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APPLE TREE ilUTRITION 



The writer attended the last day of the 101st meeting of the New York State 

 Horticultural Society. The highlight of the day was the panel discussion on 

 "Improving the Nutrition of Our Trees for Better Apples". 



As part of the panel, Prof, C, G. Forshey of the New York State Experiment 

 Station spoke on the "Fertilizing Problems that the Hudson Valley Faces". In 

 his talk he gave the results of a leaf analysis survey made in 57 problem orchards 

 in the Hudson Valley, Seventeen orchards v/ere deficient in nitrogen. Potassium 

 was deficient in 19 of the 57 orchards, A reduction in yield due to the potassiun 

 deficiency was apparent in 11 of the 19 potassium deficient orchards . Ten of the 

 orchards were deficient in magnesium. Five of these ten were deficient both in 

 magnesium and potassium. Two orchards were deficient in boron and two in manganese. 



At the 65th Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Pomological Society, the writer 

 had the pleasure of listening to Prof. Fred Emmert of the University of Connecticut 

 discuss the results of the foliar analysis survey taken from 1^0 orchards throughout 

 the state of Connecticut, Nitrogen was belcn7 the desirable range in nine per cent 

 of these orchards and was too high in 2k per cent of them. Twenty-four per cent of 

 the orchards were deficient in potassium, 65 per cent in calcium and hZ per cent in 

 magnesium. The soil under 87 per cent of the test trees was below pH of 5»6. 



The results of leaf analysis surveys in Hudson Valley and Connecticut, in most 

 respects, were similar to those obtr.ined from a leaf analysis survey made in Jilass- 

 achusetts in 1953. In this survey, magnesium was below the desirable range in hO 

 per cent of the orchards surveyed. Thirty-seven per cent was deficient in calcium 

 and 20 per cent in nitrogen and potassium. 



It is apparent that in Connecticut and New York, as vrell as In Massachusetts^ 

 the fruit grower has need for other elements besides nitrogen in his orchard 

 fertilizer program. 



Another point of interest that was "gleaned" at the Connecticut meeting is 

 that, C. P. Harley, Senior Physiologist, Beltsville, liaryland, felt that potassium 

 may influence the development of red color in apples. This is in agreement with 

 experimental findings of Weeks and others at the University of Massachusetts, Our 

 fertilizer experiments with Mcintosh apple trees shovred that fruit color is associated 

 vTith both the nitrogen and potassium levels found in the foliage. "The poorest 

 colored fruit was produced by trees which were high in nitrogen and low in potassium. 

 Fruit of high color was produced by trees with medium levels of nitrogen and high 

 levels of potassium." 



Another comment made by one of the speakers at the meetings was that annual 

 production cannot be maintained by high rates of nitrogen and that it is generally 

 best to maintain a medium level of nitrogen in our Mcintosh trees. This is in 

 agreement with experinental evidence obtained in Ifessachusetts, 



^W. J. Lord 



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