A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 7,2001
‘Smart’ Fertilizer Improves Plant Growth, Prevents Runoff Pollution
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) A new “smart” phospho
rus fertilizer, developed by Penn
State horticultural scientists re
portedly, improves plant root
growth, drought tolerance, shoot
quality and flowers while also
preventing up to 90 percent of
the nutrient runoff that can foul
waterways.
The new fertilizer is currently
undergoing its first Pennsylvania
field trials with the aid of a grant
from the Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Agriculture. However,
field trials in Florida have been
ongoing since 1998 and have
shown high performance of orna
mentals grown in sandy soils
prone to leaching.
The fertilizer has also been
shown to improve plant growth
and drought tolerance while vir
tually eliminating leaching in
nursery or greenhouse plants
grown in peat or soilless media.
In the soilless systems tested by
the Penn State researchers with a
wide variety of ornamental plants
and vegetables, leaching was re
duced to less than one percent of
conventionally fertilized plants.
The new field fertilizer, which
is being patented by the universi
Vegetable Industry Gives
Research Money
(Continued from Page A 37)
we are providing growers is real
istic and the commercial-size
high tunnels will also serve as an
excellent educational resource for
field days and for tours by grow
ers and other interest
ed organizations.
• Vegetable irriga
tion scheduling, Timo
thy Elkner, Lancaster
County, $l,lOO, to
evaluate the effective
ness of soil tensiome
ters as reliable indica
tors of the need to
irrigate, and to evalu
ate the most useful
depth to take tensiom
eter readings to indi
cate soil water status.
The two small fruit
research projects ap
proved for funding
and their objectives are
as follows
• Strawberry plasti
culture in Pennsylva
nia: influence of plant
ing date and cultivar,
Kathleen Demchak,
Michael Orzolek and
William Lament, Penn
State, $2,300, to obtain
information on yields
expected from the use
of plasticulture system
in Pennsylvania and to
determine desirable
planting dates and cul
tivars suited to plasti
culture and how the
interact to produce op
timum yields.
• Herbicides for the
establishment year of
strawberries: A
statewide trial (contin
uation), Kathleen
Demchak, Penn State,
$2,750, to test the most
promising herbicide
treatments from a
1999 trial at Rock
spring on a variety of
soil types under a vari
ety of environmental
ty, was developed by Dr. Jona
than Lynch, associate professor
of plant nutrition, Dr. Kathleen
Brown, professor of post harvest
physiology, and Robert H. Snyd
er, research support associate, in
Penn State’s College of Agricul
tural Sciences. The inventors say
that, besides uses in agriculture
and floriculture, the new fertilizer
may be useful for stadium fields
and golf courses as well.
Lynch explained that, in tradi
tional fertilizer systems, the
amount of nutrient available to
the plant is large immediately
after application and declines as
the plant takes it up and the nu
trient runs off when it rains.
However, in the new “smart” sys
tem, the supply of phosphorus
available to the plant always
matches a level typically found in
“natural” soils.
In the new “smart” system,
phosphorus is automatically re
leased and maintained at low,
natural levels to meet the plants’
needs by the chemical buffering
action of aluminum oxide. The
phosphorus is bound on the sur
face of aluminum oxide granules,
which allows only a limited
amount of the nutrient to be re-
conditions in order to determine
their value to Pennsylvania
strawberry growers. Data from
the study will be useful in deter
mining whether a Special Local
Needs label should be pursued
for any new herbicides.
leased. More of the bound phos
phorus is released only as the ini
tial amount is used up. The low
levels of phosphorus released by
the “smart” fertilizer mean that
there is less to enter ground and
surface waters.
Lynch notes that environ-
Senate Approves 4-H Partnership Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C.
When 4-H celebrates its centenni
al next year, senators Dick Lugar
(R-IN) and Tom Harkin (D-IA)
want the National 4-H Council’s
proposed public-private partner
ship to set new strategies for
youth development for the next
century. Their bill supports the
centennial and the 4-H motto,
‘To make the best better.”
“In celebrating its centennial,
the National 4-H Council has
proposed a public-private part
nership to develop new strategies
for youth development for the
next century. The funding au
thorized in this bill will allow the
National 4-H Council to convene
meetings and hold discussions at
the national, state, and local lev
els to form strategies for youth
development. A final report will
summarize the discussions, make
specific youth development rec
ommendations, and propose an
action plan,” said Lugar.
“We need to build on the tradi
tion and success of 4-H to devel
op new approaches for youth de
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mental regulations on runoff can
be expected to become tighter in
the near future. Sudden growths
or blooms of microorganisms
caused by nutrient runoff can
cause life threatening human ill
ness as well as make rivers,
streams, lakes, and beaches unat-
velopment that are appropriate
and effective in the 21st Century.
Youth today face ever-growing
pressures, demands and chal
lenges far different from those of
the past. 4-H has a great deal to
offer them, but to be fully suc
cessful, 4-H must adapt to the re
alities of an increasingly complex
and rapidly changing world. This
legislation is designed to bring
4-H into its second century by de
veloping new strategies for youth
development,” said Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry Commit
tee Chairman Harkin.
The 4-H program operates in
more than 3,000 U.S. counties,
encompassing all 50 states and
the District of Columbia. Last
year, more than 6.8 million
youths ages 5-19 participated, as
well as over 600,000 volunteer
youth and adult leaders.
In the past two decades, 4-H
has seen substantial growth in
urban areas, now the home of one
of every four 4-H members (1.8
million youths). The 4-H mission
is to create supportive environ
ments for culturally diverse
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tractive and unhealthy for wild
life. He adds that Europe already
has tighter regulations than the
U.S.
While the low, natural levels of
phosphorus released by the new
(Turn to Page A 39)
youth and adults to reach their
fullest potential. The program
combines the cooperative efforts
of youth; volunteer leaders; state
land-grant universities; federal,
state and local governments; and
the U.S. Department of Agricul
ture Cooperative State Research,
Education and Extension Service.
Educational programs include
plant, animal, and earth sciences;
civics and leadership; personal
development, family and health;
and communications and expres
sive arts.
The distinctive green four-leaf
clover emblem represents the 4-H
pledge:
• My Head to clearer thinking,
• My Heart to greater loyalty,
• My Hands to larger service,
• My Health to better living.
For my Club, my community,
my country, and my world.
The Lugar-Harkin bill would
authorize up to $5 million plus
private funds for the 2002 cen
tennial events.
information on 4-H
can be found at www.4-H.org
and www.fourhcouncil.edu.
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