ASPARAGUS PLANTING GUIDE

Sandy loam or clay loam soil is best suited in planting asparagus. Select a field with soil rich in organic matter. It has beneficial effect to the plants when the soil is fertile. Considering that asparagus can occupy the field much longer as long as the field is not soil deficient. Initial steps should be taken to put the soil in uniform shape and better soil type. A good soil cultivation facilitate proper distribution of water to the field and its absorption that makes the soil soft, pliable, preferable and in good tilt.

Avoid using top soil that is lack of deepness with elevated water table that affects the development of roots of the plants with better firm stand.

Cultivate the land thoroughly. A thorough plowing and harrowing in 3 repetitions during the cultivation period will give even distribution of soil in the field. Soil elevation in some portion of the land is corrected. A plain surface has greater advantage in irrigating the land. Equal distribution of water can be attained.

Make the planting area free from unnecessary debris and emerging weeds. See to it that the soil is always in good tilt, smooth and finely cultivated. Remove all the weeds that are nuisance to the plants. The soil should have a pH level between 6 .0 to 7.0. If the soil analysis showed deficiency with pH level less than 6.0 will mean that it is acidic and need to be fertilized thoroughly to restore its fertility. Any deficiency can affect the growth of the plants thereby reducing the opportunity to have higher yield.

Lime is necessary to restore the pH level in normal condition. It should be done openly until the deficiency is corrected. Even if asparagus highly tolerate salt, it is best if the percentage of salt concentration in the soil is much lesser.

Construct drainage canal in between the rows to have the field ready outlet in case of water-logging.

It is best suited in temperate climate. Consistent wet weather condition is not appropriate during planting. It enhances the development of soil-borne disease and favorite haven for harmful insects.

Establish nursery for the seedling for transplanting to the field. Another option is direct seeding but healthy plants can’t be determine and most seeds might not germinate properly those reducing the plant populations in the land.

Using seedling is most appropriate to prepare healthy and robust plants. Fertilize the seedlings in the nursery to keep them in good shape and reduce mortality rate. 

Another method of planting is by using one-year old crowns directly planted to the field only if enough crowns can be procured to support the entire field.

Best planting period is 4^th quarter of the year to first quarter of succeeding year. Weather condition is not too wet and too dry for the seedlings to survive during transporting. If 1 year old crown are used, it should be placed in a furrow with fine soil around it.

A raised bed for the plants is recommended to avoid too much concentration of water in the field. Water will confine in the lower portion of the raised beds. The raised beds should have width measurements of 40 to 72 inches as recommended. 

The in- row spacing in raised beds should be 6 to 12 inches.   Asparagus are broadly adaptable to changes in weather condition. Accommodate population of 50,100 young plants or more in 1 hectare area.

Don’t over-water the plants to prevent soil-borne disease to take over the field. Extra care in irrigating the land should be correctly observed. Procure drains and water pump. Make it ready during the time of rainy days or to be used to remove accumulated concentration of water in the field during irrigation.

During hot and dry weather, water the plants to replace the moisture lost in evaporation. This is also to remove the accumulation of salts in the soil that can affect the growing plants. Frequent irrigation is necessary to maximize the development of fern during hot weather condition especially when the fern is in maximum size.

Stop irrigation during wet season. Moisture level in the soil is enough for its growth. After the first harvest, water the field as the fern growth will increase to be more productive. Avoid cutting back the water distribution abruptly. It causes the reduction of the spear yield and the size of the plants during the next harvest. Soil moisture should be maintained before harvest. After enough harvest is done, water requirements to the field will slowly reduce.

Weeding is necessary to protect the plants during period of growth. Weed prevention is costly if not taken seriously. The plants will be in constant threat. Remove the weeds by cultivating the raised beds. This is to allow the furrows and rows of plants weeds-free. In choosing a field for planting, it is most recommended to look an area that is easy to handle to remove weed concentration. Constant cultivation of the field will ensure that the pre-emergence of weeds are controlled.

Before the schedule planting, irrigate the entire field to allow the weeds to germinate. After its germination, start the final cultivation. Apply post-emergence herbicide to the soil then starts the transplanting. Another weeds control can be done before the start of first harvest. Apply pre-emergence herbicide during the cutting period. The effect of the herbicide is effective by watering the entire field.

Sort out a way to protect the growing spears against the wind. If affects its spear growth as it bends nearer to the ground. Wind barriers made of polyethylene plastic sheets will do. Tie to wood and bamboo poles. Wind can dry-out the cells on the side of the spear thereby losing its marketable appearance.

The use of herbicides and fungicides should be done based on manufacturer’s direction and rate of proper application to be effective. Use insecticides to eradicate army worms, aphids, cutworms and others. Use fungicides to prevent the common disease to harm the plants like fusarium wilt and root rot. Late prevention will cause the reduction of the size of the spear and low-yielding ability.

The effect of the disease to the plants is minimized by selecting good and tolerant variety of asparagus. The seeds planted in the nursery are pure, clean and healthy. That one year crowns were raised in a field free from soil-borne diseases. That good irrigation practice is applied.

An infected soil has damaging effect to young growing plants. It causes stunted growth and easily withered. The plants are unhealthy without any chance to have better yield. Avoid excessive harvesting of matured asparagus in order to prevent weakening the stand of the crown easy for the disease to control.

Most of the diseases in the field are the result of excessive irrigation, repeated heavy rainfall and poor drainage system. Accumulated water in the furrow below the raised beds will harbor many kinds of diseases. Proper and effective control of the soil-borne diseases can be done by good sanitation. 

Remove all infected plants from the field and destroy or burn them. There should be wide row spacing easy for mobility and cultivation. There should be a good irrigation system that can remove excess water in the field. One good remedy is to construct small internal drainage canals in between the rows of plant as an outlet for water-logging.

Once the planting field of asparagus is established, a yearly application of phosphorus and potassium is recommended. Based on soil analysis, effective application of right fertilizer can be done better. Application of fertilizer will depend on soil condition and the physical growth of the plants. If the plants are unhealthy, application of fertilizer is mostly needed.

Broadcast foliar fertilizer to the plants based on the established rate of application. Application of complete fertilizer (14-14-14) NPK has wider benefits to have robust and healthy plants. Whatever deficiency the soil has should be restored by the application of proper fertilization activity during the early growing period of asparagus. Any visible sign of soil deficiency should be attended to. 

The yield and size of the spear will show how fertile is the soil. Consult an expert agriculturist in your area that can give additional knowledge to restore soil deficiency accordingly and effectively.

Chop matured ferns in the field and placed in the bed in bunches for transport to designated shade or storage area. Cut the spears in an angle near the surface of the soil. Do the cutting early in the morning to avoid stress of the cut spears especially in hot weather. Cut the spears 10 inches long. This will subject to another cut of 9 inches when packed.

Use cutting knife intended for asparagus harvesting. Cutting is done manually. Harvest the spears early in the season every 3 days. Cutting during warm weather will do (not hot) and done daily after the initial cutting. Any deformed spears in unmarketable size should be removed to allow regrowth for marketable grade.

Don’t harvest the spears in the bed for too long. It should be done fast to avoid feathering. It will reduce carbohydrates contents in the crown.

Sort out all the hauled spears in the shade.  Conduct   grading, trimming, cooling and then packing ready for transport to market. Cool the harvested spears immediately after the initial and succeeding harvest to avoid toughening. Any delay will result to soft rot on the tip of the spear and started to decay.

Avoid placing the spears in high temperature area in order to preserve its natural sugar, freshness, flavor and stored vitamins. Extra care should be observed during harvesting to avoid error in cutting or unintentional trampling of plants.

AMPALAYA PRODUCTION GUIDE

The popularity of ampalaya spread into many regions of the world. The discovery of being best herbal alternative for the treatment of diabetes builds strong position in the markets.

Pharmaceuticals are busy manufacturing ampalaya into powdered capsules and took control in the distribution of their manufactured products. As they were now grown commercially in large scale, the benefit was staggering. The lowly vegetable is now the phenomenal star of all seasons.

The fruits and leaves of ampalaya found to contain iron, calcium, carbohydrates and vitamin B. If regularly included in simple dish, may help to avoid insulin deficiency.

Planting ampalaya needs utmost care, effort and unlimited attention because of the easy susceptibility to nematode. If the soil is mostly deficient, the fungus will create haven in the soil destroying what has been planted there.

It is important to take the soil for analysis to determine the correct soil condition so that if deficient, necessary application of fertilizer is carried out. This will be the first step of preventive action through fertilization.

One way to correct these is to apply basal in-raw compost, animal manure and organic fertilizers in addition to application of tri-calcium phosphate fertilizer.

Select variety that is resistant to nematode infestation. Consider also variety that is short-term to mature 64 days from date of planting the seeds. Ampalaya can be harvested earlier during wet season within 62 days.

In order to increase yield of production, pre-germination of seeds found to have more benefits than direct seeding.  One seedling should be planted 1.50 meters apart in a row. The distance between rows should be 2 meters.  The purpose is to allow penetration and exposure to sunlight because of wider spacing.

Germinated seeds are more economical as it only needs one seedling per hill while in direct seeding, 2 to 3 seeds are needed because not all seeds can germinate in the soil.

Seedlings for transplanting can easily adapt to transplanting stress without affecting the regeneration of the roots.

If the seeds are pre-germinated, it shorten the waiting time compared to direct seeding that will take little more days before it emerge in the soil. It needs one night to pre-germinate the seeds by soaking it with clean water.

To allow germination, spread the seeds in damp cloth for 3 days until the seedcoat is broken. Keep the cloth moist and maintain moisture until the seeds germinate. Transfer the seedlings to prepared hills.

As the seedlings grow longer, prepare trellis made of bamboo poles every 1.5 meters. Then tie the plastic string from pole to pole to serve as climbing medium for the vines.

Prune the tips of the branch of the established seedlings to grow multiple branching and increase yield. The lower node of the branches will grow and bear fruits. It can be done by pinching the main stem inducing growth of primary or secondary laterals.

If it bears many fruits in the stem, you have to reduce it and thin out to few numbers so that the fruits can grow bigger and longer as it controls food competition.

To control pests in the plant, spray it with pesticides to remove the threat that may affect the fruiting. Another way to protect the young fruits is by using paper bags or polyethylene bags for the insects not to damage the fruits or from contamination (toxicity) from pesticide and fungicide.

As normal cultural management, spraying the plant with fungicide may help prevent nematode to infect the roots and root system.

EGGPLANT PRODUCTION GUIDE

Anyone can plant eggplant anywhere even in your own backyard. It is one of best vegetable needed in the kitchen. They are favorite ingredients at home or in restaurants to make palatable dish. It is healthy food full of vitamins and minerals. It is also good source of income for farmers.

There is demand of eggplant in the wet market or in bigger supermarket. It can be made into different menu. It is money maker for large-scale production.

Eggplant has taste some people don’t want to eat. It is not nutritious but once it is added into various dishes, the taste becomes different. Ordinary household make a dish with eggs a good breakfast menu on the table along with a cup of coffee.

There are many varieties of eggplants, separated in size, form and color. It may be plain or striped.

Eggplant is best suited in deep loam soil. Select an area where there is good soil condition, elevated place, has nearby irrigation source, has drainage around the upraised beds. It should be expose to sunlight.

The field should be plowed and harrowed alternately 3 times to loosen the soil. Start making upraised beds where the seedlings are to be planted.

Procure good seeds from the agricultural supply or to use seeds directly from ripen eggplants intended for seedling purpose. Soak seeds in water for the duration of 24 hours for high percentage of germination. Select a variety that can adapt to both dry and wet season.

The seeds should be treated first with fungicide to prevent damping off in the seedbed. Water the seedbed occasionally if it showed sign of dryness.

The seeds should be planted to the seedbed first until ready to be planted in the upraised beds. Do not expose seedbed from the rain, direct exposure to sun, windy environment to prevent being damaged from weather condition while germinating.

As soon as the seedlings are ready for transplanting, start pulling out the seedlings in the seedbeds for transfer to the field. Be sure that the height of the seedlings is 10 centimeters. The distance in rows should be 55 centimeters x 55 centimeters. In one hectare, it can accommodate 500 grams of seedlings.

Make pre-planting application of complete fertilizer (14-14-14) of NPK essential to growth of matured plants. Additional application of nitrogen is needed especially when the plant is in full bloom during flowering stage.

During wet season, the plant should be planted in upraised beds to have enough drainage. Too much rainfall will affect its vegetative state and flowering formation.

Regular irrigation during dry month will help eggplant to continue to bear fruits. During rainy season, there should have enough drainage to remove excess water around the plants.  Excessive rainfall may affect the growth of plants affecting continues fruiting.

Remove the terminal growing point as soon as the plant started to established. Such action will induce lateral branching. If the cultivar grows long, support is needed to hold them in place. You can use bamboo slats and string to bind it closely to the support.

Water the plant during dry period to keep enough moisture to the soil. Watering will prevent the leaf to fall off and buds to flower immaturely.

Keep the field free of weeds. Remove them manually using gardening hoe but do it carefully not to damage the roots. Keep it clean to avoid pests to harbor in the plants. Continue spot weeding every time another germination of weed is observed. Don’t touch the ground in the latter part of its growing season.

Apply pesticides periodically during growing months especially if the insects insisted to vacate the plants. Apply fungicide to prevent diseases to damage the plants or the fungi that already started destroying the growth of plants.

You can use mulching to the plants to protect the root systems and reduce water loss due to evaporation. It is also helpful to scare away from pests. Plastic mulching can also prevent erosion during the time when there is continues rainfall.

Some eggplant variety can be harvested repeatedly whole year round as long as the environmental condition is favorable to its growth, limited rainfall with enough moisture during dry season. There are varieties that will bear fruits in 2-years time.

Harvest the plants 80 days from transplanting. Pick out matured fruits only and leave smaller ones.

POULTRY RAISING GUIDE

Transfer healthy pullets to the laying area. Light breed is ready to start laying when they are about five months old. Heavy pullets started laying eggs few weeks later. The increase in egg-laying capacity depend in good management and the kind of breed used. It should came from a good strain that has the history of increased laying capacity.

Make a routine work to clean the laying house thoroughly. It should be done 2 weeks before transferring the pullets. The feeders and water troughs are in working condition. Laying hens wanted a clean, well-ventilated and dry, quiet laying house.

Examine every pullet. Use only those healthy ones. Any poorly developed pullets with stunted growth should be culled. Healthy birds are always active and vigorous and healthy, well-developed body with yellow pigmented beaks and shanks.

A laying birds produces eggs over a year. If the profitability of a group of laying birds decreased, then you have to select which of them be taken out in laying area. You have to develop a group of pullets as your alternative replacement so that you are assured that you have a combined supply of table eggs.

It is your responsibility to have a continues flow of water and feeds. They keep on eating during the day. Give your hens plenty of high protein foods including vitamins and minerals. The laying mash should be ready at all times. There are still other kinds of feed that you need in the entire life of your poultry production. You also need all-mash, pellets and crumbles as your alternate feeds.

In feeding, you have to avoid wasting feeds. Do not fill the feeder more than what is needed in order that when you do the next serving it is always fresh and in good appetizing condition. Your feeder should have guard or lip to control the feed to be scratch or beak. Always make sure that the feeder is level with the back of the birds. Construct your layer house defensively with screen wires around to prevent entry of flying birds and rodents to eat feeds outside. Putting windbreaks is important to keep the feed blown away by the winds.

The amount of feed that you refill every day should be in accordance to their needs and their desire to eat. During cold days, laying birds consume less food in a day or if the temperature is hot. In feeding, give your laying flock an energy boosting formulation where they consume only less food during the day. That means a saving for the cost of feeds. A young pullets eat more feeds for their continued growth. Hens will productively lay eggs if the quantity and quality of the feeds are always available to them.

Observe their feeding habits. If a laying hen reduces his normal eating requirements and no good appetite then something is wrong that you have to check and observe. There is a possibility that these laying birds has health problem that should be segregated immediately especially if he showed weakness and less energetic and sickly.

Any remaining stale feeds in the feeder should be remove and replace it with a fresh one especially if it is no longer palatable. Feeding be done twice a day (morning and afternoon). Make water is available to the layers at all times. They need to drink more especially during high temperature. This is also to keep a normal production rate of eggs. Water troughs should always have a continues flow of clean water. Any left-over should be taken out to avoid the growth of molds which is toxic to the birds. Water is used in giving additional nutrients to the laying hen and also for dispensing medication for their protection.

Proper lighting is needed in the poultry house. The recommended height of the bulb from the floor is 2.8 meters. Do culling of unproductive layer every now and then. They should be removed in the laying house and placed separately. Remove those with shrunken combs and wattles, pale and dry body, have dull eyes, thin and low of energy and have poor appetite. Egg collection should be done 3 times a day or as often as possible especially during hot days. Do the sorting according to the standard size. Any dirty eggs should be check and clean for any flaws before bringing to the storage room.

Keep the eggs in a cool room with temperature of 150'C or lower with humidity of 70' degrees. The egg collection troughs always clean to avoid dirtying or have stain embedded to the eggs.

For the project to succeed, it lies on how you done prevention and control of parasites and many diseases. It can only be realized if you as poultry raisers can achieve the proper management. What is important is effective sanitation measures. To ensure your laying pullets protected from diseases, it should be vaccinated. Do a correct feeding, good housing facilities, comfortable locations. Remove all manures and litters. Wash the area, walls, ceiling, floor, equipment, etc. with water and detergents to remove dirt and dust,then use disinfectants . Cleanliness inside and outside the laying area, proper care and other safety measures is needed to prevent infection to spread out to the laying flocks. If it cannot be controlled, then your project is doomed to failure.

In having a poultry production, it is a must to have your own veterinarian who are knowledgeable when it comes to control. His function is more on prevention. Any warning signs of a disease can be prevented and necessary measures is carried out.

GOAT MILK PRODUCTION GUIDE

Goat milk are rich of many nutrients needed by the human body. As temporary substitute, it can be given to a new baby for few weeks before it can be permanently replaced by breast-feeding. This dairy animal became one of the source of milk for our milk requirement. Goat is not so expensive to raise, for as long as there is enough grass around the farm. It can easily multiply without too much management. It eats almost anything that caught their fancy even flowers in the garden are included.

Goat milk is easily digested in the body compared to other dairy animals. To have a goat production project only need a small starting capital and it can multiply faster. The breeder should weigh 45 kilos or about 10 months. Early breeding will stunt the animal. There should be a complete development of its fetus.

Check any sign of heat. Once a doe is in the stage of estrus, she is willing to receive the buck. It may last for 3 days. It is best to breed the doe in the second day of heat to ensure conception. Gestation period may last 150 days from start of conception to kidding.

There are many instances in the failure of breeding. If the doe will not become pregnant even in three successive heat period, then there is something you have to consider:

-it may have abnormal egg
-it may have disease
-due to hormonal problem
-infertile sperm from the buck
-over fatness of the doe

Avoid malnutrition for your doe. She should be given enough proteins and minerals, vitamins to have a normal reproduction ability. If the doe insist to reproduce, then you have to find another one, a valuable breeding female as your new breeder.

There are many forms of breeding goats. You can select any of them that you think best for certain circumstances after evaluating consideration of its effectiveness to produce. The most commonly type of breeding goat is by cross-breeding. The mating of 2 different breeds. It will increase the size of the offspring, especially if the 2 inbreeds were cross-breeds. It gives an increase vigor to the would-be offspring.

A doe become fretful and emits a low bleat, restless, paw bedding around, a slight mucus discharge appears several days before kidding as a sign of forthcoming birth. After birth, place the doe in a well-lighted, spacious, comfortable pen. Put clean dry straw as her bedding mattress. In an abnormal presentation where a doe cannot deliver a kid without assistance especially if it is in an abnormal position, your help is needed. You have to pull-out it free in a proper position to easily take out the kid.

Feeding the kid especially at birth should be allowed to suck his mother's breast for 2 months in order to obtain high nutrients and antibodies in resisting diseases and act as laxative to clean the digestive system of the newborn kid. The kid should be given salt and water.

Then start weaning the kid. Use concentrate feed by directly rubbing the feed to his mouth in feeding for 2 months. Allow the kid to nibble grass around one month.

How to do the milking?

-Wash your hands with soap. You need plenty of water. Wash the udders with clean warm water. Dry them with a clean cloth. Dry your hands also.

-Close your thumb and first finger around the teat so that milk will not go back to the udder. Close the second finger to squirt the milk out. The first squirt must be discarded as it is not clean.

-Close the 3rd finger. Put a steady pressure. Do not jerk the teat down. Close the little finger and squeeze the entire hand until the milk comes out.

-Release the pressure of your hand on the teat and open your fingers so that the teat can fill up again. Repeat the process. Continue doing alternately with the other hand on the other teat until only a very few little milk comes out.

In feeding the doe, it should be allowed to access in good pasture. Give roughage and concentrate.

In feeding the buck, maintains a good pastures. Include concentrate to his food. Give shelled corn, green feeds from the pasture. Give a little amount of copra meal for protein. Give table salt, water and oyster shell powder and grains.

In the production of milk, you should select a numbers of good breeders (buck and doe) for your continues supply of milk. Any inability for a doe to produce enough milk should be replace with another that can produce more milk that has good composition and in best milk-type class.