Over-stimulating Vegetative Growth

The survival mechanisms that enabled the ancestors of modern crops to survive in the wild will influence the efficacy of the fertiliser we apply to these crops today.

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If we consider tomatoes, for instance, the farmer may reason that if he encouraged more vigour by applying more nitrogen, the plant would use this extra stimulus to produce more fruit. That is what the farmer may think. But what does the plant think?

In its wild state, the tomato plant has to compete with many other species. In order to survive, it has to produce fruit and seed for the next generation. Therefore, it would first use any extra vigour or fertility for vegetative growth, then for fruiting.

The same ‘instinct’ applies to cultivated tomato crops. With so much stimulus, this crop will also use the extra nitrogen to grow into as large a plant as possible and initially neglect fruiting.

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