%0 Journal Article
%T Effects of Soil pH and Fertilizers on Haskap (Lonicera caerulea L.) Vegetative Growth
%A Annie Deslauriers
%A Catherine Tremblay
%A Jean Lafond
%A Julie Lajeunesse
%A Maxime C. Par¨¦
%J Agriculture | An Open Access Journal from MDPI
%D 2019
%R https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture9030056
%X Haskap ( Lonicera caerulea L.) is a new northern latitude fruit crop that is increasing in popularity. This sudden enthusiasm for haskap increases the need for obtaining baseline knowledge related to establishing it as a crop, such as its optimal soil pH and fertilizer needs. In a greenhouse, one-year-old haskap plants (cultivar: Indigo Treat£¿) were grown in a local loamy sand. We assessed the impact of pH and fertilizer on haskap vegetative growth through an experiment involving four soil pH and five fertilization treatments of three N sources (ammonium, nitrate, and organic (chicken manure)). Leaf senescence as well as above-ground and root biomass were recorded after 19 weeks of vegetative growth. For cultivar Indigo Treat£¿, optimal vegetative growth was observed under slightly acidic soil conditions (pH CaCl2 5.5¨C6 or pH water 5.9¨C6.5) without application of N. Phosphorus and K fertilizers did not influence vegetative growth. We here discuss the implications for establishing haskap orchards. View Full-Tex
%U https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/9/3/56