Skip to main content

Tomato Production Guide for 1 Hectare

Planting dates

·         All year round in frost free areas or greenhouse.

Days to Harvest

·         80 to 120 days depends on cultivar.

Harvesting duration

·         60 Days

Yield

·         20 000 - 60 000kg.

Soil requirements

·         pH 5.0 to 5.5,

·         Sandy loam soils,

·         Soil testing is key.

Seed

·         120 - 160g in a nursery seed bed of about 60m2.

·         7 - 10 days emergence.

·         Floating seed trays can also be used.

·         Ensure free drainage to avoid damping off.

Transplanting

·         6 - 8 weeks after emergence.

·         Harden seedlings when they have 3 - 5 true leaves.

Spacing

·         In-row: 300 - 500mm.

·         Inter-row: 1000 - 1500mm.

Fertilizer requirements

Soil testing is key.

·         Basal Dressing: Compound S,

·         Top-dressing: Ammonium Nitrate and Potassium Sulphate 100kg/ha split into 2 or 3 applications.

Weed management

·         Annual and perennial grasses - Fusilade super - Apply post emergence to young and actively growing weeds.

·         Broad leaves and annual grasses - Sencor 480 SC - Apply as directed. Spray at least 14 days after transplanting.

Pests

·         Cut worm – use Carbaryl, Dursban, Pyrinex, Karate.

·         Aphids – use Dimethoate, Metasystox 25/ EC, Malathion 50%.

·         African Bollworm – use Thionex 35 EC, Dedevap, Tamaron 600 SL, Carbaryl, Dipterex 95 SP.

·         Red spider mite – use Malathion, Dimethoate 40 EC, Mitac, Armitraz 20 EC, Kelthane 18 EC, Dicofol.

·         Leaf miners – use Tamaron, Trigard.

·         Whitefly – use Confidor, Naturell, DDVP.

Diseases

·         Bacterial canker - it is controlled by using healthy seeds, planting on ridges and the use of crop rotation.

·         Bacterial wilt - use crop rotation and avoid use of areas prone to water logging.

·         Bacterial spot - healthy seed, crop rotation and Copper oxychloride, Mancozeb, Captan and Metiram.

·         Bacterial speck - use certified disease free seed Copper oxychloride and Mancozeb.

·         Early blight – use Copper oxychloride and Mancozeb, Ridomil, Maneb, Bravo.

·         Late blight – use Copper oxychloride and Mancozeb, Ridomil, Maneb, Bravo, Captan.

·         Tomato mosaic virus, spotted wilt virus, yellow leaf curl virus - use resistant cultivars, Control vectors, Practice good hygiene, Rogue out and destroy infected.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to kill rats in your poultry house - using a mixture of baking soda, flour and sugar

Rats are dangerous animals in the poultry house and they cause problems both direct and indirect. Direct - they eat chicks or kill chicks rapidly. Indirect - they carry many diseases that affect chicks. Therefore, their presence in the poultry house is a big risk. However, it is a bit hard to control rats in the poultry house because most of the chemicals that kill rats are harmful to our birds. Nevertheless, today we shall break the secret on how to kill rats using safe methods. Remember I am an organic poultry farmer and I promote organic methods all the time. So now, let us see how to solve this rat issue. Organic method of getting rid of rats on farms and at home: Mix baking soda + flour + sugar at equal ratios 1:1:1. Mix thoroughly dry. Put them in small containers and place them at the corners of your poultry house. They will eat it and never return to disturb you again. If you have a small bowl of that size, you can also use it. Rats love flour and so will golf it. Secondly, t
Post a Comment
Read more

Hilling potatoes: why it is important

The main reason to hill potatoes is to increase yield. Potatoes form along the underground stem of the plant and not from the roots. So hilling effectively lengthen the underground portion of the stem thus increasing yield. You can either add additional soil to the bed and then mound it around the plants, or you can scoop up soil from the rows and press it against the stems. Later in the season, it’s easy to reach in and check the potatoes for size before you harvest them. After the plants reach about 20 to 30cm tall, soil needs to be hilled around the plants for the potato tubers to grow in. These “hills” or ridges are where the potatoes will form, and it is important to keep them covered and away from sunlight. If the potato tubers come in contact with sunlight they can become green and not fit to eat. In fact, green potatoes can carry toxins and could become poisonous. To prevent this, potatoes should be hilled at least 3 to 4 times during their growth cycle. The more you can hill t
Post a Comment
Read more

Complete Guide To Chicken Feed Formulation

The common ingredients are whole maize, maize bran, cotton seed cake, soya beans, sunflower and fishmeal (omena). In addition, farmers need to add several feed additives (micronutrients, minerals and vitamins) to ensure their birds have a balanced feed that meets their daily nutrient requirements. Ingredients are cheaply available, especially after the harvesting season. Depending on the cost of ingredients, farmers who make their own feeds at home save between 30 to 50% for every 70kg bag of chicken feed, depending on the source of their raw materials. Due to government regulation, major feed companies have reduced the standard quantity of feed from 70kg to 50kg per bag, but the price of feed still remains almost the same. This means that farmers who are able to make their own feeds make great savings on feeds which take up to 80% of the production costs. To formulate feed, farmers have to use the Pearson Square Method . In this method, the Digestible Crude Protein (DCP) is
Post a Comment
Read more