Nursery Practice on Garden Egg and Pepper
Bed in the makingOne of the cultural practices adopted by the farmer to get the best out of his greatest asset - the soil, - is planting operations. These are the farming activities related to the actual sowing of crops. Nursery practice is one of such activities. This measure is adopted where certain crops 
like garden egg and pepper seeds are not always planted directly in the field but has to be ‘incubated’ before being pricked to the field where it will produce and complete its life span.
We launched this year farming operations with the nursery practice to raise garden egg and pepper. In order to do this, site selection was first done. Fertile soil is always needed for this and was so selected. This is followed by pecking of beds and bed making. The soil on the floor of the bed is mixed with rich poultry droppings. Afterward, both the garden egg and pepper are
broadcasted on the bed to intercrop. They are then covered with light soil. This is to prevent rodents from picking the seeds and facilitate germination. The planting depth is about 1cm and planting distance is uneven. Seed rate is also not definite. The day you sow the seeds is the day they emerge from the soil that is about 7 days. We sowed 0.2Kg seeds of Garden Egg and 0.1Kg of Pepper seeds on Tuesday, the 11th March 2008 and they emerge (germinate) on Tuesday, March the 18th 2008. The seedlings are watered as need arises. Poultry manure is also added if need be. Mulching is done just after sowing the seeds using palm fronts. This is followed by a shade, using the same palm fronts. This is done when the seedlings emerge.
When the seedlings are mature enough to withstand direct sunshine, the shade is removed.
The seedlings remain there until they are transplanted. We plan to transplant ours on the first week of May when enough rains shall have come. Transplanting the seedlings will be published in May. Watch out....
like garden egg and pepper seeds are not always planted directly in the field but has to be ‘incubated’ before being pricked to the field where it will produce and complete its life span.We launched this year farming operations with the nursery practice to raise garden egg and pepper. In order to do this, site selection was first done. Fertile soil is always needed for this and was so selected. This is followed by pecking of beds and bed making. The soil on the floor of the bed is mixed with rich poultry droppings. Afterward, both the garden egg and pepper are
broadcasted on the bed to intercrop. They are then covered with light soil. This is to prevent rodents from picking the seeds and facilitate germination. The planting depth is about 1cm and planting distance is uneven. Seed rate is also not definite. The day you sow the seeds is the day they emerge from the soil that is about 7 days. We sowed 0.2Kg seeds of Garden Egg and 0.1Kg of Pepper seeds on Tuesday, the 11th March 2008 and they emerge (germinate) on Tuesday, March the 18th 2008. The seedlings are watered as need arises. Poultry manure is also added if need be. Mulching is done just after sowing the seeds using palm fronts. This is followed by a shade, using the same palm fronts. This is done when the seedlings emerge.When the seedlings are mature enough to withstand direct sunshine, the shade is removed.
The seedlings remain there until they are transplanted. We plan to transplant ours on the first week of May when enough rains shall have come. Transplanting the seedlings will be published in May. Watch out....
posted by ASCA at
07:50
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Proven Practices for Farming
The solution to world hunger is teaching the farmers to farm profitably and sell locally. There is a grassroots movement, around the world, for families and groups to produce their own food due to cost, flavor and chemical contamination. "There's this belief that in order to stop poverty, we have to find ways to get people to stop being farmers. What we need to do is find ways to stop them from being poor farmers." Amy Smith, MIT
These are based on the internet, US & international agriculture magazines, experiences teaching agriculture in many countries, research data and farmer experiences in those countries and a demonstration garden. They are ecologically sustainable, environmentally responsible, socially just and economically viable. There is unlimited, documented proof. There are 90,000,000 no-till hectares worldwide.
Fukaoka Farm, Japan, has been no-till [rice, small grains, vegetables] for 70 years. At the time of my visits, an Indian farmer has been no-till [vegetables] for 5 years, a Malawi farmer has been no-till [vegetables] on permanent beds for 25 years and a Honduras farmer has been no-till [vegetables & fruit] on permanent beds on the contour (73° slope] for 8 years. Ruth Stout [USA] had a no-till garden for 30 years and 7,000 people visited her garden. Free DVD available.
No technique yet devised by man has been anywhere near as effective at halting soil erosion and making food production truly sustainable as 0-tillage (Baker)
1. Restore the soil to its natural health. Contamination: inorganic pesticides, insecticides & fertilizers
2. Maintain the healthy soil. Healthy soil produces healthy crops with highest yields and prevents most disease, pest, weed and erosion problems.
3. Increase the soil’s organic matter every year.
4. Little or no external inputs [It is not necessary to buy anything, from anybody.]
5. Leave crop residue on top of soil. No burning. You are burning up fertilizer. Do not plow it into the soil.
6. Plant green manure/cover crops to increase the soil organic matter. Seeds are available in every country.
7. Plant the new crop in the crop residue by opening up a row or a place for the seed.
8. Plant every field every year [no fallow land]
9. 0-tillage: no plowing, no digging, no cultivating. No hard physical labor required so children and the elderly can farm easily. After two or three years the yields can double while reducing the labor by half compared to traditional farming. Farmers farm ten acres alone using hand tools only [Honduras]
10. Tree crops: fruit, nuts, coffee [shade-grown], etc. Use perennial cover crops
11. Permanent paths [walking]
12. Permanent beds. They were used 2000 BC in Guatemala, Mexico and many other coun-tries. 15-25% of the land is in paths and that saves 15-25% of the seed, water and labor but yields will be higher.
13. Hand tools: machete, weed cutter, seeding hoe. Local blacksmith should make them.
14. Soil always covered. Never leave the soil bare.
15. No compost making. Use the organic matter for mulch. If there is an excess, pile it up and use later.
16. Vermiculture: Not necessary; too much labor. Do it in the soil in the fields.
17. SRI - system of rice intensification. Double yields, reduces water requirements by 50% and reduces labor.
18. SRI for other crops: sugar cane, finger millet, cotton, wheat, mustard.
19. Bucket drip irrigation should be used during the dry season and in areas of low rainfall: Imported bucket drip kits are US$15. A bucket drip line can be made locally from poly tubing [US$3, Nicaragua]. One will irrigate a row of crops 33 meters long using only 20 liters of water per day. A dripline can be moved to irrigate several rows per day. Water can be from a stream, pond or well. A drip kit returns $20 per month to the farmer [FAO study].
Ken Hargesheimer minifarms@gmail.com
When Soil is Plowed
Dr. Elaine Ingham, describes an undisturbed grassland—where a wide diversity of plants grow, their roots mingling with a wide diversity of soil organisms—and how it changes when it is plowed. [The same is true of a jungle, rainforest, forest, etc]
A typical teaspoon of native grassland soil contains between 600 million and 800 million individual bacteria that are members of perhaps 10,000 species. Several miles of fungi are in that teaspoon of soil, as well as 10,000 individual protozoa. There are 20 to 30 beneficial nematodes from as many as 100 species. Root-feeding nematodes are quite scarce in truly healthy soils. They are present, but in numbers so low that it is rare to find them.
After only one plowing, a few species of bacteria and fungi disappear because the food they need is no longer put back in the system. But for the most part, all the suppressive organisms, all the nutrient cyclers, all the decomposers, all the soil organisms that rebuild good soil structure are still present and trying to do their jobs.
But tillage continues to deplete soil organic matter and kill fungi. The larger predators are crushed, their homes destroyed. The bacteria go through a bloom and blow off huge amounts of that savings-account organic matter. With continued tillage, the "policemen" (organisms) that compete with and inhibit disease are lost. The "architects" that build soil aggregates are lost. So are the "engineers"—the larger organisms that design and form the larger pores in soil. The predators that keep bacteria, fungi, and root-feeding organisms in check are lost. Disease suppression declines, soil structure erodes, and water infiltration decreases because mineral crusts form. Dr. Elaine Ingham, BioCycle, December 1998. (From ATTRA News, July 06)
Form a chapter of the FUTURE ORGANIC FARMERS OF [your country]. Email minifarms@gmail.com for more information.
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