Fertilizer Topdressing Methods Used

All our crops were fertilized with chicken manure and compost as basal fertilizer. Our normal procedure is that during flowering stage or 25 to 30 days after transplanting, we topdress fertilizer to supplement the basal fertilizer. This is important because the plants would be needing more nutrients as they shift to their botanical transformation as in flowering to fruiting (eg. succhinni).

We do not use inorganic fertilizers, we make use of processed chicken manure (PCM) and crumbled organic fertilizer (COF). Both are applied in three ways. First, they can be applied in between rows of the plants then covered with soil from the canals of the plots. This is is beneficial but labor intensive because you have to scrape off the top soil from the canal with a hoe and put back the soil on the plot to cover the topdressed fertilizer. Beneficial in the sense that the topsoil washed off to the plots' canals are brought back to the plants and used together with the topdressing.

The saecond method followed is by drilling PCM or COF through small holes near the plants root areas and covering it with soil. This method allows the plant to immediately use the fertilizer.

The third method is through fertigation. PCM and COF are mixed thouroughly with the water to be used in irrigation, in our case, from a deeply excavated water hole. Watering cans are used to fetch the water and applied through overhead irrigation.

All three are effective methods.

Rains and Rats

It rained so hard yesterday and today that rats from the nearby mountains scampered over the fields. Using a slicker and rubber boots, I went to check on the soil traps and check dams of the vegetable plots. It rained the whole night too.

This morning, damage was observed on the succhini flowers and some fruits. It was done by the rats for sure. I applied poison baits this afternoon to ward off and kill the rats. With some prayers too.

We will not be watering for a week because of the strong rain. The succhini will be ready for harvest in two weeks time. The broccolli, cabbage and potatoes are doing well.

The seeds we sowed in our nursery have sprung up. Some 4,000 assorted nitrogen fixing (Caliandra calothyrsus, Flemingia macrophylla) and biofuel trees (Jatropha curcas, Pangomia pinnata, Pitospforum resinefirum) have been planted. We also sowed passion fruit and Spanish tomato fruits. Our hives are busy with bee activities. The bees can be seen all over the succhini plants pollinating and seeking nectar as they are attracted by the vegetables' yellow flowers.

Botanical Insecticide

Today, I will describe how I prepared botanical pesticide for crawling worms and larvae that attack our crops especially cabbage and brocolli. The most destructive of these worms are cabbage butterflies, diamondback moths, leafminers and inchworms.

The botanical insecticide was prepared using half drum of water, wild sunflower (Tithanium diversifoleum) shoots, kakawate (Madre de cacao) leaves and cigarette butts. One sack of sunflower shoots and kakawate leaves were gathered. The sack was tied up so the leaves would not come out of the sack. Then the sack was immersed in the drum filled with one half drum of water. Also immersed in the water were some 100 cigarette butts gathered from smokers who included our farmer partners. A heavy stone was placed on top of the sack to prevent it from floating, after which, the drum was covered.

The plants were left to rot for two weeks. The drum was opened and the water with the decomposed decoction was allowed to pass through a screen and sieve to remove the substrates and decomposed leaf tissues. A fine mesh cloth was used to finally filter the water. One liter of this solution was mixed with 15 liters of water . This was used to spray against the worms and larva attacking the cabbages and brocolli.

The effect shows that after a few minutes, the larvae and caterpillar drop off the plants and die. The sunflower and kakawate leaves have properties that kill off the worms. The effect of both leaves is made more potent by the tar and nicotine extracts from the cigarette butts.

This is our effective, simple and inexpensive control for worms and larvae. Our warning though, the only disadavantage is that the decoction smells and the applicator should cover all his body and face to prevent the smell from sticking to his skin. But the extract is safe when in contact with the skin.
Next Time: TopDressing Fertilizer

Community Supported Agriculture in Benguet, Philippines

The Community Supported Agricultural Project in Benguet, Philippines

I'm taking a frog leap since I initiated my project as I am starting my blogs way late from my activities. The project started in March. Much of the work was first done cleaning the project sites of grass, sedges and brushes. Nearly a hectare-wide land has been cleaned using sickles, grub hoes and shovels. The debris has been collected and composted with Trichoderma. About three tons of grass and different sedges have been collected. This will yield about 1.2 tons of organic fertilizer. The vegetable garden areas are located in three different sites in the project location.

Twelve students and seven farmers are working with me on the project. The number of students involved is limited as March to May are the vacation months. We expect to have 20 more students by the first semester on June.

We have planted one area of 1,000 square meters with white potato and another lot some 2,500 square meters with Scorpio cabbage and brocolli while some 700 suare meters are planted to succhini mixed with early maturing Romaine lettuce sidecropped with onion leeks. These crops were the choices of our customers.

There is no major difficulty in our activities with the exception of land clearing which is labor-intensive and limited water supply. We have solved the latter by digging 5 x 6 x 7 feet deep water holes draped with plastic to harvest water from rain and run-off from canals. The impounded water is used to irrigate the plants. Because gravity cannot be used to draw water, we irrigate overhead, manually with the use watering cans at least three times a week.

Land preparation was done manualy using grab hoes. After the land was tilled, compost, chicken manure as well as lime were spread over the land to serve as basal fertilizer and neutralize soil acidity, respectively. The soil was was tilled once more to mix the fertilizer and the lime. Plots measuring 1 meter by 20 meters were then prepared.

The succhini was planted directly at a space of one foot apart. The cabbages were transplanted to the field 25 days after sowing, with a distance of one foot per hill per row . Potato tubers were planted at the same distances. The field was irrigated through overhead system using watering cans.

For all three crops, some 1.5 tons of compost was used as basal fertilizer. No inorganic fertilizer was applied.

No pesticide are used on all crops. As of now no insect pest has attacked the succhini, lettuce and potatoes but a few diamonback moth (Plutella xylostella) are attacking the cabbages. We have prepared a botanical control of sunflower extract (Tithonia diversifolia) to be used against the pest.

Next Posting: Controlling Insect Pests

PINE TREE

This is the PINE TREE Phillipines page in the Teach A Man to Fish 'Schools for Rural Entrepreneurs' blog group