Nutrient Management Research Database

This three part study investigated the patterns of K uptake in a garlic season along with the effects of plant density of yield and total K uptake.

Experiment 1 used furrow irrigation and measured K uptake.

Experiment 2 used drip irrigation and fertigation and measured K uptake.

Experiment 3 used drip irrigation and fertigation and measured the effects of planting density on yield and K uptake.

In all three experiments, crops were fertilized with 70 lbs P2O5/ac at planting. For experiments 1 and 2, N fertilization was 255 lbs N/ac, and for experiment 3 it was 360 lbs N/ac. For experiment 1, N was split into 3 applications, whereas for experiment 2 N was applied with irrigation water throughout the season.

Plant density was 121,460 plants/ac in experiment 1 and 153,850 plants/ac in experiment 2. The densities in experiment 3 were 121,460, 162,000, 202,430, and 242,915 plants per acre.

Crop K Uptake and Yields

Crop K uptake was minimal in the first 50 days after planting, but increased substantially after that time.

Total K uptake was 156 lbs K₂O/ac in the furrow irrigated plots and 263 lbs K₂O/ac in the fertigated plots.

Yields were 8.5 tons/ac in the furrow plots and 13 tons/ac in the fertigated experiment.

Crop uptake was between 18 and 24.5 lbs K₂O per ton of yield.

Effect of Plant Density

Yields increased dramatically with increasing crop density.

However, increased plant density also decreased bulb size. Therefore, fo industrial purposes plant density can safely be increased to the maximum density used here. However, for garlic intended for consumer use the lower end of density should be utilized.