Dear Mr.Rakesh
Well. Happy that your tomato plants are picking up speed now . Seems that all the plants got established well in soil .
Please see that all the nutrients like 19-19-19, 12-61-0 ,13-0-45 and urea meant for fertigation can not be bypassed and applied via foliage as spray .
The mechanism in built in plant system for absorbing and utilizing nutrients is only through roots that acts as mouth for plants just the same way we,human being eat out food through our mouth , the only way to ingest food .
The foliar spray has been discovered to supplement the part of the requirement of necessary plant nutrients that are locked up in soil and that are not available for plants that in turn impact the yield - part of major nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potasium , calcium, magnesium and most of the micronutrients …
So foliar spray is not a total replacement for soil based application of plant nutrients .The major part of the major nutrients ( macro nutrients ) like Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium can be supplied to the plant through fertigation only …
So please follow the below suggestion for feeding your tomato during rainy season
1.Since your soil is clay loam , avoid fertigation during heavy rain days
2.Do fertigation in a rain free days or during the period when rain is meagre like less than 25 mm .In that circumstances you can run the drip system just for minimum duration like half an hour and feed the plants with water soluble fertilizers . Of course all the days are not rainy days .Certainly there must be a gap between two effective rainfall .So utilize this gap to fertigate your field based on your field condition ( soil moisture position )
3.All the water soluble fertilizers like 19-19-19, 12-61-0,13-0-45 are containing three major nutrient elements like nitrogen, phosphorus and potash except the variation in the percentage of each major nutrients available in each such kind of water soluble fertilizers .Compared to other WSF , the 19-19-19 is found to be most effective in foliar spray application .Hence better do apply 19-19-19 or 19-19-19 +Micronutrients that is most effective @ 10 grams in 1 lit water ( 1% solution ) atleast in a week or 10 days gap .Because during rainy days (Atmospheric Relative humdity is high ) the nutrient loss is more than nutrients use efficiency of the plants ) .Nutrients aborption by the root is very low .Hence foliar spray that is 10-13 times more efficient than root absorption of nutrients froms soil is a best remedy during rainy days for the soil condition such as yours .The nutrients move @ 0.3 meters per hour inside the plant ( from leaf surface down through stems ) and nutrients translocation from roots to leaves @ 0.09 meter per hour . And the leaves absorp 50-65 % of the foliar applied nutrients within 24 hours to 36 hours and get assimilated in the plant system in about 72 hours .
4.Add wetting and spreading agent like APSA 80 that works well in enhancing nutrient abosorption and utilizing it by the plants.WSF plus APSA80 …
5.The stomato in tomato ( opening in leaves through which only the plant abosorp nutrients during foliar spray ) is excessively more on the undersirface of the leaves .So when you spay nutrients over the leaves always direct the nozzle of spray more to the undersurface of the leaves in tomato.
6.In about 14 days after transplanting the tomato plant will initiate hormonal change in favor of formation of flower primordia . But during rainy days , instead of GA3 ( gibberrelic acid ) sapry Triacontanol that works comparatively better than GA3 . You can spray triacontanol @ 2 ppm ( 2 mg in 1 lit water ) at 10 days interval for 3 times starting from 15 th days
7.Also you can use fulvic acid @ 3% ( 30 ml in 1 lit water ) - when applying fulvic acid ( Fulvic acid is nothing but shorter chain molecule of humic acid ) you can mix sodium molybdate @ 50 grams in 1 lit fulvic acid and keep it overnight and either foliar spray or administer through fertigation .
8.You can also apply Epsom salt ( Magnesium sulphate ) at 50 grams in 1 lit fulvic acid and it can be diluted in 5 lit water to prepare stock solution for fertigation…
However heavy rain does not help in better production of tomato …
If heavy rains prevails better spray Kocide @ 2 gm + Mancobez 2 gm in lit of water or apply copper oxy chloride @ 3 g per lit water through drip irrigation to avoid bacterial wilt .
Summary
1.Give fertigation during rain free days
2.Give foliar application of 19-19-19+MN @ 1 % at weekly interval or 10 days interval
3.Copper oxy chloride application / Kocide + Mancozeb fungicide application
4.When rain stops for a week , apply Urea through fertigation . Dissolve 5 kgs of Urea in 25 lit water and mix this in 70 lit water and fertigate .
5.Or as a thumb rule apply 10% more Nitrogen as Urea to tomato after heavy and continuous rain.
6.Stake the tomato plant by around one month after planting and remove bottom most 1 or two suckers that are touching ground
7.Ensure drainage to save your tomato plant from water logging that is detrimental to tomato production
Regards
Tomatoes,marigold started picking up. We also planted bottle gourd since the farm has facility for creepers.
Have one issue though, we are having lot of weeds these days,i missed spraying pemdamethalin after transplanting.
I’m getting weeding done now, however wanted to know if i can spray pendamethalin now to arrest future weed growth.
Pl dont use pendimethalin or any other weedicide now or in future .Do one manual weeding and do earthing up ( soil mounds around tomato plants ) and just follow the requisite agronomic practices …Also attend pruning of unwanted suckers …
You soil will prepare the plant to produce flowers a week late than the tomato cultivated in red sandy soil …
Use more nitrogen untill 50-55 days after planting and there after reduce the nitrogen and increase potash at 2:3 ratio .This will produce more flowers and less suckers …
Find attached tomato field that kept producing flowers until after 10 months and plant height reached more than 2 meters
This is hybrid tomato -INDAM535 cultivated in 2012 under precision farming . This tomato never stopped yielding fruits and it is a prolific and continuous fruit bearer …0.75 acre tomato gave 162.5 MT of fruits in about 9 months time . We happen to remove the crop only when tomato price went very badly down to Rs.1 per kg .Because further maintenance of tomato field with highly priced inputs did not seem economical and sensible .
It is upto the cultivator that should be serious and sincere in following all the technical nuances . My farmers always follow the techniques perfectly without deviation .Hence the the tomato produced best result …
Thank you for replying back. Definitely will not spray any weedicide. All manual weeding work is done.
I started staking of plants, as they are starting to bend. Also as you mentioned will give more nitrogen as prescribed by you.
I have one more help to ask of you. My Venturi system rotameter is not working, even when i close the main valve, there is no pressure difference and no suction happening. Anything i can do to fix this.
Dear Mr.Rakesh
Ventury is the cheapest method of fertigation …better you call the drip irrigation company to rectify the mistake in the system since there is a warranty for 3 years . Bcoz fertigation is the key to the success of precision farming .But I don’t think there is any genuine irrigation company supplying standard material …better you buy new ventury if you could not fix it soon…
Also ensure you sprayed triacontanol @2ppm once at 15 the days and next at 30 days after transplanting …
Also start spraying pseudomonas florescens @ 25 -50 grams per lit water at 15 days interval for about 5-6 times …
And tell when your tomato start producing first flowers ,so as to supply special nutrients for enhancing fruit set and high yield …
Also give one or two spray of panchagavya @ 3 % at 4 and 6 th week after transplanting …
Sure Ramu sir, i’ll call the drip guy today.
Also will start triacontanol, pseudomonas florescens.
And actually few of the plants have started budding, they will start flowering anytime now.
Also, wanted to check with you on staking, should i continue it do now. And i’m tying the rope to the main stem little firmly, is it ok.
I’ll add few pics in my next post
Yes .First do fix your ventury and keep delivering water soluble fertilizers as per schedule …
And also buy and stock borax and calcium nitrate for drip application @ weekly interval to improve quality of fruits
Regarding staking , wind the jute thread around the main stem through suckers or loosely tie the thread to the main stem without impacting the stem
Attached is the tomato field for your reference showing how to attend to staking in tomato cultivation .
The figure appearing in this picture is my student Mr.Chandru ,a MBA graduate jobless for long over 8 years after his graduation. Since 2010 he started vegetable cultivation on lease land and has kept supplying to most of the canteen and star hotels in ECR road Chennai …
No idea about the availability of redgram TT401 variety in hyderabad .I belong to chennai suburban area .
Why dont you try Co-Rg-7 ,a short duration redgram variety maturing in about 120 days with per acre yield of 1000 kgs under irrigated condition and 600 kgs under rainfed condition .
The red gram Co-Rg-7 is suitably cultivated in SRI system ( system redgram intensification ) with per acre yield of 1200 kgs per acre .The plant to plant and row to row spacing is 75 cms * 120 cms in SRI redgram cultivation
1.Chili transplanted (Image attached)
2. Tomato transplanted (Image attached)
3. Beans sprouted last week (Image attached)
4. Capsicum F1 variety, started sprouting after 3 weeks of sowing
4. Brinjal, sprouted last week
Feeling happy to see plants growing, everyday morning my first job is to go to my balcony and see the plants and see the progress
Still I feel the germination is a major concern for me.
Please go through the images and let me know what you feel about the plant.
Dear Mr.Sushil
All the plants look very nice …Please keep all the plants under sunlight part of the day atleast . As the plants grow they need sunlight to produce healthy main stem and suckers . You can start giving fertigation for all the plants except those newly sprouting young plants …
Really very nice job
Thanks for your reply. All plants are in my east side balcony, hence they get sunlight till afternoon hope thats ok?
The problem with fertigation is as you suggested I got 19-19-19 WSF, and 50 gms for 1 liter per plant per week.
I am not able to apply 1 liter of WSF per plant, extra water is getting drained from my plant grow bags. Any other alternate solution for this?
Yes …when plants are grown in grow bag , the excess water is drained out through exit holes at bottom .It is an open ended system .It is the very reason the roof top garden uses plastic sheet/ tarpaulin over which the grow bags are placed in terrace gardening.
However you need not wet all the soil in the grow bags . If suppose you placed 2 kgs of soil in a grow bag , you can just deliver / add 0.5 lit water .If 4 kgs of soil , then add 1 lit water .That does not drain more water from soil.Also there is no necessity for complete wetness of entire soil.Just frequent wetting with small amount of water is enough and also good for normal grwoth of any plants .This way you can avoid waste of nutrient water.
You are going to apply WSF once in a week. On due date , first apply half/ one litre pure water to the grow bag and then mix WSF in half lit water and deliver to the grow bag .This way you can avoid wastage of WSF …
Also you can use one lit capacity sprayer meant for spraying in kitchen garden
50 grams 19-19-19 WSF contains 9.5 grams of Nitrogen . 9.5 grams in one lit water makes 9500 ppm
100 grams of dry soil should have
25 mg of Nitrogen ( 25 ppm )
40 mg of phosphorus ( 40 ppm)
70 mg of potash ( 70 ppm )
30 mg of sulphur(30 ppm )
80 mg of calcium ( 80 ppm )
60 mg of magnesium ( 60ppm )
so 1 kg soil should contain
250 mg N
400 mg P
700 mg K
300 mg S
800 mg Ca
so if you have placed 3 kgs of soil it should contain
750 mg N
1200 mg P
2100 mg K
900 mg S
2400 mg Ca
The nutrient uptake pattern is 10%,30%,40% and 20% respectively in 10, 25, 50, 80 days after transplanting
So when you dissolve 50 grams of 19-19-19 WSF it will produce nutrient solution containing
9500 ppm N
9500 ppm P
9500 ppm K
so you can give @ 20 grams / lit water for first 2 week
Next two weeks , you can give @ 30 grams / lit water
5th week @ 40 grams / lit water
6 & 7th week @ 50 grams . lit water
There after you can decide the quantity of the nutrients based on the percentage of flower setting and number of fruits per plant .If fruit load is high you can increase the nutrients but not overdose .The excess nutrients are supplied at same concentration in frequent interval say once in 3 days in lieu of weekly interval
Regards
[quote=RAMU]
The precision farming in brinjal in the farmer Mr.Gajendiran 's field earned 5.16 lac rupees per acre in a year . The field was drip irrigated in a 4 ’ broad bed in double row planting system … the brinjal yielded continuously for 8 months with annual yield of 86 MT and sold @ Rs.6 per kg .Basal application of organic manures and bio fertilizers and water soluble fertilizers given at weekly interval made the brinjal crop flowers continuously …
[/quote]Do you have any idea for expenses for this yield getting
You can work out the cost of cultivation based on the market price of inputs and labour hire charge as below
Seeds per acre - 80/100 grams - Rs.2500 -3000
Seedlings ( protray ) - Nursery cost - Rs.2260
Land preparation - 1 chisel plough, 1 disc plow and 2 cultivator - Rs.3000
Rotavator - Rs.300
Leveller - Rs.300 Bed formation - Rs.500
Planting - Rs.700
Chemical weedicide - Rs.750 or Plastic mulch - Rs.3000
Weeding and earthing up - Rs.2000
Staking - Rs.2500
Pesticides- Rs.5000
Organic manure -Farmyard manure @ Rs.1200 for about 10 MT- Rs.12,000
Chemical fertilizers -
Super phosphate - Rs.3000
19-19-19 WSF - 3200
13-0-45 WSF - Rs.7500
12-61-0 WSF- Rs.1500
Urea - Rs.1200
Labour for spraying , staking - Rs.3000
Contingency - Rs.1000
Total cost of cultivation - Rs.52,710
Yield anticipated
Plant population - 4700 plants per acre
No of fruits per plant - 240 fruits
Individual fruit weight - 80 grams
Fruit load per plant =240 fruits * 80 grams = 19.2 kgs
Yield per acre = 4700 plants * 19.2 kgs = 90,240 kgs = 90.240 MT
Duration of the yielding = 270 days
Harvesting cycle = every 4th days
Total number of harvest = 67 days
Labour required per harvest = 4 women
Labour cost = 67 days * 4 women* Rs.100 = Rs.26,800
Transport hire charge = Rs.10,000 ( vary based on the distance from field to market )
NET PROFIT / FARM INCOME
Total yield 90.240
waste due to fruit borer damage - 10 %
SO marketable yield is 81,000 kgs
80 % of 81,000 kgs is first grade 64,800 kgs
20% is the second grade fruits 16,200 kgs
First quality fruits sell @ Rs.15 / kg = Rs.9,72,000
Second grade fruits @ Rs.5 / kg = Rs.81,000
Gross sale proceed - Rs. 10.53.000
Total expenditure ( Cost of cultivation + Harvest and transport hire charge ) = Rs.89,510
Net income = Rs.9,63,490 / acre
Agriculture risk @ 20%
So 80 % of realizable income per acre in 10 months is Rs.7.70 laksh (Rs.7,70,792 )
I need your advice… i am in a dilemma i have been told that going for redgram now is waste of money and are advising me to go for maize…i would need your advice i don’t mind going for any crop as this will be my first time, have no choice but got to stick with rainfed crops electricity might take another 6months.
Dear Mr.Sriram
Why confusion?..In rainfed always try Redgram that can withstand deficit in rainfall. The roots of redgram go very deep down to get moisture from deep soil layer …where as the maize might produce poor crop in case of water deficit …However you decide after studying your soil type and annual average rainfall and no of rainy days and rainy month that decide the success of your sowing in rainfed cultivation
