Yield Response of Staked, Fresh-market Tomatoes to Reduced Use of Fertilizers and Insecticides1

Response of tomatoes, Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., cv. Flora-Dade, to insecticides applied weekly or on demand and to 3 fertilizer levels, low (1 ×), medium (2 ×), and high (3 ×), was investigated in fall 1979 and spring 1980. Insecticide spray schedules had no effect on fruit size, marketable yield, and number of fruit per ha. The application of fertilizers above the 1 × level (148 kg/ha N, 30 P, 171 K, and 10 Mg) did not improve fruit size or increase tomato yields, but increased residual salt content of soil.