Summer Vegetable Management
Get a Plan
The best step to managing a vegetable crop in the summer is planning, consistent nutrition/watering, and optimal soil health. Fertrell will often recommend soil testing to target what nutrients are deficient early in the season to ensure accuracy.
Spring
Early in the season, dry fertilizer blends are usually applied in row or broadcast, prior to planting. Our fertilizer blends have a mix of nutrients that will allow for timed release throughout the growing season. Incorporation with the soil and timing for an ideal rainfall will allow the nutrients to have the best breakdown in the soil and uptake to the crop.
Summer
As rainfall winds down or becomes “flashier” the pre-planning will really come into play. Plants can show increasing signs of disease, pests, or drought pressure. For mid-season management consistent feeding of liquid fertilizers and amendments such as Fertrell Liquid #3 2-3-1 will help provide readily available nutrients. The kelp in this blend acts as a stress reliever, while the fish emulsion and sodium nitrate provide immediate nutrition. When used in the drip line, the humates in the blend help maintain and build soil organic matter. Optimal organic matter levels help the soil hold onto nutrients and water in a plant available form, critical to stress resistance during the hottest time of the year. Drought and fruit sizing are directly linked to an economical harvest. Sulfate of Potash is a widely used mined mineral. Sulfur is necessary for protein synthesis and potassium allows the uptake and flow of water and nutrients into the plant. Fertrell consultants recommend applying this through drip lines once every ten days. Fertrell carries a variety of third-party pest control products should management and nutrition not be enough to hold pests at bay.
Assessment
As the crops are harvested and the growing season begins to wind down, having a season assessment is a great way to plan for a fall or next spring’s crop via tillage, cover cropping, crop rotation and fall nutrient application. Fertrell’s Plow and Cow cover crop blend is a diverse set of seeds designed to be planted in late summer. This can be plowed down as a green manure or grazed to improve organic matter and moisture retention.
