I want to plant 4 acres with mango plantations and 1 acre with Indian black berry (Jamun) with 40 plants per acre. My location is Nuzvid near to vijayawada and its tropical sunny climate and mango orchids are famous in our location.
I had 5 acres of land with no bore well in it. i have tried with some methods like coconut and neem stick and geologist etc, but my efforts gone in vain. all my surrounding farms have bore wells which delivers 1.5" to 2" at 350 feet depth. I have tried upto 500 feet depth but not encountered with any water. i have almost lost 1.5 lakhs rupees spending for bore well.
Now, i have started thinking for alternative methods of water management. i want to go for farm pond with liners to store water and use it to farm with drip irrigation. i have taken the help of my neighboring farms to use their bore well for 4-5 days in a month. I have calculated to build a farm pond with 15m15m3m (L/B/H) and go for a good quality liner and green shade on the top for preventing evaporation losses. with the above mentioned dimensions i can store water of 650 m3. For 1-2 years of plantation i require 25 liters water per plant per day. with 650 m3 of water for 200 plants my water can be sufficient for almost 3 months once i gent my pond full. Can i go for this method if i have no bore well ?
I request you to suggest me for best possible ways of water management for the above planning and also suggest for good pond liners.
With no sufficient water what are the other commercial crops that i can manage to grow ?
1 Like
Only for the initial years, watering may be required for the fruit crops. Thereafter, they can sustain itself by rain.
To minimize the water given to the plants, you can use Baskar Save method.
Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
1 Like
Thank you for your inputs 
Looks fine on paper but it is worthwhile to visit some farms in Rayalaseema where farm ponds are being put to good use.
I am mulling over a similar idea of developing an orchard in a piece of land using a farm pond next year, but haven’t made a decision yet. I see you are assuming the pond fills completely and that irrigation is required only 3 months in the year. What is the basis for this?
Second, what % of evaporation loss are you considering with the green cover?
My point is not that irrigation is only required for 3 months. if i get my pond filled once, i can use the water for almost 3 months and for every 3 months i should fill my pond again.
coming to %evaporation losses, Maximum evaporation rate is 1.5% a day and with the green shades we can reduce evaporation losses by 50%
Calculations made considering different temperatures and different humidity ratios using the tool http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/evaporation-water-surface-d_690.html
Got it. Did you calculate how long it takes to fill the pond with the discharge from the borewell? Do you also plan on collecting rain water run off?
How much would this green shade cost? Is it the standard shadenet with high opaqueness?
1 Like
You can use 2 methods for water harvesting:
- From the roof directly to the well/borewell. The is the cheapest and best method. During monsoon you can put plastic sheets up like green house just to catch every drop of rainfall to send it to the well/bore well. Dont worry about quality of rain water affecting bore well water quality. If you are still scared you can use water filter or boil water before drinking.
2Pond without liner.
Pond with liner will not send the water underground. Pond with liner is also more expensive and not natural. You can google search for “natural ponds” or “ponds without liner”.
Starting activities on the farm without water & electricity is exposing to risk.
1 Like
I am very agree with Budding Farmer. If you have no water, save the water of each and every drop. Pond with linear is more expensive and not a natural activity…
1 Like
In my recent trip to Gopalapuram, Warangal where Mr Mallikarjuna Gupta created almost 6 ponds with each 12 feet depth in area of 30 acers and filling water from rain water running down the slop.
These 30 acers of water are designed in such a way that if one is full it starts to supply water to the second and then the third and so on. even the seepage of water is collected and dumped back into the main pond with pumps.
With this the water table has improved around 1 km radius and he is supplying around 100 acers of Subabul / Caserina plantation for the entire year without single bore being used.
He says, you need to create 30% of land to capture water for your rest of the 70% land for the entire year.
Worthy driving all the way from Hyderabad for 200 one way to understand this master stroke.
5 Likes
Thank you for your suggestion, will work on it
Thank you for your suggestions and seems interesting way without much cost and will work on it
Call Mr. Karan Sikri @9813263838 he is running 11 Acre Farm with Automated Vermicompost Unit in Haryana he can help you without any charges. He is working on an initiative called Save Soil Save Water !!!
Thank you for your information
