agriculture tips

As part of our Agriculture for Everybody  blog series, we are going to see how to select the Crops (Groupwise) based on Water Needs. The Data provided below will help the farmers choose the crops based on the water availability.  The data has been grouped together for easy understanding. Cereals High Water Requiring Medium Water Requiring Low Water Requiring Rice  (1100-1250 mm) Wheat  (450-650 mm) Fibre Crops High Water Requiring Medium Water Requiring Low Water Requiring Jute Cotton  (550-600 mm) Agave Flower Crops High Water Requiring Medium Water Requiring Low Water Requiring Anthurium Carnation China Aster Chrysanthemum Crossandra Cut Chrysanthemum Cut Rose Dendrobium Orchid Gerbera Gladious Golden Rod Jathimalli (Pitchi) Lilium Malligai Marigold Maruvu Mullai Nerium Rose Tuberose Forage Crops High Water Requiring Medium Water Requiring Low Water Requiring Cumbu Napier Deenanath Grass Fodder Cholam Fodder Cowpea Fodder Cumbu Fodder Maize Guinea...

In our Agriculture for Everybody  blog series, we are going to see how the proverb (in action) is useful to a farmer. The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) uses the proverb in its fullest form. There are few things that we can do to ensure that our friends (like Snakes, Owls, Bats, Chameleons etc) are able to live in the farm. Conducive Environment - By providing shelter and proper nesting facilities, we can create a conducive environment for them to survive and reproduce. Provide Helpers - Helpers here means providing "T" perches for birds, sticks for Spiders to spin their webs etc enable them to help us better. Do Nothing - When we come across our friends in our farm, if we do not threaten them in any way or kill them and just leave them to mind own their business will help us to prosper and reap rich benefits in the long run. Snakes help us by controlling the rodents (rats) in the farm.  This act will help us in the initial stages of the crop as well as in the a...

I have been getting many requests for information related to availability of things which a farmer requires from other (core) farmers for developing and furthering their farming activities. Basically the information is not easily available for a farmer (both new and existing).  In order to address the gap and make the information easily available, this page has been specifically created and will act as a handshake between different types of farmers. If you are a farmer who are in the business of creating & selling core things like Livestock Breeders, Poultry Breeders, Fingerlings etc then you can register your information for FREE . Nurseries will not be registered here and will be forwarded to http://www.flowersofindia.net/misc/nurseries.html  so as to avoid duplication of work. Only those from India can register. All the other information need to be very specific as they are limited in nature and hence can be easily made available. If you want to register your...

In our Agriculture for Everybody  blog series, as part of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM), we will discuss in this blog the Bird Perches and their need for it. Which crops need Bird Perches? Generally, high density crops like cereals, millets, pulses, flowers, vegetables etc require Bird Perches How many Bird Perches are required per acre? On an average, 15-20 "T" shaped Bird Perches are required per acre What should be the height of the Bird Perches? Generally, it is advised that the height of the Bird Perches to be 10 ft so that the birds get a good view of the pests and its movement The horizontal in the "T" should be of 1 ft What is the distance between the Bird Perches? Optimally, the Bird Perches should be of equi-distance from one another What problem is solved by Bird Perches? Generally, the birds eat the larvae and they need a resting place to search for them Owls use these bird perches during night to look for rats When do artificial Bird Perches are...

In our Agriculture for Everybody  blog series, we will be dealing with Pond Design related to Water Storage.  This design is mainly for Dug Out Pond otherwise called as Excavated Pond or Sunken Pond. Picture to be placed here at a later point of time Pond Area or Size Based on need Min :  1%  of Total Land Bank Max : 10%  of Total Land Bank Pond Shape Round or Square is optimal Reason : Round or Square will have the least surface area and hence evaporation is minimal as well as seepage of water into the soil is also minimal Pond Length Based on need Pond Breadth Based on need but similar to Pond Length is optimal Pond Depth Based on need but 6 ft is minimum.  The Pond Depth (Height) is inclusive of the Bund.  A gap of 1 ft is required between the top of the water surface and the top of the Pond Reason 1 : If you wish to do Fish Farming in future, 5 ft is the maximum required water depth Reason 2 : If the depth is more, need safety...

As part of our Agriculture for Everybody blog series, we are going to see the General List of Plants used in Live / Bio Fence / Natural Fence as well as few Windbreakers. The following list of plants can be utilized for Live / Bio Fence / Natural Fence and some of the large trees can be used as Windbreakers and it will better if the farmer goes for locally available material so as to reduce the expenses.  The below list will be updated as and when there are more data available. S.No. Botanical Name Common Name Tamil Name Habit Condition Role 1 Acacia caesia (L.) Willd. Climbing prickly shrub Dried Mechanical barrier 2 Acacia chundra Willd. Small tree Dried / Live Mechanical barrier 2a Acacia Concinna Shikakai, Soap-pod Climbing prickly shrub Live Mechanical barrier 2aa Acacia Mellifera - - - Live Mechanical barrier 2b Acacia nilotica subsp. indica  Gum Arabic, Babool ??????? Live Mechanical barrier 2c Acacia nilotica ssp. Tomentosa Tomentose Babool ??????? Live Mechanical barr...

What I propose to do in this blog is very simple?  I am going to present information/data for everybody (hence the title) and also collect information/data from everybody. What is the need to do this? I want the newcomer to Agriculture to get a head start rather than spending his/her time looking for information/data. (As I mentioned earlier, I have been looking for information/data for quite a long time and still not able to get the data for analysis in a organized manner.  Hence, I felt the need to do the same.) As I am from Tamilnadu (India), the information/data presented here is related to TN state and hence people from other states can use the template (I will update later on) and fill the data according to their respective states. (Please give credit to the author) Anybody who wishes to come into the agriculture fold should be getting a basic knowledge of agriculture before deciding the future course of action.  My suggestion would be as follows:- Books of In...