I have recently ventured in to farming with Papaya orchard. I just completed reading Palekar sirs 4 books (Part 1…4) of ZBNF principles and methods .
After reading this books, i understood the importance of live and straw mulching in this method.
But my Papaya Orchard(Count: 1500 ) is already 100 Days old and some of them(~20 ) started flowering. At this stage is it fine to take cowpea/green gram and sunnhemp/Dhaincha as inter crop b/w 6ft inter row distance…?
BTW, till now i have used only FYM and Jiwamrita (for every 15 days regularly). Plants are looking good( 3-3.5 ft height) apart from some scattered 50 Plants ( short and with Pale yellow leaves ).
Kindly do not disturb papaya with cowpea/sun hemp etc at this stage.Clear the underfoliage and water effectively so that in case leaves are going pale can become lush green.Never let the moisture go dry in papaya field.Also do not over irrigate.
I dont believe ZBNF. The crops take lot of nutrient from soil and replenishment of the same is essential.
ZBNF principlles may be good for forest plants which do not have commercial demand so they may become alright in time but not commercial cultivation.
Kindly avoid this ZBNF concept before you suffer irreparable loss in fields.
MOD EDIT:Personal names removed and mellowed the tones to avoid controversy