Horticultural

What is a Horticulture Horticulturalist

2010-09-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

Horticulture refers to the industry and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturist work and study the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and engineering, biochemistry of plants and plant physiology. They work to particularly involve fruits, nuts, veggies, berries, trees, flowers, shrubs, and turf.

The career outlook for a horticulture career is favorable. They make on average $25-$30 thousand a year. They work to upgrade crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and plant's resistance to diseases, insects, and environmental stresses.

What's in Horticulture?

Horticulture differs from agriculture in a sense that it uses as smaller scale of cultivation and uses smaller plots of mixed crops rather than a large field of single crop and the cultivation of a wider variation of crops, which usually includes trees. The study of horticulture includes eight areas that are grouped into two broad sections - the ornamentals and the edibles.

How is it Green?

Arboriculture refers to the study and selection, planting care and removal of individual threes, shrubs and other perennial woody plants. Floriculture includes the production and marketing of floral crops. Landscape horticulture encompasses the production, marketing, and maintenance of landscaping plants. Olericulture is the production and marketing of vegetables, Pomology is the production and marketing of fruits and Viticulture is the production and marketing of grapes. Last is the Postharvest Physiology, which involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops.

Horticulture is being practiced in gardens, plant growth centers, and nurseries. Work in nurseries includes preparing seeds and cutting to growing fully mature plants. These are usually sold or transferred to ornamental gardens or market gardens.

People who are interested in horticulture can find work in industry, government or educational institutions as well as private collections. The can work as cropping systems engineer or be a wholesale or retail business manager, propagators and tissue culture specialist for fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and turf; crop inspectors, crop production advisers, extension specialist, plant breeders, researcher and also as teachers.

People with a green thumb and real concern for plants and the flora are the best candidate for this kind of career.

Educational and Training Requirements

A career in horticulture and gardening maybe complemented by a degree in botany, biology, entomology, genetics, garden design, physiology, and plant design. Plant sciences as well as horticulture courses includes study of plant materials, plant propagation, crop production, tissue culture, post-harvest handling, plant breeding, pollination management, crop nutrition, plant pathology, entomology and others. A masters or a doctoral degree many be required in some horticultural science.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/what-is-a-horticulturehorticulturalist-1327971.html

Herbal horticulture in Kosovo - Nutra News You can use

2008-03-15T00:27:00.000-07:00

Wild herbs and botanicals are becoming a formalized industry in Kosovo, thanks to Uncle Sam. The United Slates Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a project called Kosovo Business Support (KBS), which provides a range of services to small businesses and entrepreneurs in the region. It is being executed jointly by two organizations. Chemonics International and Winrock International.
The Balkans hosts a rich variety of medicinal herbs that grow wild in the mountains. Over 800 have been identified and 70 have commercial potential. While local tea companies now utilize herbs, they must import the very materials that grew in their backyard, for lack of a domestic industry to gather and dry them. Additionally, they are paying stiff import duties.
There is tremendous potential for the botanical industry in Kosovo. Bilberry is one example, with huge demand and profit potential. But there is plenty of work ahead. Workers must be trained to pick the best quality herbs in an ethical, sustainable manner. Basic equipment and expertise is needed for QC, storage, drying, extraction, packaging, processing, and marketing. Facilities must be built, and it all requires funding.
In the long term, many herbs should be cultivated (as opposed to wild-crafted) for consistent quality and sustainability. Organic farming practices are unknown and not understood, and organic certification is feasible but years away. Once the domestic market is filled, an export market needs to be developed. That is a different game altogether, with strict regulations, tough competition, and heavy promotional requirements. But these are being addressed, and there is optimism that herbs will grow into a profitable and important industry for Kosovo.

Plant breeding Smells

2008-03-11T01:32:00.001-07:00

Plant breeding Smells is the purposeful manipulation of plant species in order to create desired genotypes and phenotypes for specific purposes. This manipulation involves either controlled pollination, genetic engineering, or both, followed by artificial selection of progeny. Plant breeding often, but not souvent toujours, leads to plant domestication.
Plant breeding has been practiced for thousands of years, since near the beginning of human civilization. It is now practiced worldwide by government institutions and commercial enterprises. International development agencies believe that breeding new crops is important for ensuring food security and developing practices through the development of crops suitable for their environment.

Phytopathology (plant pathology)

2008-03-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

Plant pathology redirects here. For the journal, see Plant Pathology (journal).
Phytopathology (plant pathology) is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens (infectious diseases) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, viroids, virus-like organisms, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes and parasitic plants. Not included are insects, mites, vertebrate or other pests that affect plant health by consumption of plant tissues. Plant Pathology also involves the study of the identification, etiology, disease cycle, economic impact, epidemiology, how plant diseases affect humans and animals, pathosystem genetics and management of plant diseases.
The "Disease triangle" is a central concept of plant pathology for infectious diseases[1] . It is based on the principle that disease is the result of an interaction between a host, a pathogen, and environment condition.

Horticulture and anthropology

2008-03-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

The origins of horticulture lie in the transition of human communities from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary or semi-sedentary horticultural communities, cultivating a variety of crops on a small scale around their dwellings or in specialized plots visited occasionally during migrations from one area to the next. (such as the "milpa" or maize field of Mesoamerican cultures[4]). In forest areas such horticulture is often carried out in swiddens ("slash and burn" areas)[5]. A characteristic of horticultural communities is that useful trees are often to be found planted around communities or specially retained from the natural ecosystem.

Horticulture sometimes differs from agriculture in (1) a smaller scale of cultivation, using small plots of mixed crops rather than large field of single crops (2) the cultivation of a wider variety of crops, often including fruit trees. In pre-contact North America the semi-sedentary horticultural communities of the Eastern Woodlands (growing maize, squash and sunflower) contrasted markedly with the mobile hunter-gatherer communities of the Plains people. In Central America, Maya horticulture involved augmentation of the forest with useful trees such as papaya, avocado, cacao, ceiba and sapodilla. In the cornfields, multiple crops were grown such as beans (using cornstalks as supports), squash, pumpkins and chilli peppers, in some cultures tended mainly or exclusively by women

USE OF INSECT PRO0F NYLON NETS FOR QUALITY VEGETABLE SEEDLING PRODUCTION

2008-03-11T01:27:00.001-07:00

The IVLP of IIHR, Bangalore team interacted with the farmers and suggested Integrated Nutrient Management involving supplying 50% of nutrients by spray on leaf and bunch (0.5% urea, 0.5% SOP, 0.2% ZnSO4 and 0.1% Boric Acid) four sprays on leaf from 5th month to 8th month and two sprays on bunches and leaves in 10th and 11th month and improving root health by application of Trichoderma enriched FYM resulted in yield increased to 30 kg/bunch from 25kg in farmers practice in cultivar Robusta and decrease in cost of cultivation by Rs.6,000/-.

Since use of costly surfactants limited the spread of technology, a refinement involving use of one Rupee shampoo sachets available in all the village shops as surfactants and use of juice of one lime fruit to adjust the pH to 5.5 to 6.0 resulted in significant increase in foliar spray efficiently and yield increased to 35-40kg. But the higher yield resulted in water stress and sandy soil texture was one reason. Hence, the technology was once more refined by filling the pit at planting with tank silt clayey in texture but with more than 55% water-holding capacity. This resulted in mean bunch yield increasing an average of 40-45 inspite of being under conventional irrigation. The crop was early by 32 days reducing the cropping duration and saving on precious inputs like water, nutrient and land. The reduced soil application of nutrients and saving of nutrients also made this an environment friendly technology.
The technology has been disseminated. The technology has spread geographically to two districts. Foliar formulations were prepared in the Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry and supplied through Agricultural Technology Information Centre (ATIC) of IIHR, Bangalore.
Kestur called Tharkari Halli (vegetable village) has become Balegrama (Banana Village). Banana suckers from this village are sought after by farmers of neighbouring taluks and is sold at a premium rate and has added to the profitability. Foliar nutrition technology also has been disseminated. In drought year the banana leaves are being fed to milch animals as alternate green fodder which is an additional benefit because of popularity of banana as an alternate crop.

REINTRODUCTION OF BRINJAL IN VEGETABLE BASED CROPPING SYSTEM

2008-03-11T01:25:00.000-07:00

Due to the very perishable nature of vegetables and fluctuating prices, farmers spread their risk by growing a range of vegetables of differing keeping quality, input requirements and skill. Farmers of Kestur village, could not cultivate brinjal, a less water demanding crop than tomato for the last 10 years due to severe incidence of ash weevil and nematode at early stage and fruit borer at harvest stage resulting in less marketable produce. The inter-disciplinary team of IVLP of IIHR, Bangalore interacted with the farmers recommended soil application of Carboturan 3G at 10 kg/ha at planting and spraying of Cypermethrin at 0.5 ml/lt. four times at 35 days after planting repeated every 15 days, resulted in good establishment of seedlings but INR.10,000/- per hectare spent on pesticides resulted in high cost and more pesticide residues and hence was not sustainable. This problem was tacked by the IVLP team using the plant products to control the nematode; a component of IPM technology standardized by IIHR, Bangalore. On-farm trials indicated usefulness of soil application of neem cake at 250 kg/ha at transplanting and three sprays of Cypermethrin at 0.5 ml/lt. resulted in effective control of ash weevil, nematodes and fruit borer and enabled farmers of Kestur village to cultivate brinjal once again and increase marketable yield by 20% but this again was not cost effective.

FOLIAR NUTRITION TO ESTABLISH BANANA AS AN ALTERNATE CROP IN RESOURCE POOR SITUATION

2008-03-11T01:23:00.000-07:00

The IVLP of IIHR, Bangalore team interacted with the farmers and suggested Integrated Nutrient Management involving supplying 50% of nutrients by spray on leaf and bunch (0.5% urea, 0.5% SOP, 0.2% ZnSO4 and 0.1% Boric Acid) four sprays on leaf from 5th month to 8th month and two sprays on bunches and leaves in 10th and 11th month and improving root health by application of Trichoderma enriched FYM resulted in yield increased to 30 kg/bunch from 25kg in farmers practice in cultivar Robusta and decrease in cost of cultivation by Rs.6,000/-.

Since use of costly surfactants limited the spread of technology, a refinement involving use of one Rupee shampoo sachets available in all the village shops as surfactants and use of juice of one lime fruit to adjust the pH to 5.5 to 6.0 resulted in significant increase in foliar spray efficiently and yield increased to 35-40kg. But the higher yield resulted in water stress and sandy soil texture was one reason. Hence, the technology was once more refined by filling the pit at planting with tank silt clayey in texture but with more than 55% water-holding capacity. This resulted in mean bunch yield increasing an average of 40-45 inspite of being under conventional irrigation. The crop was early by 32 days reducing the cropping duration and saving on precious inputs like water, nutrient and land. The reduced soil application of nutrients and saving of nutrients also made this an environment friendly technology.

The technology has been disseminated. The technology has spread geographically to two districts. Foliar formulations were prepared in the Division of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry and supplied through Agricultural Technology Information Centre (ATIC) of IIHR, Bangalore.

Kestur called Tharkari Halli (vegetable village) has become Balegrama (Banana Village). Banana suckers from this village are sought after by farmers of neighbouring taluks and is sold at a premium rate and has added to the profitability. Foliar nutrition technology also has been disseminated. In drought year the banana leaves are being fed to milch animals as alternate green fodder which is an additional benefit because of popularity of banana as an alternate crop.

USE OF INSECT PRO0F NYLON NETS FOR QUALITY VEGETABLE SEEDLING PRODUCTION

2008-03-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

Leaf curl is a serious viral disease in tomato especially during hot/summer months. The virus spreads through a vector- whitefly. To control whitefly feeding on growing seedlings in nursery area, a 40-mesh nylon net is used to cover the nursery area. Thus viral infection is avoided till transplanting of seedlings in the main field. Viral diseases in chili and capsicums like chilly mosaic and leaf curl can also be controlled during nursery stage by providing nylon net coverage. This technology can also be used, with 40 mesh nylon nets, to control Spotted Wilt Virus of watermelon transmitted by thrips. The technology involves:

Twelve raised beds of 1.2m x 7.5m dimensions are to be prepared for getting the seedlings for one hectare area of main field (for tomato). Later the seeds started to germinate in the beds, 50 mesh nylon nets have to be covered over the beds. Nylon nets have to be stitched in the dimension of 1.2m width, 8.0m in length and 1.5m in height resulting in a box shape. For support of the net, Casuarinas or bamboo pads have to be used. While stitching a net, provision for entry in to the net have to be made. This entry point should be closable either with straps or clips, so that entire structure becomes insect proof. The bottom edge of the net have to be buried the soil. A non-walk in type net coverings can also be prepared with 1-2 feet height net covering. A movable support system can also be prepared with ¾” GI pipe or a-iron.

Transmission of viral diseases in nursery stage by vectors is avoided. As net also modify the microclimate inside, in terms of humidity and reduced sunlight, healthy seedling can be raised with this technology. Based on land holding of the farmer, even a 1 or 2 m2 area can also be covered with net. The height of the net can be even 1-2 feet for non walk-in type of nylon net protection structure.

HOT WATER TREATMENT (HWT) OF MANGOES

2008-03-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

Post harvest losses in mangoes in majority of varieties / hybrids has been to the tune of 30%. The major problems are pests like fruit fly and anthracnose fruit rot and Non-uniform ripening. These are causing heavy revenue loss and heavy damage to mango exports. To overcome this problem, IIHR, Bangalore has standardized Hot Water Treatment technology for Mango. "Dipping of fruits in hot water of specific temperature for specified periods for the purpose of disease control, insect damage, disinfestation or uniform ripening is known as Hot Water Treatment ". This is also most important in quarantine treatment for exports of fruits. This also has additional benefits like removal of surface pesticide residues, helps to remove sap of fallen in fruit surface during harvest and facilitates washing also.
The hot water treatment plants requires the use of a specialized equipment, to control the temperature of the water bath essential for the process. A circulating pump or some other method should be utilized to mix the water to assure uniformity of temperature within the tank. Temperature monitors should be placed within the treatment tank.
The ratio of volume of water to fruiting stock should be large enough to prevent a significant drop in temperature when the stock is added. Sometimes fungicides are added to hot water to bring about efficient post harvest disease control. After treating with HW, the fruit should be allowed to cool and dry in preparation for grading and packing.

HW treatment for Export purpose.

The mangoes must be treated in the country of origin at a certified facility.

Fruit temperature should not be less than 20oC before starting the treatment.

Fruit must be sub-merged atleast 4 inches below the water's surface

Water must circulate constantly throughout the treatment

The duration of the hot water dip treatment is determined based on the origin, shape, and weight of the mangoes.
The above technology has been perfected at this Institute and a pilot hot water treatment plant on a small scale has been fabricated. This technology has been recommended for -
It was observed that 460C for 65min treatment could control both fruit fly and anthracnose and 520C for5min could control anthracnose only. The capacity of hot water treatment plant at 460C for 65min treatment is 0.25 ton/hour and at 520C for 5min is 1 ton/ha.
HW treatment was more effective in controlling the spoilage of mangoes during long term storage under normal LT conditions and reduces the spoilage by more than 50 per cent compared to fungicide treatment. At 130C, HW treated fruits of mangoes could be stored for 21-28 days (depending on the variety) without any spoilage.
HW treatment also helped to reduce the spoilage during ripening of Control Atmosphere (CA) stored mango fruits.

TRICHORICH - N FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NEMATODES IN HORTICULTURAL CROPS

2008-03-11T01:18:00.000-07:00

Trichorich – N is a formulation biological control agent with an organic carrier. It contains nematode biocontrol agents namely Trichoderma harzianum and Paecilomyces lilacinus.
IIHR has the facilities to mass produce this product. If any one wants huge quantities one has to pay 50% cost of the product required, at the time of indenting, to the Director, IIHR.

Nursery bed treatment
Treat the nursery beds with this formulation at the rate of 50g/sq.m. (This treatment can be combined with the application of pongamia cake @ 200 g/sq.m or Carbofuran/phorate @ 20g/sq.m. or 50 g inoculum (containing 20 chlamydospores/g) of endomycorrhizae (G. mosseae) per one sq.m) before sowing. All these combinations did not affect the bio-efficacy of bio-agents, but had additive effect on the management of nematodes.

High Density Planting in Pineapple

2008-03-11T01:16:00.000-07:00

international market. A few decades ago, the planting density followed for pineapple in India were only fifteen to twenty thousand plants per hectare, with a productivity of less than twenty thousand tones fruit per hectare, resulting in high cost of production. Under such low density planting, 20 to 25 % fruits become unmarketable due to sunburn in the tropical region. Therefore, extensive studies were undertaken at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, during the 1970’s and 80’s to develop high density planting of pineapple for increasing the productivity and fruit quality and reducing the cost of production. These studies proved the benefits of increased planting density in the range of 53,000 to 63,500 plants per hectare.

Two-row trench system of planting has been found to be the best for high density planting in the plains, whether the crop is grown with or without irrigation. The field is laid out into 22.5 to 30.0 cm deep trenches alternating with mounds. In each trench, two shallow furrows about 10 to 15 cm deep and 15 cm inside from the edge of the trench are opened and suckers or slips are planted in these furrows, so arranged that two plants will not be exactly opposite to each other. Spacing of pineapple plants depend on the growth of the plant. Soil moisture and fertility influences plant growth and indirectly determine spacing required per plant and eventually planting density. In overall analysis, plant-to-plant spacing of 22.5 to 25.0 cm and row-to-row spacing of 45 to 60 cm are ideal. Where pineapple plants grow luxuriantly with long leaves, a wider spacing of 90 cm between the trenches is required, but in places where growth of the leaf is moderate, a trench-to-trench spacing of 75 cm is adequate. A plant density of 63,000 plants/ha (22.5 cm x 60 cm x 75 cm) has been found ideal in semiarid mild tropical areas. In hot and humid tropical areas, plant density of 53,000 plants/ha (25 cm x 60 cm x 90 cm) performs well. However, decrease in fruit weight was quite evident when plant-to-plant spacing was reduced to 20 cm and row-to-row to 40 cm irrespective of the spacing between beds.

Initial establishment of planting material in the field is important to avoid gaps and the subsequent poor growth of replants under the competitive situation of high planting density. Suckers weighing 500-600g and slips weighing 350-400g are the best for initial field establishment under high density planting. July-August is found to be the best season of planting for establishment and growth of plants. To avoid any reduction in fruit size to unmarketable levels due to interplant competition for plant nutrients, nutrient management of high-density orchards need to be done more scientifically than under low-density planting, to meet the requirements of each and every plant. Nitrogen at 12g under irrigated and 16g under rainfed conditions along with potash at 12g per plant is recommended for the plant crop. For irrigated and rainfed ratoon crops, 10g nitrogen and 12g potash are recommended per plant. Ammonium sulphate is the best source of N

The yields recorded under high-density planting are in the range of 85 to105 tones/ha, which are 55 to 85 tones more than the conventional planting densities, without adversely affecting the fruit size, quality and canning recovery. It is associated with other advantages like less weed infestation, protection to fruits from sunburn and increased production of suckers and slips per unit area, and non-lodging of plants. Close planting also saves on the upright orientation of the apical leaves, and eventually results in uniformly coloured lustrous fruits, which are cylindrical with low taper ratio, giving more canning recovery. Another advantage of high-density planting is the overlapping of basal leaves forming a sort of natural covering over the soil, preventing evaporation losses and thereby resulting in moisture conservation. Under dense planting a microclimate with high humidity will be created around the plant, which is congenial for growth and fruiting. Two successive ratoon crops harvested at twelve monthly intervals amounted to 50.7 and 53.8% of the plant crop yield at high-density planting under good management. Highest cost : benefit ratio of 1: 4.2 was observed in planting densities of 53,000 and 59,200 plants/ha.

USE OF NEEM AND PONGAMIA SOAPS IN THE IPM OF CABBAGE AND OTHER VEGETABLES

2008-03-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is one of the important commercial fruits of the world with great demand in the international market. A few decades ago, the planting density followed for pineapple in India were only fifteen to twenty thousand plants per hectare, with a productivity of less than twenty thousand tones fruit per hectare, resulting in high cost of production. Under such low density planting, 20 to 25 % fruits become unmarketable due to sunburn in the tropical region. Therefore, extensive studies were undertaken at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, during the 1970’s and 80’s to develop high density planting of pineapple for increasing the productivity and fruit quality and reducing the cost of production. These studies proved the benefits of increased planting density in the range of 53,000 to 63,500 plants per hectare.

Two-row trench system of planting has been found to be the best for high density planting in the plains, whether the crop is grown with or without irrigation. The field is laid out into 22.5 to 30.0 cm deep trenches alternating with mounds. In each trench, two shallow furrows about 10 to 15 cm deep and 15 cm inside from the edge of the trench are opened and suckers or slips are planted in these furrows, so arranged that two plants will not be exactly opposite to each other. Spacing of pineapple plants depend on the growth of the plant. Soil moisture and fertility influences plant growth and indirectly determine spacing required per plant and eventually planting density. In overall analysis, plant-to-plant spacing of 22.5 to 25.0 cm and row-to-row spacing of 45 to 60 cm are ideal. Where pineapple plants grow luxuriantly with long leaves, a wider spacing of 90 cm between the trenches is required, but in places where growth of the leaf is moderate, a trench-to-trench spacing of 75 cm is adequate. A plant density of 63,000 plants/ha (22.5 cm x 60 cm x 75 cm) has been found ideal in semiarid mild tropical areas. In hot and humid tropical areas, plant density of 53,000 plants/ha (25 cm x 60 cm x 90 cm) performs well. However, decrease in fruit weight was quite evident when plant-to-plant spacing was reduced to 20 cm and row-to-row to 40 cm irrespective of the spacing between beds.

Initial establishment of planting material in the field is important to avoid gaps and the subsequent poor growth of replants under the competitive situation of high planting density. Suckers weighing 500-600g and slips weighing 350-400g are the best for initial field establishment under high density planting. July-August is found to be the best season of planting for establishment and growth of plants. To avoid any reduction in fruit size to unmarketable levels due to interplant competition for plant nutrients, nutrient management of high-density orchards need to be done more scientifically than under low-density planting, to meet the requirements of each and every plant. Nitrogen at 12g under irrigated and 16g under rainfed conditions along with potash at 12g per plant is recommended for the plant crop. For irrigated and rainfed ratoon crops, 10g nitrogen and 12g potash are recommended per plant. Ammonium sulphate is the best source of N

The yields recorded under high-density planting are in the range of 85 to105 tones/ha, which are 55 to 85 tones more than the conventional planting densities, without adversely affecting the fruit size, quality and canning recovery. It is associated with other advantages like less weed infestation, protection to fruits from sunburn and increased production of suckers and slips per unit area, and non-lodging of plants. Close planting also saves on the upright orientation of the apical leaves, and eventually results in uniformly coloured lustrous fruits, which are cylindrical with low taper ratio, giving more canning recovery. Another advantage of high-density planting is the overlapping of basal leaves forming a sort of natural covering over the soil, preventing evaporation losses and thereby resulting in moisture conservation. Under dense planting a microclimate with high humidity will be created around the plant, which is congenial for growth and fruiting. Two successive ratoon crops harvested at twelve monthly intervals amounted to 50.7 and 53.8% of the plant crop yield at high-density planting under good management. Highest cost : benefit ratio of 1: 4.2 was observed in planting densities of 53,000 and 59,200 plants/ha.

HIGH DENSITY PLANTING IN BANANA

2008-03-11T01:10:00.000-07:00

Banana is the fourth important food crop in terms of gross value exceeded only by paddy, wheat and milk products. In India, banana contributes to nearly 32% of the total fruit production.
The normal spacing provided for `Robusta’ and `Dwarf Cavendish’ is either 2.1 m x 2.1 m (2267 plants/ha) or 1.8 m x 1.8 m (3086 plants/ha) with yield levels of 60-65 tons per ha. In recent years, the emphasis has been on increasing the productivity per unit area by following closer spacing. A closer spacing can be adopted under good management conditions using micro-irrigation and fertigation techniques. However, a major limiting factor in banana high density planting will be the sunlight which affects flowering, crop duration and maturity and also on the performance of ratoon crop
Planting material
Sword suckers with well-developed rhizome, conical in shape and actively growing control buds weighing 600-750 g are ideal.
Cultivar
Robusta/Dwarf Cavendish

Planting time
All round the year, best yield when planted during February-March
Planting density
A plant density of 4444/ha (1.5 m x 1.5 m spacing)
Pit size
2 ft x 2 ft x 2 ft
Fertilizer dose
Soil application : FYM 40 t/ha, 200g N-100 g P2O5-200 g K2O/plant/crop
Fertigation:150 g N and 150 g K2O/plant/crop
Irrigation
Irrigate the crop when the cumulative pan evaporation values reach 45-50 mm under conventional methods of irrigation. Under drip irrigation, replenishment of 80% of evaporation losses is recommended on a daily basis.
Bunch weight
25-28 kg
Yield
100-120 t/ha
Advantages of fertigation
a) Higher productivity

b) Economy in fertilizer use through fertigation

c) Higher fertilizer use efficiency

d) Advantage of using required fertilizer at any stage of crop growth

GRAPE ROOTSTOCK - `DOGRIDGE ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN GRAPE CULTIVATION

2008-03-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

Grape cultivation is approximately 300 years old in India. It has passed through a series of developments in terms of selection of agro-climatic regions, variety and cultural practices, with particular reference to training and pruning. However, major breakthrough in grape cultivation could be achieved only during the last three decades. Of late, India has emerged as one of the leading producers of world’s finest quality of grapes with highest yield/unit area. One such tool, which is poised to make a significant contribution and play a vital role, is rootstocks.

Vines in India were mostly grown on their own roots as most areas were considered free from soil borne problems. However, interest in grape rootstocks has recently intensified, owing to the problems of salinity, drought and low vine vigour. Due to the severe restriction on the availability of good quality water for irrigation and uncertainty of rains, rootstocks provide an attractive and environmentally sound alternative to manage these twin problems. Rootstock is also an important factor to control scion vigour and to bring an equilibrium between growth and yield.

It is an established fact that rootstocks provide a different root system to the scion. The selective absorption of nutrients by the scions due to changed root system can be profitably employed in eliminating the absorption of toxic elements. Similarly, roots being the sites for the synthesis of cytokinins, which have been demonstrated to be pivotal in fruit bud differentiation, there is scope for manipulating the productivity of vines through rootstocks.

The choice of rootstocks is more difficult than generally believed. This is due to interaction between the rootstock, environment and the scion. Fortunately, for the growers of our country the twin problems of Phylloxera and nematodes and so also the problem of viruses affecting the vine industry elsewhere in the world, does not pose any threat. This situation has helped to a large extent in narrowing down the difficult task of selection.

Among the many rootstocks introduced and tested in India only two have shown their potential. They are Dogridge (Vitis champinii) and Salt Creek (Vitis champinii).

The problem of soil salinity is fast spreading posing a threat to viticulture industry in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Northern districts of Karnataka. Heavy application of fertilizers, intensive cultivation, faulty management and poor quality of water accentuate the salt problem in grapes. Accumulation of chlorides is two to three times higher in cultivars. Rootstocks exclude the salts even under saline conditions. Proportion of potassium in rootstocks is many folds higher than in popular cultivars on their own roots. Under saline conditions, the symptoms of salt injury appear in the leaves based on the stage of the crop growth, types of soil, variety and environmental factors in relation to the accumulation of chloride and sodium.

Rootstocks Dogridge and Salt Creek have been noticed as best chloride +excluders. These rootstocks today have been used most successfully on soils of low fertility. Their vigorous growth nature is found to be more useful under saline conditions. Performance of Dogridge rootstock especially under black soils and medium black soils has shown lot of promise both in Maharashtra and Bijapur district of Karnataka. Thompson Seedless grafted to this rootstock has shown excellent vigour, resulting in ideal canopy when trained to Y trellis or expanded Y trellis. The leaves of Thompson Seedless or Tas-A-Ganesh have not exhibited the salt injury symptoms even when saline water was being used, when they were grafted on Dogridge or Salt Creek. The tendency of these rootstocks to take up more nitrogen did not affect the productivity of scion cultivar.

Balancing soil fertility and scion vigour with rootstock vigour has thus become very important as a new approach in canopy management of grape vines. Eventhough, many horticultural practices like use of growth retardants, inducing sub canes, modified training systems etc., are very useful and proven tools to check the vine vigour, but imparting vigour to a cultivar to improve the leaf to fruit ratio is possible probably by use of vigorous rootstocks generally bean only recently, so there are few immature vineyards to use as guides in rootstock selection. However, some of the vineyards on Dogridge rootstock which are well managed are showing the promise of giving higher yield, with some of the problems like time of planting, training the rootstocks, grafting procedure, grafting time, etc., being standardized, growers now face fewer problems on these lines. With the standardizing of ideal training system (Y trellis) and spacing to be adopted, when needs to be worked out is the water requirement and nutrient management strategies as these rootstocks are known to possess drought tolerant mechanism in addition to greater nutrient uptake qualities. A balance of these two feature needs to be worked out to evolve a suitable water nutrient input strategy so that with lesser inputs the wide and deep rooting habits of these rootstocks are exploited to the maximum.

Sandy’s Plants

2008-03-11T01:02:00.000-07:00

Our focus at Sandy’s Plants has always been on growing high quality perennials at a competitive price, and that trend continues into 2007. We have added many new varieties of perennials to our selections this year. We continue to search for those "Rare and Unusual Perennials" that our customers have come to associate with Sandy's Plants.
In an effort to help you make the right plant decisions, we have developed cultural lists that you will find in the back of our catalog and on this website. These lists have been compiled from our findings and experiences growing plants in Richmond, VA. We hope that you find them useful in answering some of those "Right Plant for the Right Location" questions.
Our plants are container grown in open beds outside to ensure durability. Slow release fertilizer (140 day) is added to our soil mix to ensure the continued quality of the plants after you receive them. We make every effort to picture tag as many of our plants as possible, but since we grow so many new and rare varieties, we must print some of our own tags on thermal labels. Cultural information found in our catalog, on this website, and on our computer tags is based on careful observations made by our staff here at Sandy’s Plants in Richmond, VA (Zone 7). In the case of new plants, this information is derived from all available literature. We guarantee our plants to be healthy, in good condition, and properly named (to the best of our knowledge) when you receive them. However, since we cannot control conditions after the plants leave our nursery, we DO NOT guarantee them unless we experience crop problems here at the nursery.

Horticultural

2007-09-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

The term clone is used in horticulture to mean all descendants of a single plant, produced by vegetative reproduction or apomixis. Many horticultural plant cultivars are clones, having been derived from a single individual, multiplied by some process other than sexual reproduction. As an example, some European cultivars of grapes represent clones that have been propagated for over two millennia. Other examples are potato and banana. Grafting can be regarded as cloning, since all the shoots and branches coming from the graft are genetically a clone of a single individual, but this particular kind of cloning has not come under ethical scrutiny and is generally treated as an entirely different kind of operation.

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