Pkm -1 annual moringa - an insight into improved cutivation

Please do not go with high density plantation (21.5 X 1.0 m ), when you go with high density plantation , in a acre, you may get around thirteen thousand plant, it is a good population of plant but plant population is not only the matter, end of the day we should think the output as well. As far as disease control concerned, it is very difficult to control the pest and disease in high density plantation and requires more water and fertilizer. We have not tried this spacing but we have tested 55 feet; here we got some yield in hot summer but we gone yield less in winter season because when we planted closely, the sunlight doesn’t come and fall inside the land which lead high soil moisture. High level of moisture rate in soil will lead to change your leaves yellow and drop. So the best spacing for annual variety for small area cultivation is 5 feet (plant) 7 feet (row) and larger area cultivation should be 710 …

As far as flower drop matter is concerned, in winter season, there will be 90 to 100 percent flower drop in PKM1 and 80 - 85 percent flower drop in ODC. Here only the ODC is doing better than PKM1. Even this 10 percent is the big mater because this 10 percent yield comes when the market is above 80 per kg. 5 -10 more percentage of flowers can be retained by spraying HB101, a liquid plant growth enhancer which is purely natural extract derived from some plants only. There is no dealer or distributor in south Asian countries for this product so you have to import it from Japan. This is very costly nutrient, approximately, one liter is around 350 USD including importing charges. We have been using this nutrient for the lost two years and observed that somewhere five to ten percent improvement in November December yield. We do spray this only for winter season crop only since this is very costly.

I can help you if you give the proper location of your cultivation area , because region and monsoon play a major role in drumstick cultivation…

ODC is the good variety than PKM1… Many educated farmers of maharashtra and gujarat are started cultivating ODC … earlier they have done PKM1. but in tamilnadu , the agricultural officers are still encouraging the poor farmer to do the outdated PKM1…

Great Indian farm great . Seems you are aggressively canvassing for your product - seed . You need to learn still more to counter somebody who knows more than what you know and what you fail to know …

Make few corrections in your writing … North East monsoon starts in India either from last of September as continued spell of South west monsoon shower or second week of October in tune with pull of depression south of Equator and last till mid of November and spill over continues till the first of December and very rarely extend into January 10 th . SWM bring rains to entire India except TN and NEM brings rain to southern coastal region of Andhra and most of Tamilnadu . Sometimes jet stream flowing over the sky stretching from Middle east over north west of India disturb the wind behavior and causes drought or low rainfall . But Elementary school version of teaching is that SWM last from June to September and NEM last from October to December …

What is perennial ? - Any crop that produce yield beyond two years is called Perennial …Now tell whether ODC is perennial or annual

How do you define PKM 1 is outdated ? do you know the jurisdiction of PKM 1 cultivation as of now . PKM 1 cultivation has become a global phenomenon spanning across Australian , African and American continent

Are you the monopoly in ODC drumstick production in Tamilnadu ? where is your seed farm located ? what is the procedure involved in drumstick seed production ? what is per acre seed yield ? what is your seed project size ? how much ODC seeds do you produce per annum ? Are you producing Truthfully labelled seeds or certified seeds ?

Do you know why the drumstick acquired the name ODC ? what is the special character observed in the selection of ODC ? what is the influencing factor responsible for the special ODC character ?

Are you producing ODC seeds in Ottanchatram or Tirunelveli ?

For your kind information I wish to present an incident to you …Just a month back one gentleman approached me requesting to guide him to sell 1.0 MT of ODC drumstick seeds. My calculation says it would cover atleast 2500 Acres . Through long discussion I understood that he did not produce ODC seeds and just purchased moringa seeds from farmers in and around ottanchatram and wanted to make money by selling for seed purpose . If he sell it for food purpose it would fetch him just 1/20 of profit made from sale for seed purpose . Actually it is a mixture . Because drumstick seed production is a tedious process with limited seed yield

I advised him there was a penal provision that punish bogus seed seller by booking under Seeds Act 1968 . It traces seed sources from Sale point to production site . If such a fraudulent producer and seller is booked under Seeds control order 1983 or Essential commodities Act 1955 , imprisonment is awarded that is non bailable .

Poor farmers do not know the penal provision and do not raise the issue when their crop fails due to seed problem most of times . The problem can be raised from the field level anytime after sowing .

Indian farm ! if you know anything much about seed production and cultivation details with special reference to specific moringa varieties , let me learn from you
Fluctuation in market price is a universal problem for all the Agricultural produce across the world . No need for you to keep database .

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Varieties developed from UHS, Bagalkot , Karnataka.

  1. Drumstick Bhagya (KDM
    Features/Characteristics Plant Height 2.5 to 3.0 m
    Flowering 130 to 140 days
    Pod length 65 to 70 Cm
    Average no. of seeds /pod 18.8
    Pod weight 154.75 g
    Yield 300 to 350 pods /year (I year)
    800 to 1000 pods /year (Subsequent years) Yield /Acre 17 to 20 Acre (42 -50 t/ha)
    Leaves and Pod Rich in Vitamin C & Iron.
    thehindu.com/news/national/k … 427905.ece

Agriculture frequently appears to be one of the most difficult industries and often foremost to some form of market crash, still I opted it because I love doing agriculture and doing this for my self – satisfaction not for money making. I am doing farming because I have a passion for farming as well as a keen interest in technology. Yes it is my passion and it gets me excited to wake up early in the morning every day. I love to work with a mixture of horticulture and row crops along with their respective insects, diseases, weeds, and soil fertility. I never said that I know everything about drumstick cultivation and you do not know about drumstick cultivation. Every field, there are new challenges everyday but it is so rewarding and so many opportunities which makes it so exciting so please do not think that you know everything in agriculture and others do not. You must understand that nobody in the word who knows everything and nobody in the word who doesn’t know anything. Everyone is trying to be a master in their field. I live and breathe agriculture and love to create awareness and ensure perceptions of agriculture and I will never ever mislead anyone. . If I want profit then I would have entered to some other domain, everybody knows that agriculture is the loosing profession and frequently people are getting failed still I love to do because I am from agriculture family and I tagged along with my dad helping out with the farm since I was a school boy.
Let me come to your charges, you told that I am promoting a particular variety of seeds , let me tell ,that our main focus is pods and leaves not seeds, more over if I allow my plants for seeds which will affect the next crop and 50 percent of the plant will die. Even today all my neighbors, friends, relatives are laughing on us just because we do agriculture, this is what happening in the country if any educated youth come to do farming. What you have studied in the books are not even 10 percent remaining 90 percent of the lesson which you have to learn from the the real field.
As far as the North East Monsoon is concerned even if you ask a school going kid, he/she would say that October mid to December end (+ or - 10 days) which means October first week to January first week. Mostly the southern peninsular regions consists of : Tamil Nadu, Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Kerala and south interior Karnataka are receives the NEM; this is also a known fact each and every farmers of states know that. The way you are criticizing is that you are the only expert in the world and the board of people who have framed the syllabus and the board of members who have given the data to them are fool or they simply copy pasted from Google. Is it? The fact is, forecasting the Indian monsoon is difficult and the Indian Ocean plays an important role in the formation and behavior of the monsoon, but it is not well understood as there are no data beyond a few hundred kilometers from the east coast of India. Apart from science, the monsoon is all about clouds and the physics of clouds still has a long way to go for the scientific community of the country. Weather cannot be predicted to absolute 100% as it is mastered by nature or GOD. So God /nature only can predict the monsoon 100 percent correct. By using different existing data and other forecast models we can predict only 80 to 85 percent. As far as my knowledge is concerned, weather forecasting is just like any other forecasting by using some available data, observations etc. Even in share market, experts do forecast based on available data but then a lot of new things can happen and upset the forecasts. So end of the day it “may” rain or “may not” rain.

You only told that ODC is a perennial tree. If PKM1 is annual plant ODC also annual plant. The meaning of annual plant is, in the word itself, no rocket science is required to understand what is annual plant and their life time. Both PKM1 and ODC are annual varieties however which can be kept till 3 to 4 years by giving necessary care. Many farmers are maintaining beyond the limit .ie. 6 to 7 years … All those Post graduates agriculturalists passing out from IARI are roaming without jobs . The countries agricultural setup need to be totally revamped and all the old people (so called ‘experts’) need to be thrown out. In India, all those people after 60 are considered as experts and they head all panels and committees. So ultimately, same old story of favoritism and policies. Government should take concrete steps to remove all corrupted and so called experts from the system…

I never said that PKM1 is not good; all I said is that, at my farm, the ODC is doing well than PKM series. I know that many farmers in Africans and south Asian counties are doing PKM1 cultivation which doesn’t mean that PKM1 is the best variety in the word. I am sending 100 grams of seeds to you free of cost and you cultivate and find which one is doing well. I know the theory behind the seed production and how the farmers are being selected by you people for seed production on other seeds. We have cultivated paddy for seeds and given to agri extensions. Let me tell you that we are not certified seed producers and our main focus is pods and leaves not seeds. We are just farmers, we don’t have any labels and which is not required. We have identified some good performed plants in our farm and collected seeds for our own purpose. This season we have collected around 20 kilo grams of best seeds. Our nearby farmers are coming down to our place and seeing if they satisfied, asking for seeds, we give if available with free of cost or less price. What is wrong with that? Even from this forum, a couple of members called and asked for seeds and if anyone wants seeds, can come down to our place and see the plantation. If they want to cultivate the same plants and ask for seeds, what is wrong or who can stop me to give seeds them with free of cost or minimum price? We have given around 2.5 kilo grams of seeds to my nearby poor farmers for free of cost and even tomorrow if anyone asks I can give it for free of cost or very minimum price, what is wrong with that? Do you have any problem? For example , We sold a couple of kg seeds to a farmer for just 1500 rupees, but the same seeds can be sold in the china market for 2000 rupees (for human consumption). Here money does not a matter, as a farmer we know the pain of other farmer and we do not do what you thing and the person who approach you did. The person who approached you must not be a farmer and he must be a dealer or middle man, let us work out to disclose the unwanted elements in the field. Why don’t you call the gentle man’s name and contact details here let the forum members identify the unwanted element in the holy field of agriculture… As I said earlier we are doing farming for our self statisfication; not earning money, if money is the only matter then we would have chosen some other field. If my calculations and accounts are right, I have lost 3 lakes rupees in the last 3 months; this is the real fact of farming and the economical conditions of farmers.
Please do not teach law since I am a farmer I don’t need to bend down or scared to anyone until I do mistake. Why don’t you people work to stop GM seeds which are very costly and decimating our desi seeds… Why there is an indirect die-up between GM seeds company agents and government agriculturist? Why you people are promoting GM seeds? For example, to cultivate marigold in one acre, a farmer need to spend 20000 rs only for seeds and other expenditures also there if the crop fails what will happen to the poor farmer? Who will take care of the poor farmers and their families?
You said that no need to keep database but as a farmer I would say that every farm activities and nearby market price of the commodity which you are focusing should be recorded in their software or excel or farm dairy. You people do not know the pain of farmers when they get lesser or ignorance prices in the market. Let me tell my own experience, a couple of week back I sent 4 MT of pods to my nearby mandi, nobody was showing interest to buy and I was indirectly forced to sell it just 1 rupee per kg. Hence, the harvesting and transpiration expenditures of the day is around 6 rupees per. Have you ever seen this type of shameless business happen in any other field?
You must understand that Indian agriculture is nothing but culture; yes we are doing it for culture. My humble request is please try to find out who is farmer and who traders are. I have such a greater pleasure for life and my passion for farming is so much stronger, because I know that when you love a bit in life you should pursue it with all you have . Sorry for the language… Thanks…

see indian farm… i dont have time to read your story and i actually dont know what actually you have writen here . Even there is no need for me to waste my time reading useless story that does not benefit anyone .But see that your answer always relates to secific query only. I never said expert about myself anywhere in this forum but just wish to remind you that you stop the nonsense . Lot of farmers called me over phone asking for details on moringa cultivation .To avoid the untimely calls I posted this article in this forum for the benefit of needy farmers .
If you are selling moringa seeds you better start a seperate topic and write whatever you want to present to the farming community and make sales

I told you earlier this article is for the needy farmers that are lacking adequate knowledge on PKM 1 farming .
Whereas you are doing business selling moringa seeds .where is your role called for here. When you call ODC moringa as annual then you dont have any rights to claim any of your statement true and authentic here .Dont spoil the lives of poor farmers by selling inferior seeds.When you dont know the basic things about moringa how dare you sell the seeds .You post the list of farmers who purchased your seeds .I will speak to them .Do post the complete list of farmers, not the select list …

Hello Ramu Sir,

Could you please let me know where can i get genuine PKM-1 seeds looking for 10acr with 10 * 15 space. it would be a great help and thanks for the information its great help.

Sriram.

Sir , my friend is planning to cultivate moringa PKM -1 in over 5 acres near chennai.Will ask him for seed source and let you know his contact number .so you can talk to him directly for your seed requirement

Dear Ramu Sir,

Can you please suggest if we can go with Marrigold as inter crop with moringa,

Reason being, Marrigold is usually sowed in June/July, and 3 months crop, and will get output by dussara/Diwali.

Please suggest.

Thanks
Ravi

Mr.Ravi,Your idea sounds great to have marigold as intecrop in Moringa…

you can keep marigold in line little away from the line of moringa …

I have seen lot of farmers growing marigold as intercrop in moringa in orissa , chatisgarh , MP ,. They planted margold in the same line where moringa also was seen planted.

The net result was that moringa did not grow well but marigold gave sizable income . Because marigold is on high demand during festival season in central and Northern India .

so i suggest you can try growing marigold as intercrop in moringa in seperate rows

Ramu Sir GP Rao Sir and Senior group members
I have a newbie question and would request your indulgence- If there was a 5 acre Moringa Farm and the yield was both the POds and Leaf for Moringa powder. What quantity of leaf would be generated per acre and what is roughly the amount of leaf required for 1 KG of powder. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Dear Sri Sundaresh,

This is for your information, as you stated as a newbie question. If you wants to grow Moringa oleifera( drum stick ) for pods, try to grow only 800 plants to 1,400 plants (approx) per acre, for good/considerable pods yield.

If you wants to grow for only leaf production , you should plant in high density pattern, which should accommodate nearly 5,000 to 7,000 plants per acre.

I suggest you to decide to go for, either pods production or leaf production. If you wants to club both, good/considerable yields can not be recorded , up to my knowledge, in pods and leaf, simultaneously.

I also suggest you to inspect some Moringa oleifera leaf growing farmers fields and interact with those farmers, and gather information about their experiences on prices of dry leaf and leaf powder, as this dry leaf and powder, trading is in very few exporters and their agents hands. Bargaining capacity will be very less for farmers growing in few acres only, unlike for pods, as the pods market is wide and open.

With best wishes, g.p.rao, farmer

Dear RAMU,

I am planning to intercrop brinjal in moringa field. Is it right? If yes, what variety of brinjal will do best? When it comes to brinjal the target market plays a major role. For me, the market would be Koyambedu, Chennai. Please suggest.

Hi pal
Brinjal is not usually recommended as intercrop in moringa . Brinjal would hamper moringa trees .

However it is not bad for you to try brinjal in moringa field

Keep row to row spacing of moringa 3.5 Meter apart …
Your total moringa plant population per acre would be around 700

Inbetween two moringa plant rows , you can plant brinjal in pair rows …

you will get 1140 running meter in inter row spaces of moringa field …@ 0.75 M plant to plant spacing it will give you around 1520 brinjal plants per acre . In paired row it is around 3040 plants per acre .But you can expect 4 kgs of fruit per plant …so brinjal as intercrop would produce an yield of around 12 MT in about 4 months …There after you are required to remove all the brinjal plants and dispose it away from moringa field

Dear RAMU,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I don’t have any special interest to do Brinjal as intercrop. Thought of doing intercrop to utilise the space effectively and chose brinjal. If there are any other alternative crop which will coexist with morigna without any problem, I would be happy to choose that instead. Do you suggest any alternative crop which I can go for?

Thanks,
Karups

my suggestion is not to fix any crop as suitable intercrop that go along with main crop . Ours is market economy that only guide the farmers what to grow and dictate the price and profit …so just inquire with some knowledgeable people about crops and market forecast and then fix the crop …Now farmers consider only those crops that first command price in market and then yield per unit area

Dear Ramu Sir,

Want to know if its safe to grow Sweet corn between moringa lines ?

The moringa lines will be from East to west direction. As the corn grows very fast, the shadow of it will not fall on the moringa plants.

Please suggest.

Thanks
Ravi

Dear Ramu Sir:
Thanks for giving plenty of info on Moringa.
Just for experience I have planted about 100 plants in my small farm in Moinabad - sowed PKM-1 in July2017!
I am also using Moringa leaves (prepared as tablets by my unani doctor friend’s lab). Itt is a great energy booster. Previously I used to swallow Supradyn, now I have a 100% pure, herbal, chemical-free Moringa as energy booster!
Most of discussion here covers only domestic market for Moringa. Few may know that present worldwide market of Moringa (for various applications) is about $4 Bln, out of which 85% is exported by India (mostly from Gujarat/Maharashtra). The medicinal benefits, vitamin value, anti-oxidant value, best thing for natural cosmetics/pharma uses etc etc has now been researched. Moringa’s market is to grow worldwide in future. Longterm benefits are good.
I bookmarked discussions under this heading ‘Moringa’.

Sure …Moringa is a miracle tree and is considered poor man’s dispensary …More particularly the western African countries have been growing this moringa in a wide scale and people there consume the leaves as their main food item …Generally african people are very easily falling prey to multi various diseases and death rate were alarmingly high . Having taken this moringa food considerably for longer period now they started feeling well and stronger against most of the diseases…immunity and mineral nutrients

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