Hi All,
below is the update as of now and need your quick advice.
Today my father called up a JCB person to clean the land .
I was under impression that JCB machine will just remove the thorny bushes and clear the land quickly.
But this person says he need to remove bushes and some smaller trees from the roots which consume enough time to ensure it doesn’t grow up again.
He suggesting to burn all the removed bushes. But I am of opinion push all bushes to a shallow gulley area, put some soil on it.
It may be converted to compost with forthcoming rain and also level land up to some extent .
This person is suggesting to burn all the bushes which I am totally against .
So total work involved is as below.
Remove all thorny bushes and smaller trees, level land up to some extent with lesser slopes and make a boundary or soil to this new plot.
This boundary of soil we call it as Paanshi (boundary to ensure top layer of soil should not be washed out during rains .
Basically two plots of 6 to 7 acres will be cleaned and prepared which will be ready for plantation.
Initially JCB person was quoting it as 50 to 60 hours of work with 750 rupees per hour.
We have negotiated it to 35000 rupees to make sure two plots are ready.
Need your quick opinion what to do with these removed thory bushes ? Burn it as its done traditionally ?
Or some other way to use it in better way .
Prashant,
Why can’t you put all such plant bodies including throne branches what ever under the soil where you are filling it for leveling?
Smaller plant bodies are negligible for JCB, hence order JCB person to shift them along with removed sol and put where land has to be elevated. Burning plant body me increase carbon dioxide which is already heavy contribution from agriculture activities.
If we allow them to advise, then they will give their own suggestions, do not allow them for suggestion, but ask them to do what you say for which you are paying.
Swamyji,
thanks a lot for your valuable suggestion.
Even I was thinking in same way . But peoples say most of them are babool (bhabool) trees and bushes which are quiet infamous for multiplying and surviving for quiet long. I thought will push all in a deeper area and cover with soil . Let me check tomorrow morning on what is my fathers call . Only thing am scared is those bushes should not surface back in any way .
In my place we had lots and lots of these Jaali, Acacia Nellitocia, (Babool) with thorns. No way it gets disintegrated. I simply refuses to rot. Burning though bad is the only solution.
Their thorns, if get stuck in feet, feels like hell. Better to burn it or donate it to local villagers who uses it as firewood.
Mind you its sticks once dried, burns giving out a lot, I mean a lot of heat.
Hi Chandra, Murali,
thanks a lot for your valuable suggestion.
JCB work started yesterday evening sometime 4pm and morning 9am when my father visited farm it was all done.
JCB person told he used two JCB machines to finish the job. Land is cleared and all bushes are cornered.
I have informed my father to burn all those bushes immediately since it may start raining anytime .
I was bit surprised by the speed with which all the work was done. I informed him I was planning for a 50 * 50 feet and 3 to 4 feet deep water tank (similar to saverafarm) . As of now he says he will try to do it for free in next few days whenever JCB will come some where near for work .
Thanks a lot boarders for for all the valuable suggestion, it really helps .
Hi Hegde,
unfortunately I do not have pics with me since its my father who takes care of all the things .
I do have some pics I got six month ago. Attaching one of them .
Hi All,
This weekend my younger brother was at farm and decided to meet few peoples to get advice on how to go ahead with plantation.
One of the persons is having around 40 acres land nearby with hilly area who done a lot of work for flattening land, creating watershed and had experience with Banana (exported) and Sweet lime.
This person says the very first thing we have to do is fencing else wild animals and village peoples will cause a great damage (My brother spotted dears on both days nearby farm) .
Another person who holds good position in Agri department with practical experience suggested first plant corn in 5 out of 10 acres and then plan next (Soybean he rejected since he says its prone to pest and in worst case can loose all crop). He turned down the idea of planting entire 10 acres right now.
He also suggested try to build a couple of rooms in farm and let peoples around realize someone is staying to take care .
He promised to help on all government subsidy skims and help from some of agri department folks .
Now I am really confused, there is no way I can afford such huge fencing as of now .
Recently I have started thinking about live fencing of vetiver(khas) and ghachakaya as suggested by boarders.
Even if I plant one of them now, will it be ready and enough to protect farm from wild animals (Neelgaay, Dear, samabar etc) in next 6 to 12 months ?
Need your practical suggestions as usual.
We have decided to go for Sagargota/Gachakaya/Caesalpinia natural fencing (Thanks to Yaj for his guidance) .
Got seeds from krishi vigyaan Kendra @ 150/kg and a powder to be mixed with water to prevent fungus to the seeds (Will share more info on plantation pattern suggested by one of the person there).
Its not raining much and also irrigation is not there so we decided to plant seeds in polythin bags at home and plant them after one or two months when irrigation is ready at farm .
But I thought instead of using polythin bags will put 6 inches soil at terrace (40 x 30 feets area), and plant seeds there . This way watering, picking up plants, transporting and planting again at farm will be easier (1 hour travel from home to farm) .
Please let me know if it’s advisable in this way ?
How big are the seeds, how many seeds are there in a kg?
In my farm, i have take to approach of dibbling, have a plastic pipe, sharpen one end ( you can think of kiddy flute ) and use the same for dibbling. My trial is based on two thing, minimize the labor and try natural farming, planting, transplanting requires quite a lot of labor, so even if there is chance of 50% germination, you could just put 2 seeds in place of one. This weekend i may travel, will update the status after that.
Hi lstworld,
thanks for the info . Our immediate plan is have soybean and corn in 5 to 8 acres and then plan for fruits including banana.
Lets see how things shape up .
