Two field experiments were organized at the Ohio
State University Research Center at Piketon, Ohio
in 1999 and 2000. The experimental site had a soil
type of a DoA- Dole Silt Loam. Commercially
produced cattle manure, food waste and paper
waste vermicomposts were applied to soils, in two
sets of plots at rates of either 10 or 20 t/ha in 1999
and 5 or 10 t/ha in 2000. One set of replicate plots
received a full recommended rate of inorganic
fertilizers. A second set of replicate plots received
20 t/ha in 1999 of traditional thermophilic leaf
composts and 10 t/ha in 2000.
Raised soil beds 1.5 m wide, 5.5 m long and
0.15 m high were constructed. The same plots were
used in the second year. Vermicomposts were
applied before transplanting the peppers and
supplemented with amounts of inorganic fertilizer
to correspond with the recommended full rate of
95-95 kg NK/ha that was applied to the inorganic
fertilizer-treated plots. Thirty percent of the total
N and K from vermicompost and compost (
Table 1
)
was assumed to be as plant-available for each year
and these values were the basis for the inorganic
fertilizer supplementation. Ten percent of the total
N and K from vermicomposts applied in 1999 was
assumed to be in plant-available forms, in addition
to 30 percent N and K availability from vermicom-post applications in 2000. Vermicomposts, com-
posts and inorganic fertilizers were incorporated
into the top 15 cm of the beds in the plots with a
roto-tiller. Soil tests showed that the available
phosphorus was 48 ppm (Bray P1 Method) available
in adequate amounts for commercial pepper
production of peppers, so no P fertilizer was
applied in either year. The full fertilizer rates
applied to the inorganic fertilizer control were
95 kg/ha total N (as ammonium nitrate) and 95 kg/
ha total K (as potassium chloride) of which 34 kg N/
ha (in the form of a urea
–
ammonium nitrate
solution) was applied to all plots through ferti-
irrigation 30 days after transplanting. In the second
year, the full preplant rate of 95 kg/ha total N was
applied to all plots to correct for lower amounts of
immediately available N in the organically
amended plots early in the growing season of the
first year.
Twenty four pepper seedlings (var. ‘King Arthur’),
4-weeks-old, were transplanted into two rows in
each raised bed on May 25, 1999 and May 27, 2000.
Seedlings were planted in a staggered pattern
relative to plants in the other row, spaced 38 cm
between plants and 38 cm between rows. Treat-
ments were replicated four times in a randomized
complete block design. Guard rows of peppers
planted in plots measuring 1.5
5.5 m (8.25 m
2
per
plot) were left between each bloc