Placement of fertilizers for sugar beet

Abstract

Ten experiments on sugar beet in 1949 tested a phosphate-potash fertilizer applied in different ways. There was no damage to germination or plant establishment by fertilizer placed in bands 2 in. to the side and 2 in. below the level of the seed. There were no significant differences between the yields of sugar given by placed and broadcast fertilizer. Similar yields were given by broadcast applications applied early and worked deeply into the seed-bed and by dressings on the seed-bed which were worked in shallowly. Split dressings where half the fertilizer was broadcast and half was drilled beside the seed were not markedly superior to placing or broadcasting all the fertilizer. In most of the experiments placing gave more vigorous growth than broadcasting the fertilizer during late spring and early summer; at harvest this superiority had vanished. The results of these experiments confirm those carried out in 1947 and 1948. There is no advantage from placing the full dressing of fertilizer beside the seed in districts where the crop is normally grown, except that labour is saved in applying the fertilizer.