why was i watching the video ?
i couldnt understand the language, so couldnt really understand what the grower was talking about or sharing, but from what i could see, the produce is really nice… the green (raw) capsicums on the plants look amazing, but the red and yellow ones in the gentleman`s hand are more flat and round in shape.
also i think i noticed that he is using string/rope made from coir, for supporting the capsicum. i really wouldnt advise this as when mites attack, say red mites, they will go and hide in the twists of these ropes/strings and will be very hard to control.
instead plz use nylon ropes, which are more clean, slippery and does not give any chance to pests/mites to hide in them.
in one or two scenes the capsicums are congested on top of one another, if proper node length is maintained, the fruits will get space to get bigger and have a proper shape.
FIRST HARVEST
MY first harvest was after 50-55 days after plantation. (this could have been done 3-5 days earlier also).
Quality of fruit was good (no big deal as it was first harvest) tough i stopped the growth (size wise) as the local market has no consumption for big fruits. so i started adding on weight to the fruits.
after 4 days of continuous harvest, the first lot of fruits is all gone, now i am focusing on the new set of fruits, new shootings and flower development.
Total crates harvested in 4 days - 314
kg wise - 3454 kg
Additional cost
For export/Domestic - Packing Box - 5 ply - 40 kg box - (LxWxH) - 28 inch x 20 inch x 28 inch - Rs 78 / box
Plastic Crate - Local make - 11 kg - Rs.130/crate
Transport - from farm to Nasik Vegetable market (about 12 km) - Rs.12/Crate
Labor charges for unloading/loading/shifting of crates in market - Rs 1.5 / crate
Vivek
Wow, juicy fruit and nice facility!
What was the price you realized?
hi chandra! thanks. if you give me your contact info i can ship the fruits to you. (hopefully u live in india)
all that i have in terms of setup, practise, knowledge has taken me 3 yrs and a lot of struggle. i have had lots of failures and have made many more mistakes. initially i never thought i would be into farming, but today is a different day.
ok… about the price. i didnt mention it as my first harvest was not sold.
as a practise i ship my first produce to NGO which are working to provide healthy food to kids or the elders who are not capable to earn daily bread.
so the first 4 dispatches were made to iskon,delhi. smile,mumbai. udaan,mumbai.
the current rate in nasik vegetable market for green capsicum is between Rs 300 to 420 / crate(about 11kg)
i am expecting the rate to go about Rs 500- 650 / crate in another 5 days (during navratra festival) then slow for a while, and then shoot up to Rs 600-850 / crate after the first week of november till almost the end of the year (diwali, marriage season then christmas and finally new year)
next batch of harvest would start from tomorrow. will share the price i get.
vivek
Nice intentions around the NGO bit!
Thanks for the offer to send me some, but never mind to get into all the logistics. Much appreciate your gesture! 
Hats off to you Mr Viks. All the best for your future endeavor.
RV
Thanks a lot for your support Mr.RV.
Mr.Chandra, todays harvest was 64 Crates and got me a rate of Rs.440/Crate.
Additional costs i have shared earlier, a whole lot of 6% commission was charged in addition today.
Vivek
Hello Mr. Vikas
It was good to see you guiding so many new entrepreneurs towards high tech farming…
The rates that you received for per crate of capsicum was pretty good, good profit their.
I am basically an engineering graduate who has been tremendously interested in agriculture since childhood, i would visit my farms with dad and was always excited to visit again.
I finally took up farming as a part time enterprise (though my mind is always thinking what new to do in their ), i have a my other commitments as well.
We have built an acre of natural ventilated polyhouse with 4 divisions of 1000sq mt each, so that we can try out different crops and then proceed with the best one further (i am basically an experiment loving person 
)
In 2 of our polyhouses we have Gerbera plantation done, which frankly is not doing so well. On the other hand, the other 2 are empty at the moment.
Would like your suggestions as to what crops should i try out first.
Also, if you could provide me your contact no. so that we can keep in touch.
Lets develop and grow together.
Aman Sohaney
+919977272077
hey Aman!
the name is bond, james bond… ok its Viks … for Vivek
background/profession doesnt matter as long as you have the interest and thirst. profession wise, i am into fashion, and believe you me, its a surprise to me as to how i got into farming.
about your existing setup which is an acre and dividend into four parts, and that you said you love conducting experiments. so the setup is ideal for your case, provided you are willing to take the pain to fertilize or spray individual plots differently and can spend time in each plot for observations.
two plots are devoted for gerbera, so i am guessing you have about 6000-8000 plants of gerbera.
i am just curious as to why u said that the gerbera plots are not doing good? are the crops past their age? plz share your experience so it would be clear about the problems you are facing or why are you not satisfied with gerbera. is it related to returns you are getting?
if you could tell a brief about the past crops you have grown, this is just to get a picture about your experience, nothing more.
as you already are into polyhouse farming, you must be aware of the practises and the day to day routine. so regarding crop selection, i would say that all the crops are as easy or as difficult as the other.
so the more information you provide, the better decision can be made about crop selection.
another thing i noticed from your profile is that you are based in Jabalpur (M.P.) is that correct ?
i am not aware of Jabalpur (as a market), i have spend 7 years of my childhood in Indore, and have a business setup there, so about Indore (which is like an over night journey from you) i can tell you one thing for sure, that it is a growing market and has huge potential. so the best market for you would be indore, for flowers (gerbera) or any other crop.
now, if you have existing contacts, who help you sell your produce, get in touch with them regarding the crops. check the market for what is in demand vs what you think you would be comfortable growing (depending on your location, labor availability, climate, water availability, past experience, climate conditions, your budget etc)
Bhopal is closer to you, and is the political capital, so if you have contacts, use them to enter into government ventures. the market is huge!
if you would go thru my earlier posts, you would notice, that i have had my share of disappointments till this year. now after 3 years of efforts, things are started to look better and take shape. so you will have to keep patience, do experiments and learn that way.
i have grown carnations, exotic vegetables, and finally i selected my product as Capsicum (green,red,yellow)
talking specifically about capsicum, again Indore is a huge market, and i do supply a part of my produce to Indore.
this is just to give you an idea. the final decision has to come from you Aman, as you will be the one who will be handling the daily routine and only you know more about your strong areas.
so give it time, thought. do a lot of homework. select the crop, select the plantation time keeping the market demand in mind, your target, your experience.
further discussions are always welcome Aman.
and the best way to find me is farmnest. you can leave your queries/views/suggestions on the post, and i will get back to you. this way we can share our discussions with everyone for their input or for their reference.
and yes, let us develop and grow together indeed aman!
Vivek
Hi Viks, first of all thanks for this wonderful post, i need one favor from you, can you please provide the cost for making the artifical pond for 75 lakh litre and how much land is required for the pond?
I really appreciate you detailed explanation.
Hello Vivek
I planted gerbera in the month of april, the plants were healthy at the time of plantation but their condition started worsening. They could not pick up proper growth and kept catching different virus and diseases. from what i noticed, i can blame it on the bed preparation and lack of knowledge of the species which the company who supplied us the plants did not provide.
I went on further and got few experts visit my farm, all of them suggested different fertilizer schedules and N number of medicines for better plant growth, which i think increased the PH of the soil. Later, i started researching on the topic throughly and found some amazing facts here on net. I applied everything systematically, but the time was gone. the fertilizers would react and the plants would improve but again they would catch a new type of disease which was mainly due to water-logging and lack of aeration to the roots because the soil had become compact till this time.
I still haven’t lost hopes, i will be shifting all the plants to the polybags and keep them in my other polyhouse. i have planned to get the soil and bed preparation done properly and then shift back the plants coz major issue was always the compactness of the soil, i have learnt the importance of bed preparation and soil management.
Also, be careful of the con men who are all over this business and looking for an opportunity to earn money by deceiving you.
although i would say it was pretty good start for me because in the starting itself i got a lot of lessons to learn.
I would like everyone’s comment and suggestions (specially Vikas’s) on this post, and do share your experience about the crop.
Aman
THIRD PHASE OF MY PROJECT
i have started foundation work for my third project, which is of 7 acres. this site had the potential to support about 72 acres of polyhouse. the initial 7 acres would be dedicated for capsicum, which would be 100% export oriented, having vertical integration, cold storage. the whole project will be having soil bed system.
currently i am filing for various international certifications (ISO, organic, bio suissie, JAS, Food Alliance Certification, Food Systems Verified, Six Sigma etc). and the documentation is in progress.
My target to complete the full setup is before this year’s end, so theres going to be a lot of action 24 hours on the site in the next 2-3 days.
Vivek
65 DAYS PLANT
6 harvests in the past 8 days and a total of 436 crates (4796 kg). This was the first set of fruits, and have been completely harvested.
the biggest problem in Nasik vegetable market is that there is no good demand for fruits which are like above 220 gm. so i have to harvest my fruits when they are about 150-180 gms (small size)
if the fruits could have been harvest 2-3 days later (to put on weight & size), the total quantity (kg wise / crate wise) would increase by another 15-25%. this is a very huge loss, so i am changing my selling strategy.
now that the first set of fruits is totally harvested, i am paying much attention to the development of new shootings, flower development.
Check out the flowering and small fruits on the new shootings (visuals attached), there are about 18 flowers,fruits on each shooting. every plant having four shootings, so do the maths.
the plants are very tall, about 5 feet, and need to be controlled, as they are only 3 months old. so i am exposing them to sun light.
as october has started, the weather has started to change, and the heat waves can be felt in the region, so i am taking extra efforts again to keep my plants under strict monitoring till this month passes by. once its over, november to feburary is a very comfortable weather for the plants naturally.
Vivek
As shared earlier, the climate is changing, getting warmer day by day (october heat) and as the rains have just finished, there is a lot of water in the soil.
so what is happening now is that the ground water is getting vaporised slowly, creating high humidity level in various pockets thru the polyhouse. so to prevent fungal attacks i have trimmed the leaves of the plant which are upto a feet from the soil level, this is because the leaves which are closer to the soil are more prone to fungal infestation, which will spread from bottom to top.
as i shared earlier, i have had viral infections, so to prevent the plants from catching the infection thru petiole wound (the stalk which connects the leaf to the stem) via fungus, i have taken immediate spray for fungus (which is a systematic contact fungicide)
apart from this, trimming will give more space for free air movement, sun light exposure to the soil, stem, which is VERY necessary for a healthy plant, and kills harmful fungus/bacteria and promotes the growth of helpful bacteria/fungus and various other cultures.
Picture 1 - is before the trimming
Picture 2 - is after trimming
Picture 3 - this is a close up of the bed, as a regular practise, i turn the top layer (2-4 inch) of the soil once in a month after topping it up with basal doze.
Vivek
Greetings,
my pond model is of 35 mtr (L) x 35 (W) mtr x 7 (H) mtr
Geo Membrane (Rhino Mat) ISI Mark - 500 GSM- Total of 3000 sq mtr. Rate / sq mtr - Rs 43
this was the material part.
as my soil strata is rocky after 4-5 feets, my major expense was for plastic explosive blasting.
rate for a 4 feet blast was Rs 220 / hole, where as a 6 feet blast costed me Rs 280/blast.
then for excavation i had a Volvo EC220D for about 70 hours, charges for which were Rs.1500/hour.
3 tractors with trolley for material shifting, charges for which were Rs. 200/hour/tractor
So a total cost for the pond was about Rs 5 lakhs including laying and installation.
Plz note that the costs i have mentioned are for the year 2011. and machine/blasting rates would vary from place to place.
so as the land was rocky in my farm, i had to opt for blasting which increased the cost of the pond. if the land is soft or has little rocks, a JCB can dig a pond of that size with half the cost.
this was the costing breakdown, about technical issues, plz consider the following points -
- there should be NO pointed edges, as even an inch of pointed stone can puncture the lining.
- pay attention and check for proper binding of the lining.
- keep provision for an inlet and outlet
- keep a proper path on the top edge of the pond
- use slow releasing pesticides to keep rats away
- tuck in the outer edges of the geo-membrane properly
thats it i guess. as water is the main element for farming, it is very necessary to get the pond work done properly, unfortunately, i have had leakages in the pond for 2 yrs.
subsidy is there for ponds, so check with the local agriculture authority, altough my proposal has not even been approved since 3 years, forget getting the subsidy. i never really cared for the subsidy part, as water was my basic requirement.
if i have missed out on anything, plz feel free to ask again.
Vivek
also keep a provision to lift/pull the water motor (if submersible) without damaging the membrane. there are times when the motor needs maintainence. so its always better to be prepared.
viks
THE NAME IS VIKS, FOR VIVEK! NOT VIKAS
and i am not telling you anything till you get the name right.
ok just kidding… its a lengthy discussion and i am calling it a day now.
will get back to you tmrw aman…
vivek
hi viks,
the outcome clearly shows your hard work.i am delighted to see your progress.i will like to visit your farm,of course if you permit,and discuss some technicalities.keep it up.