ISHS Acta Horticulturae 425: II International Pineapple Symposium
GREENHOUSE-PRODUCED PINEAPPLE IN THE AZORES (PORTUGAL) |
| Authors: | J.P. Tavares, M.T. Silva |
| Abstract:
The need for a substitute to the orange crop affected by Phytophthora sp. caused the interest toward growing pineapples in the Azores after 1864. As this crop required a warm soil rich in organic matter, topsoils of uncultivated fields, locally known as leiva, together with mulch from branches of Pittosporum undulatum Vent, were found most suitable. But economic incentives to agricultural production resulted in the use of uncultivated fields as artificial pastures and the usable area of leiva soils decreased. Hence a search for alternative techniques providing adequate organic matter. Studies were undertaken by the authors with other locally available mulches such as wood chips and sawdust, pumice stone, black gravel and sand, besides branches of P. undulatum, Criptomeria japonica (L.f.) D. Don, and Banksia integrifolia Lef., on the sole basis of the knowledge on traditional techniques and with the support of the Laboratório Químico Rebelo da Silva and the Centro de Pedologia Tropical (both in Lisbon). Tested beds contained from bottom to top three layers of organic matter (woody plant chips, leiva soil, and sawdust) alternating with three layers of soil. Branches of P. undulatum resulted the best mulch because of their physical and chemical characteristics. Other studied alternatives were mineral materials between layers of chips and/or chips + sawdust from P. undulatum branches, with or without fertilizer ; black gravel appeared preferable to pumice stone and sand because richer in P, Ca, Mg, Fe and Ti, and absorbing more heat. | |
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