Drumstick commercial farming

Farm Questions
21

What is the per acre cost of drumstick ?
What no of plant can be accommodated in an acre ??
What is the yield and average rate one can get in Maharashtra ??
Can drumstick farming be done through Subhash Palekars “Zero Budget Natural Farming” concept ??
Does Zero budget natural farming have any effect on yield??

22

Thank you Sir Mr. Ashish Sab for providing an opportunity to us to share with your needs. We are providing the Information in seriatum:

  1. What is the per acre cost of drumstick ?
ANS: The seed required is (seed rate -500 grams) Acre. Rs.2000/Kg. GOOD Quality 
    seed of PKM-1 PKM 2 is 2500/Kg.

  1. What no of plant can be accommodated in an acre ??

    ANS: 650 Plants can be accommodated in an Acre on a Normal spacing of 2.0 Mtrs. =(6.5 Feet)-
    2.5 Mtrs.=(8.2Feet)either way
    Under High density plantation the spacing is 1.5 Mtrs.=(5 Feet) X 1.0 Mtrs. = (3.3 Feet)spacing
    with two plants in a Pit.5,900 Plants can be accommodated under Ultra High Density.

  2. What is the yield and average rate one can get in Maharashtra ??
    Yield is Yield 50 - 55 tonnes of pods/ha (220 pods/tree/year).

  3. Can drumstick farming be done through Subhash Palekars “Zero Budget Natural Farming” concept ??

    ANS: We won’t recommend Subhash Palekar’s “Zero Budget Natural Farming” (Without Ploughing and
    without weeding )If you follow our Natural Farming System you can attain a GOOD crop
    with Quality Product.

  4. Does Zero budget natural farming have any effect on yield??

ANS:There will not be any effect on the yield If you follow the system in a Systematic and an
effective way there will not be any effect on the Yield even you can attain more also.
I am not finding fault on the system of “Zero Budget Natural Farming”.
But I am not convincing the application of the system. This system is not found
by anybody and is in our ancient “VEDAS” in which Greatness of our COW(GoMatha).
In its urine and Dung 5000 crores of Useful Bacteria is embedded which is more than
sufficient for the Plant Nutritional Food.But if not plowed how can a plant find the way
to develops its rootzone. If weeding is not done entire Nutritional Food will be consumed
by the weed instead of Plant. We should not compare the Plantations / crop with the Forests and
Forest Conditions.

Hence you can go ahead with the Plantation under Natural Farming. For further information Pl. Contact me.

MANNE.SN,
for vasudha Green Farms,
Hyderabad Telangana,
9133498366,
Mail ID: vasudhagreenfarms@gmail.com

23

Dear all,

I am cultivating PKM 1 in 3 acres(10ft x 10ft). Recently the leaf eating caterpillar destroyed all the plants(just in a weeks time) right at the flowering stage in the month of May-June.
So I pruned all the plants back to 2.5 to 3ft for fresh harvest in next season.
Please guide me about the precautionary measures for avoiding leaf eating caterpillar in moringa so that I can harvest atleast next yield. Your help is highly appreciated.

And how to increase the thickness of the moringa fruit? Please advise the fertilizer schedule.

Thanks

Guru Prasad
Hiriyur
+91 9620944466

24

Dear Sri Guruprasad, The main hurdle and/or damage to Drumsticks farming, is with caterpillars. In them,leaf eating caterpillars, Hariey caterpillars, Bark eating caterpillars etc will exist. you pl follow these procedures. spray Neemoil, with 10,000ppm Azadirectin content @ 1 ml to 1.5 ml per ltr water, on the trees.You can spray 1 to 1.5 ml of Nagmethrin ,organic pest control medicine released by Multiflex co
methrin.
Dig the soil under/around the trees to a depth of 3 to 4 inches, any pupa of leaf caterpillars will die. Pl keep light traps in the field 1 or 2 per acre, and keep kerosene/malathion mixed water under the light traps. Adult flies die. Physically also you can kill the adults ,initially.

All the above if you wants to follow organic farming
.
If not spray carbaryl @ 1 ml per ltr water and/or 2 ml of malathion.

Pl take the opinion of our forum and follow. Pl dont take a step like cutting the trees by seing a small problem.

All the best this time. g.p.rao, farmer

25

Good decision. We have gone with 1 acre PKM1 in hyderabad. Now it’s 45 days old. Doing good just transplanted yesterday.it’s almost 60-75 cm now

Germination was almost 75%in first batch and 90%in second batch. We have planted 6X6 with drip irrigation as of now everything is going fine

Photo taken a week back before transpalntation
Jai

IMG-20150714-WA0003.jpg800×600 141 KB

26

Thanks a ton G.P.Rao sir for the advise.
Now that I already have chopped the trees due to my ignorance, I would like to take the precautions from now on i.e.,

  1. Regarding light traps:- Can you please suggest the economical, effective light trap available in the market and approx cost (both solar & electricity versions). Regular electricity in the night is an issue.
  2. As a precautionary measure for how many days should I use the sprays to avoid caterpillars?
  3. I read in the forum about the benefits on moringa by the use of Ammonium Sulphate & Chinese Humic Acid. Please throw some light on when, how much & how many times to use these to get better results.
  4. Fertilizer uptake by the trees seems to be a problem in my field. Should I consider switching over to non-salt based, water soluble fertilizers? If yes, can you please recommend the alternatives for N-P-K and which company products are good.

Hope I am not asking for too much :-).

Message to to all those who are beginners in agriculture:
To be honest I did not ask the above type of questions when I started the venture in the blind hope that I may not face the issues related to pests management, nutrient management. So nature decided take its own course to teach me the lessons in the hard way. Believe me it now takes couple of years for me to recover the losses I suffered in most of my crops (pomegranate, papaya, moringa, banana). So try to get all the info well in advance.

Thanks

Guru Prasad
Hiriyur
+91 9620944466

27

Dear Sri Guruprasad, Light traps.You can go for electrical light and/or, solar light, DC current light and or atleast a fire with any waste sticks or leaves in your land for a considerable time. All suits as traps.

As far as neem oil with 10,000 ppm Azhadirictin sprays, When ever you are spraying any pesticide on your plants, add above neem oil also in it. ( say once in two weeks). If no pesicide spray is existing, spray only said neem oil alone, but increase the dose of 1 ml to 1.5 ml, per one ltr water, once in 2 weeks.

It is learnt from Agri experts that, Ammonium sulphate usage is better, than the usage of any other nitrozen fertiliser,like urea etc. Though the nitrozen content is less than other fertilizers, but very good content of valuable sulphates or existing and it is very much required to have good quality yield of Moringa Olifera pods. Humic acid is very much required for plant good route system.

all the best, g.p.rao, farmer

28

Solar light traps are available at SAFS Organics:

safsorganic.com/solar-powere … t-trap.htm

They cost Rs. 2625 each shipped. They are solar powered entirely and operate automatically for three hours after sunset and then turn themselves off for the rest of the night. This is to prevent beneficial insects also getting trapped.

Rechargeable electric lamps cost about Rs. 1500 shipped but either need a dedicated electric connection or need to be carried every day to point where the electric sockets are located.

I have a question here about the three hour operation:

What about the beneficial insect that get trapped for the three hours after sunset? And what about the harmful insects that could come in after the lights turn themselves off?

29

Dear Team,
Thanks for all the advise.

I am planning to expand the area of Moringa plantation to another 10 acres as a joint venture with my uncle in his field. I am looking for seeds for genuine quality seeds sufficient for 10 acres. I contacted TNAU and they said not available this season.

Please refer me to any other good sources for moringa seeds in South India.

Thanks & Regards

Guru Prasad
+91 9620944466
guru.3112@gmail.com

30

Dear Guruprasad sir, you can enquire with IIHR,Hasargatta, Bengaluru, and contact Dr Prabhakaran on phones 08028466353, 08028466471 and his cell ph no. 09880250548. He will help you and arrange for pkm 1 seeds if they are available.

Also, you can contact some reputed authorised dealers of TNAU and or IIHR, and you can get PKM 1 seeds from them.

As your requirement is considerable, you pl go to TNAU, periyakulam, coimbattore and request the concerned professor and on request they may arrange reliable pkm 1 seeds and or they can direct you to their authorised dealers.

Pl dont purchase from unauthorised dealers or private men.

All the best to you…g.p.rao, farmer

1 Like
31

Dear all,

I just enquired about humic acid in the market. The price per litre ranges from 280 Rs to 1850 Rs based on various percentages of concentration i.e., from 20% to 80%. They say one litre is sufficient for one acre and to be applied every 15 to 30 days to get good results.
My question is what percentage of humic acid is better for moringa and what is the quantity/plant & frequency of application? Please throw some light.

Thanks & Regards

Guru Prasad
+91 9620944466
guru.3112@gmail.com

32

Dear Guruprasad sir, Humic acid is very good for healthy and robust root growth.

You purchase any humic acid ,either grannules or liquid, but see that it is ORGANIC. One industry in goa , M/s karapur industries, is making Organic Humic acid, both in grannuels form and liquid farm.

Upto my knowledge it is costy in indian markets and till 1.5 yrs back, we used to purchase for less than rs 200/ per kg granules and liquid will be around rs 350/- per ltr.I do not know the present rates.

It works well and i used for many years. 1 to2 kgs granuels per acre and 1 ltr if liquid per acre , once in 3 months.At the time of plantation we used to give 4 kgs granules for roses and chrysanthemums.

All the best, g.p.rao, farmer

33

Thannk you Sir,

If you want Best Quality PKM 1 Moringa seed obtained from Coimbatore at a Germination rate of 80-90 % at Rs.1700/Kg.+ Shipping Actuals. If you want we will send it by courier

34

Dear sir , feel, very reasonable offer and it may be utilised by required.

g.p.rao, farmer

35

i have seen on line that one farmer Alagar Swamy developed PAMY variety which is high yielding. can u please explain is it high yielding at present

36

Thank You Sir,
This Farmer has Developed a Veriety of Drumstic by name PAVM. His Farm is at Dundigul, Nr. Coimbatore. He is selling the seedlings at Rs,.50 at his Farm. I have verified his Farm THREE Times. Yieldng is GOOD. One can get the Pods during unseason where PKM 1 PKM 2 are not yielding. Kindly inform the Location of your Land.
M ANNE SN
Vasudha Green Farms,Hyderabad,9133498366,
vasudhagreenfarms@gmail.com

37

Dear Sri Kaveti Raju,

I have visited the farm of Sri Alagara Swamy and other farmers lands, who planted PAVM Moringa OLifera grafts of sri Alagara Swamy, located in paluparthi village, near Dindigal, Tamilnadu and found, heard that PAVM variety grafts of Drum stiks are doing very well, in yielding wise and marketability wise.

He recommends to plant 200 to 220 grafts in 1 acre, at a distance of 20 ft x 20 ft. ( two grafts in each pit ).It is a perannual variety. Up to my knowledge, it is a trust worthy variety and got good name in Tamilnadu and neighbouring states.

Sri Alagara Swamy, Paluparthi village is available on 09865345911 and on 09791774887.

with best wishes, g.p.rao… farmer.

38

What about the nutrition content of this new veriety?

Yield is ok but nutrition is crucial in Moringa products

39

We have tried 55 feet , 56 feet ,57 feet and 510 feet space. From all these space we achieved good result from 5*10 space… all other spacing the pest attach was high and got less Flower because of lack of aeration and sun light
.

40

planning to plant 1 acre of Moringa PKM1 seeds near Hyderabad

thanks