POLE SITAO PRODUCTION GUIDE

Pole sitao is a vegetable in demand by housewives. A bunch of it is enough to make healthy menu. Producing them is easy if you know how to take care of them.

It is important to till the soil properly to fine texture. Alternate the plowing and harrowing to the soil 2 to 3 times to have good tilt. Determine first the kind of soil in your field so that you will know beforehand if vegetable is suitable and best fitted for production. Soil analysis helped you to determine what particular fertilizer to use.

Plant them in rows 100 centimeters x 50 centimeters distance drilling a hole between hills accessible in maintaining care to the growing plants. Cover the seeds with fine soil. Plant 2 to 3 seeds per hill. Water the seeds in hill for immediate emergence.

Use the normal application of complete fertilizer (14-14-14) containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus per hectare. In one hectare you need 7 bags. If your area is only ¼ of a hectare, all you need is less 2 bags of that size. Cover the applied fertilizer with fine soil to avoid exposure to the sun that will lessen its potency.

If the soil is lack of phosphorus, you can use side-dressing of phosphorus fertilizer only 20 kilograms per hectare or if ¼ of a hectare, use 5 kilograms enough for that size.

If the plant emerges from the soil in 10 days period, start reducing the seedling by maintaining 1 seedling per hill. The planting of 2 to 3 seedlings per hill is for you to select the best and healthy seedlings to care. It is also needed if some seeds failed to germinate and will not emerge in due time.

Maintain weeding the plants after 2 weeks of planting. Early weeding will free them from damaging weeds that later on will harbor pests to live in the plants.

Water the plants every week or if the need arise especially if the plants begin to wilt due to dryness of the soil.

Hill-up the plants every 4 weeks to loosen the soil around the seedlings that will restrict its growth. From time to time, you can do spot weeding to ensure cleanliness around.

Use bamboo trellis measuring 2 meters in length as medium for climbing vines. Additionally, use vertical support of bamboo (single trellis) or wood for the vines to spread.

Maintain the normal application of water weekly around the plants importantly needed during the development of pods. It is also to ensure that adequate moisture level is attained during the flowering and pod development.

To harvest young green pods, pick them after 10 days from flowering stage. After 10 days, regularly pick the green pods every 2 days to avoid the pods to mature.