pounds per acre for calcium 

 and near 100 pounds for magnesium. Fertilizer is as essential for the 

 growth of plants as seed. In other words, to leave the fertilizer out of 

 the row is equivalent to not planting the seed. The soils are subject to 

 extreme leaching and during the plant growing season it is not un- 

 common to have as much as 10 inches of rainfall within one week. 

 Considering the importance of fertilizer and the possibility of excessive 

 rainfall, the maintaining of sufficient plant nutrients in the soil to 

 mature a satisfactory plant within six to eight weeks of time becomes 

 an operation of significant importance. 



Most of the acreage of tomatoes in the northeastern and middle west- 

 ern states is transplanted within a period of three to four weeks. There- 

 fore, the Georgia grower has an extremely narrow period of time in 

 which to plant, produce, and ship hundreds of millions of plants. 

 These plants are pulled between the stages of 6 and 9 inches in growth, 

 wrapped in hundles of 50 with peat moss which is often supplied with 

 nutrients to be utilized by the plants during shipment. Every grower 

 realizes that unless he produces a satisfactory plant for shipment he 

 will be unable to fulfill his contract. Therefore, owing to the poor 

 nature of the soils in respect to the plant nutrient requirements of 

 tomatoes, careful consideration is given to fertilizer application. 



For the most part, 600 to 800 pounds of a specially prepared 4-10-6 

 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) fertilizer mixture are used. This ferti- 

 lizer is made physiologically neutral with finely ground dolomite lime- 

 stone. Owing to the prevalence of "white-bud" or zinc deficiency in 

 corn in southern Georgia, 10 pounds of zinc sulfate per ton of fertilizer 

 and borax, at a similar rate, are added. 



