 | Better Farming Series 23. Coffee (FAO Better Farming series, 1977, 36 p.) |
 |  | Taking care of the plantation |
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Applying fertilizers
Fertilizers cost a lot of money.
Use fertilizers only when
this will earn a lot of money.
36. It is useless to apply fertilizer in a plantation that is not well looked after.
If you do not prune your coffee trees, and you do not hoe, then you should not apply any fertilizer.
The fertilizer would do nothing except feed the wood of the branches and the weeds.
When you have pruned your coffee trees well, when you have hoed up the weeds, then apply fertilizer.
Coffee trees need a lot of potash, a lot of nitrogen, and a
little phosphoric acid.
Spread the fertilizer in a ring around each coffee
tree, but be very careful not to put any on its trunk, branches or leaves.
If
you do, the fertilizer will burn the coffee tree.
Spread the fertilizer at a
distance of about 1 metre from the trunk.
Apply fertilizer several times a
year (except for dicalcium phosphate, only once a year).
Spread the fertilizer at a distance
of about 1 metre
37. Different soils have different fertilizer needs. For example, in the Ivory Coast:
· On the more sandy soils, along the coast, apply to each coffee tree:
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in March: |
50 g ammonium sulfate |
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50 g dicalcium phosphate |
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40 g potassium sulfate |
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in July: |
30 g ammonium sulfate |
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40 g potassium sulfate |
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in October: |
30 g ammonium sulfate |
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40 g potassium sulfate |
· On the more granitic soils of the interior, apply to each coffee tree:
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in March: |
30 g ammonium sulfate |
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50 g dicalcium phosphate |
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30 g potassium sulfate |
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in July: |
20 g ammonium sulfate |
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40 g potassium sulfate |
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in October: |
20 g ammonium sulfate |
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30 g potassium sulfate |
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