A seed ball is a small ball of clay, about 4 cm in diameter, containing plant seeds and dried manure. Seed balls are a good, simple technique to start reforestation in dry areas, steeply sloped areas, or areas with few or no plants or trees. Place the seed balls in any area you want before the wet season starts. The clay will protect the seeds inside from animals until the rains come. When the wet season starts the seeds will begin to grow and the dry manure will provide some nutrients to help them grow. It is best to use seeds of fast growing legumes, like acacia, leuceana and moringa. The trees that grow from the seed balls will improve the soil and provide protection and mulch for new trees planted afterwards.
Making Seed Balls
Choose clay that sticks together (doesn’t break) when rolled into a snake shape. Add some water to the clay so that it becomes easy to shape into a ball. Mix in a small amount of manure, but make sure that the clay will still stick together. First, make the balls, then add about 5-10 seeds in each ball. The seeds must be inside the ball so that animals won’t be able to eat them once they are in nature. Straight away, dry the balls in the sun for 1-2 hours. Leave until dry, but not cracked. Put them in a dry and shady place to continue drying. The balls must be completely dried because if they are still wet, the seeds will grow. When dry, store the balls in a dry place until you are ready to use them.
Today we will see how to make your own weedicide at home. Weedicide is used to kill the weeds. Weeds are main issue in farming, where the nutritions given to crop are absorbed by the weeds if weeds are present in the fields. Hence now let us see on how prepare weedicide at home.
The required materials to make weedicide at home are
1. 15 days old cow urine
2. Salt
3. Lemon or any citrus fruit
4. Soap
5. Power sprayer for spraying
The cow urine might be from native cow or HF cross cow. But it should be 15 days old.
* Firstly, cut 15 gram of soap and add it to the cow urine. Dissolve soap in cow urine.
* After adding leave the solution for 24 hours.
* After 24 hours, mix one handful of salt and 2 lemon juice in the above solution.
* Mix thoroughly. After mixing all of them, your weedicide is ready to use.
* Pour the solution in the power sprayer and spray to weeds.
After two or three days you will observe that the plants get dried.
Broccoli is an important vegetable among the Cole crops. It is a rich source of vitamins and minerals. In fact, it contains more vitamin A than cabbage and cauliflower and the highest amount of proteins among the cole crops. It also contains anti-cancerous compounds and antioxidants.
Broccoli is of two types: heading type and
sprouting (green and purple) broccoli. Heading broccoli forms curd like cauliflower; while sprouting broccoli contains a group of green immature buds and thick fleshy flower stalk forming a head. Sprouting broccoli is more popular in India.
Variety
Green sprouting broccoli having green, firm and compact crown heads are more in demand in India. The important varieties are: KTS-I, Solan Green, Lucky, Fiesta, Pushpa, Aishwarya, PalamVichitra.
Soil and Climate
Broccoli can be grown in a wide variety of soils, but sandy and silt loam soils are most suited. It prefers well-drained upland soil for proper growth. The optimum pH range is 5.8-7.2.
It is a cool season crop and is sensitive to very low and high temperatures. The optimum temperature range of 10-25 "C is ideal for proper growth of the crop.
Field preparation
Same as in cauliflower
Seed rate
400-500g/ha
Sowing Time
In plain- Mid September to early November
In hills- September-October
Nursing Raising
Same as in cauliflower
Transplanting
The seedlings are ready for transplanting after 4-6 weeks of sowing. FYM @ 10-15 t/ha should be applied one month before transplanting. Nitrogen 120 kg, 80 kg phosphorus and 60 kg potash should be applied at the time of transplanting. Remaining half of nitrogen should be applied in two split doses at 30 and 45 days after transplanting. Transplanting should be done in the afternoon at a spacing of 45x30cm.
Irrigation
Light and frequent irrigation should be given at 10-15 days interval depending on
weather conditions.
Intercultural Operation
The crop should be kept weed free. Shallow hoeing should be done at 20-25 days after transplanting to remove weeds and loosen the soil for better aeration.
Plant protection measures
Cutworms: The caterpillars are 3 to 4 cm long, gray or brown to almost black with
various markings. They hide in daytime and feed at night. They cause damage by biting the foliage and by cutting down the young seedlings just above the ground level.
Control:
1. Picking and destruction of the larvae at the early stage of the crop.
2. Growing of paired rows of mustard after every 25 rows of the crop.
3. Spraying of the heavily infested crop with Rogoror Endosulfan@ 2 -3 ml/l of
water.
Leaf Webber: The leaves are skeletonised by the larvae, which remain on the under surface of leaves in webs and feed on them. They also attack flower buds and pods. The insect commonly sucks early grown crop.
Control:
1. Picking and destruction of the larvae at the early stage of the crop.
2. The crop should be sprayed with 3g solution.
Aphids: They feed on the plants affecting the quality. Mustard can act as a trap crop for aphids. Neemseed kernel extract can be sprayed at 4%.
Mustard saw fly: The larvae of mustard saw fly feed on leaves and it can be controlled by spraying.
Damping off: It is a serious disease in the nursery. In severe conditions, the affected
seedlings droop and fall off due to infection at the collar region. Seed treatment should be done at nusery.
Downy Mildew: This disease appears from nursery to curd formation stage. Fine Hair like downy growth of fungus is observed on the leaves. Corresponding to the downy fungal growth, minute pinhead brown necrotic spots appear on the upper surface of leaves. For controlling the disease, dense sowing of seeds in the nursery should be avoided.
White rust: It is a soil borne disease caused by fungus Sclerotiniascelorotiorum. The fungus attacks the bases of the outer leaves and plants suddenly wilt. For controlling this disease, the soil should be drenched with neem leaves extract with water. Deep ploughings should be done, as the fungus cannot survive below 15cm.
Black rot: First signs of the disease often appear along the margins of leaves as chlorotic regions and the chlorosis progresses in the direction of the mid rib forming a V-shaped area. Symptoms may appear from any side and centre of the leaves. The bacteria are transmitted through seeds.
Black leg: It occurs mostly in moist regions, especially in areas with high rainfall during the growth period. Proper seed treatment should be done.
Harvesting and yield
The crop is ready for harvesting after 80-90 days of transplanting. Heads having 10- 15 cm stems and green, compact bud clusters are harvested with a sharp knife. On an average, yield varies from 175-240 q/ha depending upon the variety.
Here I am posting some important for all to keep pests away from your gardens. Make your own and use
1. Neem
Ancient Indians highly revered neem oil as a powerful, all-natural plant for warding off pests. In fact, neem juice is the most powerful natural pesticide on the planet, holding over 50 natural insecticides. This extremely bitter tree leaf can be made in a spray form, or can be bought from a number of reputable companies.
To make your own neem oil spray, simply add 1/2 an ounce of high quality organic neem oil and ½ teaspoon of a mild organic liquid soap (I use Dr. Bronners Peppermint) to two quarts of warm water. Stir slowly. Add to a spray bottle and use immediately.
2. Salt Spray
For treating plants infested with spider mites, mix 2 tablespoons of Himalayan Crystal Salt into one gallon of warm water and spray on infected areas.
3. Mineral oil
Mix 10-30 ml of high-grade oil with one liter of water. Stir and add to spray bottle. This organic pesticide works well for dehydrating insects and their eggs.
4. Citrus Oil and/or Cayenne PepperMix
This is another great organic pesticide that works well on ants. Simply, mix 10 drops of citrus essential oil with one teaspoon cayenne pepper and 1 cup of warm water. Shake well and spray in the affected areas.
5. Soap, Orange Citrus Oil & Water
To make this natural pesticide, simply mix 3 tablespoons of liquid Organic Castile soap with 1 ounce of Orange oil to one gallon of water. Shake well. This is an especially effective treatment against slugs and can be sprayed directly on ants and roaches.
6. Eucalyptus oil
A great natural pesticide for flies, bees and wasps. Simply sprinkle a few drops of eucalyptus oil where the insects are found. They will all be gone before you know it.
7. Onion and Garlic Spray
Mince one organic clove of garlic and one medium sized organic onion. Add to a quart of water. Wait one hour and then add one teaspoon of cayenne pepper and one tablespoon of liquid soap to the mix. This organic spray will hold its potency for one week if stored in the refrigerator.
8. Chrysanthemum Flower Tea
These flowers hold a powerful plant chemical component called pyrethrum. This substance invades the nervous system of insects rendering them immobile. You can make your own spray by boiling 100 grams of dried flowers into 1 liter of water. Boil dried flowers in water for twenty minutes. Strain, cool and place in a spray bottle. Can be stored for up to two months. You can also add some organic neem oil to enhance the effectiveness.
9. Tobacco Spray
Just as tobacco is not good for humans, tobacco spray was once a commonly used pesticide for killing pests, caterpillars and aphids. To make, simply take one cup of organic tobacco (preferably a brand that is organic and all-natural) and mix it in one gallon of water. Allow the mixture to set overnight. After 24-hours, the mix should have a light brown color. If it is very dark, add more water. This mix can be used on most plants, with the exception of those in the solanaceous family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc.)
10. Chile pepper / DiatomaceousEarth
Grind two handfuls of dry chiles into a fine powder and mix with 1 cup of Diatomaceous earth. Add to 2 liters of water and let set overnight. Shake well before applying.
If you have some easy recipes for making your own organic pesticides, we would love to hear them.
In June 2020, we harvested we harvested cow pea four times. In each harvest it yielded approximately 10 to 12 kgs of cow pea pods. The cow pea seeds were planted in four rows. The length of each row is 70 to 65 feet approximately. We have harvested the okra often, which was sown in between cow pea plants
A part of cow pea harvest are used for consumption. Few of them are dried to save seeds for adding to sambars in future, few of them are shared to nearby neighbours.
The moringa stem cuttings are yet to sprout. The cucumber giant native variety, flowers bloomed and having small fruits. But they are getting spoiled due to the stagnant of water. Ridge gourd didn't grown well. I saved the seeds of ridge gourd from hybrid variety. Maybe that would be the reason regarding.
The chilly saplings which were transplanted near the cow pea plants have thrived well. Until now I didn't observed any diseases in these chilly plants.
The perrineal chilly is growing slowly, waiting patiently. I would not able to understand them.
When I observed pests in cow pea plants, I sprayed only fermented buttermilk solution mixed with water in the ratio 1:10 . After speaking, I observed little reduction in pests but not completely. Didn't applied any other manures.
In July 2020, I have cut down the cow pea plants and okra plants as the harvesting has completed. After cutting down the cow pea plants, I observed the chilly transplants which are planted near the cow pea have really thrived well under them.
The Bottle gourd plant which was planted at the last row has been spoiled. Don't know the reason. The chilly transplants are doing good.
Turkey berry (sundakkai) plant, pigeon pea, Tomato seedlings (sankametta variety), Jasmine, Hibiscus, Gauva are all growing well.
The cucumber giant native variety grown well but the fruit buds are falling down. I enquired with few people, they suggested to sow in summer season. In the moringa stem cuttings, still I didn't observed leaves... Yet to wait...!
In another plot, this time sown okra seeds (hybrid seeds). I Didn't have more native okra seeds for sowing. Okra grown upto one feet tall.
Sown few native varieties Beans Black seed, srilankan beans, snake gourd, Sittu parangikkai (பரங்கிக்காய்), cucumber Dharwad green variety, etc... Beans Black seed sprouts destroyed due to some leaf miners. Three sprouts survived. Only one sittu parangikai பரங்கிக்காய் out of five seeds has survived.
Tomato sankarametta variety seed which I sown, started to flower. I flower is different from other varities. The flower is large and oval spherical in shape.
You can see the flowering of tomato sankarametta variety in the video.
In perrineal Brinjal plants, I saw few pests. One of the pest which is in brown colour is making heavy damage to the stem of brinjal plants. These pests sit on the node of flowering bud of brinjal plant and they just eat them. I sprayed buttermilk solution mixed with water. The pests have reduced but not completely. The green and black color worms have considerably reduced. But these brown bugs are not reduced completely. You can see this brown bug in the video..you can give suggestions regarding..!
Finally, the video of ABCD farming farm update JULY 2020 will be updated soon. You can subscribe our YouTube channel for updates. #abcdfarming #farmupdate
The most prominent plant growth promoter and support is Panchagavya or panchakavyam which literally means a 'concoction made of five products obtained from a cow'. The ingredients are Cow dung, Cow urine, Cow's milk, Curd and Ghee. These were mixed in correct combination and procedure and the mixture was fermented to get the wonder Elixir. This was a single solution for controlling the pests and boosting the plant growth and enhancing the yield, enriching the soil with useful minerals and useful microbes.
Preparation of Panchagavya:
We can now see how this is made:
The following items are required:
1. Fresh Cow dung - 1kg
2). Cow urine- 1.5 liter
3). Cow milk-1.5 liter
4). Cow curd- 250 Ml
5). Ghee – 250 gm
6). Ripe yellow bananas (Poovan) – 2 nos
7) Water - 1.5 liters
Procedure:
* Mix Cow dung and Ghee well and keep it covered in a wide mouthed plastic, cement or earthen container.( Avoid metal containers as this may react with metals.) Stir the contents thoroughly both in morning and evening and keep it covered with a fine mesh or cloth for 3 days. If not covered, the flies will lay eggs and we will have maggots in the preparation.
* After 3 days, mix cow urine and water and keep it covered for 15 days with regular mixing both in morning and evening.
* After 15 days add Cow's milk, Cow's curd and Bananas, mix well and keep it covered for another 15 days.
* Do regular stirring daily, both in morning and evening and keep covered.
Panchagavya will be ready to use by then.
Dosage and frequency of usage
10 Ml concentrate can be mixed in 1 liter water and filtered and used for foliar spray for plants from 4 leaf stage up to mature plants, once a week 20 –30 ml Ml in 1 ltr water (3% solution) can be used for soil drench. This concentrate can be stored upto 6 months.
Improvement on the formula:
This concoction had been modified and bettered by many experts and now they have incorporated a few more ingredients. So while adding Banana, the following two can also be added
Tender coconut water – 500 Ml
Jaggery - 3 kg ----- 500 gm
Balance is all the same. Some farmers add more items like sugar cane juice, fruit juices and toddy to introduce yeast for better fermentation. These inclusions will add to additional nutritional values for the preparation
The Geodesic domes are spherical in shape were lightweight triangular or polygonal facets consisting of either skeletal struts or flat planes, largely in tension, replace the arch principle and distribute stresses within the structure itself.
There are probably as many different dome designs as there are dome builders. This is partly because size, geometry, designs and coverings can be modified according to the raw materials available. The design shown here, though not as grand as the ones developed by experts, still uses the same basic geometric form. It is simple to build and easy to dismantle.
Depending on the type of covering you use, this design is suitable as a temporary or semi-permanent dwelling.
The essentials:
To build your own dome home you will need the following:
• Time : about a day (although it will only take about an hour to put up and less to take down).
• Equipment : drill and drill bits, tape measure, protractor, hand saw and a vice (not essential but will make construction more accurate, particularly when drilling the holes).
• Materials : hazel poles or broomsticks, about 20mm (¾") in diameter, 1.5m (5') of 130mm (5") alcathene gas pipe and 260 split pins. These make it easy to erect and take down your dome.
Preparation
Step 1. Cut 35 poles to exactly the same length: 1050mm-1200mm (3'6"-4') would give even tall people adequate headroom. Do not cut them shorter than 900mm (3') unless building for children; and 1200mm (4') is probably the optimum length for the strength of materials and joints used in this design.
Step 2. Saw 30 more poles, which must be 11% shorter than the long poles. For example, if you cut the long poles to 1200mm (4') then your shorter poles will be 1070mm (3'6").
Step 3. Cut the alcathene gas pipe into sections 50mm (2") long to make the joints. You will need 26 joints in all.
Now you need to drill holes in the joints to hold the ends of the poles. The holes will need to be fractionally larger than the poles you use. For example, if you use standard household broomsticks which are roughly 20mm (¾") thick, holes will be cut to just less than 25mm (1") in diameter. This will ensure enough 'give' in the joints to create the angles necessary in dome building. You must make precise measurements. Be consistent, regardless of the dimensions you decide upon.
Assembly
Step 1. Assembling a prototype:Take one 5-hole joint and slot in five of the smaller poles.
Put two 4-hole joints at the base of the pentagon and slot three 6-hole joints onto the upright poles.
Step 2. At this point, measure where the holes need to be drilled in the poles either side of the pipe. Depending on the thickness of the pipe, this will be about 25mm (1") from the end of each pole and again about 25mm (1") further along the pole.
Once you have marked the poles, dismantle the pentagon. Sort the poles into two piles – long and short. Drill two holes in each end of every pole. It is vital that each hole is drilled in exactly the same position on every pole.
Step 3. Reassemble the pentagon and fasten the joints by inserting the split pins. Build from the middle outwards following the pattern as shown in video.
You can view the video in this post. Geodesic dome home was built in Aranya eco village, Berikai, Tamilnadu.
Mango people an organization who helped in building Geodesic dome.
In the present era, there are too many developments in precision agriculture for increasing the crop productivity. Especially, in the developing countries like India, over 70% of the rural people depends upon the agriculture fields. The agriculture fields faces dramatic losses due to the diseases. These diseases came from the pests and insets, which reduces the productivity of the crops. Pesticides and fertilizers are used to kill the insects and pests in order to enhance the crop quality. The WHO (World Health Organization estimated as one million cases of ill effected, when spraying the pesticides in the crop filed manually. The Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) – aircrafts are used to spray the pesticides to avoid the health problems of humans when they spray manually. UAVs or drones can be used easily, where the equipment and labors difficulty to operate. This paper reviews briefly the implementation of UAVs for crop monitoring and pesticide spraying.
A sprayer system is mounted on UAV for pesticides spraying. The integration of UAV with sprayer system results a potential to provide a platform to pest management and vector control. This is accurate site specific application for a large crop fields. For this purpose heavy lift UAVs or drone sprayers are required for large area of spraying. The efficiency of the spraying system which is mounted to the UAV or drone increases through the PWM controller in the pesticide applications. A petrol powered unmanned aerial vehicle Yamaha RMAX developed for pesticide spraying in rice fields of Asia. In comparison with ground based sprayers, deposition of pesticides from the developed UAV is almost similar. The RMAX is a crop sprayer for a high value crop environment. A prototype extendable to develop a drone with increasing volume mean diameter droplet size up to 300mm. The uses of drone in spraying operations are increasing because of its speed and accuracy. But, some factors reduce the crop quality like some area in the crop field is not covered properly while spraying, Crop areas overlapping and outer edges of the crop field in the spraying process. To overcome these factors, a swarm of Drones were used in a control loop of algorithm for agriculture operations, where unmanned aerial vehicles are the responsible for the spraying pesticides. The process of spraying the pesticides on the crop is organized by the feedback coming from the WSNs deployed in the field. The communication with each one is done by a control loop to adjust the route of unmanned aerial vehicle to changes in the speed of wind and number of messages exchanged in between. A short delay in the control loop, so that the unmanned aerial vehicle can analyze the data from WSN to further route. It could also minimize the waste of pesticides. An automatic navigation UAV spraying system MSP430 developed to direct the UAV in desired spray area.
Keeping in view of these facts, a crop monitoring and Pesticide spraying Drones are developed consisting of an automated drone system and sprinkling system with multi spectral camera. The sprinkling system is attached to the lower region off the UAV which has a nozzle beneath the pesticide tank to sprinkle the pesticide towards downstream. First monitoring is done by multi spectral camera, the camera scans the whole crop field and generates a spatial map. This map manifest the condition of the crop through NDVI and then the farmer evaluates which type of pesticides/fertilizers apply on the crop.
UAVs in precision agriculture is still in its early stage and maybe a scope for further development in both the technology and the agriculture applications. Providentially, it is expended that with the development of UAV'S technology, improved image processing techniques, lower costs, flying times, batteries, new camera designs, low volume sprayers, and nozzle types. A significant number of experimental studies of UAV'S based remote sensing for agriculture application. It will be a more prominent advantages of these systems in precision agriculture and environmental monitoring.
Conclusion: The drone sprayers are costly. The drone service centers are less in number. They are suitable for large scale land holders. Proper training is needed to run the drones.
