Further Studies in Coconut Seedling Establishment.

Abstract

In a volcanic ash soil that had previously been cropped and had shown a response to nitrogen and sulphur, complete weed control led to superior growth compared with the normal plantation practice of periodical slashing. Complete weed control was also much superior to merely clean-weeding a limited area around seedlings. Seedlings fertilized with ammonium sulphate in any of the clean-weeding treatments were more heavily attacked by Helminthosporium incurvatum than unfertilized seedlings and the growth ,of the latter was superior in all cases up ,to about one year after transplanting. At the end of the experiment fresh weight determinations showed that fertilized seedlings which had been subjected to limited clean-weeding were slightly heavier (despite the initial H . incurvatum damage) than unfertilized seedlings but that fertilized seedlings under complte clean-weeding remained inferior. There was an indication that under complete weed control a light mulch was beneficial.