EXPERIMENTS WITH BORON ON SOME NEW JERSEY SOILS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Crops were grown without added borax, and with various amts. of added borax, on light New Jersey soils in pots receiving chemically pure salts and watered with distilled water. At the pH of the soil as taken from the field and without treatment, only Sassafras loam soil which has received no fertilizer for 30 years showed a beneficial response to additions of borax. Severe B toxicity symptoms appeared on plants receiving 40 lbs. of borax per acre, and mild toxicity at 20 lbs. of borax per acre. Four of these soils, when limed to a pH above 7, gave a beneficial response to borax. In some cases 5 lbs. of borax were sufficient, and in no case was there any beneficial response to applications above 20 lbs. per acre. The B content of plants was markedly increased as the B content of the soil increased. Liming the soil above a pH of 7 markedly reduced the amt. of B in the plant.