SQUASH PRODUCTION GUIDE

Bush sitao can be raised in both lowland and upland areas. It can adapt to any soil type but best to plant in sandy to clay loam soil. It can tolerate acidic soil but it will not produce high yield. It can grow in low and high rainfall but only briefly as it will rot due to water-logging. It can survive only if the dry season is brief and not too long. For long dry spell, scheduled watering is needed to preserve or conserve moisture in the soil while the plants are growing.

In selecting a variety, give emphasis the duration of growth, the yielding capacity, tolerant against pests and diseases and easily adapt in extreme weather condition.

Plow and harrow the land 3 times. Loosen the soil well to be able to have good soil condition. Every time there is emerging weeds, remove them through plowing or harrowing.

Inoculate the seeds with Rhizobium before planting. Plant 1 seed per hill. Spacing is 30 centimeters apart or 75 centimeters between rows.

As fertilization is necessary to keep plants healthy and give higher yield, do the following:

In one hectare land:  30 kilograms urea during planting, 100 kilograms single superphosphate at planting time, 60 kilograms muriate of potash at planting time, 5 bags complete fertilizer (14-14-14), Superphosphate (side-dressing 3-4 weeks after germination).  Organic fertilizer (decomposed dry leaves, straws and animal manure 56 tons per hectare, if available). In acidic soils (4 tons of lime one month before planting to good soil pH)

Water the plant during intense dry season for the plants to give higher yield. Bush sitao can tolerate drought but watering may protect it from dryness in the soil or lacking moisture content that may affect the fruiting of the vegetable. Watering may be done during planting, early seeding or first 15 days, at flowering and pod setting (50 days after planting).

Use furrow irrigation in 10 days interval. Watering induce the plant to grow fast, healthy and high pod setting.

Control pests and diseases are normal farming practices. Without it, the plant has stunted growth, damage leaves and fruits, lower yields.

Most pests that attack bush sitao especially after germination of seeds are pod borers, leaffolders and aphids. Spray the plants with insecticides as soon as the pests started attacking the plants. Spraying with pesticides is the only way to get rid the enemy of the plants.

Bush sitao still has another threat in its growing days. The plants are subject to many diseases like fusarium wilt, cowpea rust and leaf spot. Spray the plants with fungicides to remove the infection. Another way to minimize the effect of the virus is to look for resistant variety.

Include weeding as part of your cultural practices. Remove the weeds every now and then if found to germinate to clean the field from the hazard that later on will affect the health of the plants. Schedule the weeding of the plants 3 times for one season. Additionally, enforce spot weeding every time weeds appear.  Hill-up the plants to loosen the soil 3 weeks after planting.

Harvest the plant 12 days after the flowers open. It may be done if the pods reach the required maximum length and width but not to allow young pods to mature as it can no longer sealable to market. The second and succeeding harvest should be done every 3 days to ensure that pods still young and fresh.

BUSH SITAO PRODUCTION

Bush sitao can be raised in both lowland and upland areas. It can adapt to any soil type but best to plant in sandy to clay loam soil. It can tolerate acidic soil but it will not produce high yield. It can grow in low and high rainfall but only briefly as it will rot due to water-logging. It can survive only if the dry season is brief and not too long. For long dry spell, scheduled watering is needed to preserve or conserve moisture in the soil while the plants are growing.

In selecting a variety, give emphasis the duration of growth, the yielding capacity, tolerant against pests and diseases and easily adapt in extreme weather condition.

Plow and harrow the land 3 times. Loosen the soil well to be able to have good soil condition. Every time there is emerging weeds, remove them through plowing or harrowing.

Inoculate the seeds with Rhizobium before planting. Plant 1 seed per hill. Spacing is 30 centimeters apart or 75 centimeters between rows.

As fertilization is necessary to keep plants healthy and give higher yield, do the following:

In one hectare land:  30 kilograms urea during planting, 100 kilograms single superphosphate at planting time, 60 kilograms muriate of potash at planting time, 5 bags complete fertilizer (14-14-14), Superphosphate (side-dressing 3-4 weeks after germination).  Organic fertilizer (decomposed dry leaves, straws and animal manure 56 tons per hectare, if available). In acidic soils (4 tons of lime one month before planting to good soil pH)

Water the plant during intense dry season for the plants to give higher yield. Bush sitao can tolerate drought but watering may protect it from dryness in the soil or lacking moisture content that may affect the fruiting of the vegetable. Watering may be done during planting, early seeding or first 15 days, at flowering and pod setting (50 days after planting).

Use furrow irrigation in 10 days interval. Watering induce the plant to grow fast, healthy and high pod setting.

Control pests and diseases are normal farming practices. Without it, the plant has stunted growth, damage leaves and fruits, lower yields.

Most pests that attack bush sitao especially after germination of seeds are pod borers, leaffolders and aphids. Spray the plants with insecticides as soon as the pests started attacking the plants. Spraying with pesticides is the only way to get rid the enemy of the plants.

Bush sitao still has another threat in its growing days. The plants are subject to many diseases like fusarium wilt, cowpea rust and leaf spot. Spray the plants with fungicides to remove the infection. Another way to minimize the effect of the virus is to look for resistant variety.

Include weeding as part of your cultural practices. Remove the weeds every now and then if found to germinate to clean the field from the hazard that later on will affect the health of the plants. Schedule the weeding of the plants 3 times for one season. Additionally, enforce spot weeding every time weeds appear.  Hill-up the plants to loosen the soil 3 weeks after planting.

Harvest the plant 12 days after the flowers open. It may be done if the pods reach the required maximum length and width but not to allow young pods to mature as it can no longer sealable to market. The second and succeeding harvest should be done every 3 days to ensure that pods still young and fresh.

BATAW PRODUCTION GUIDE

The vegetable has wide adaptability to many soil conditions. There are many varieties of bataw. There are bataw that are vines needing trellis for support. Another variety stands erect and not a vine type but bushy with thick foliage. There was variety that can be raised directly to the soil without trellis. Its thick foliage will cover the ground.

The many varieties differed in shape, texture, size of leaves, shape of the flowers, seeds, color of the plants and pod characteristic. It has variety that can tolerate period of drought, flowering time, the condition of the seedling (vigor), period of maturity, resistance to pests and diseases, sensitivity to day-length and the viability of the seeds in many type of soil condition. There are varieties suitable in lowland and upland.

The plant grows fast. Because of its dense foliage, it is best controller for the growth of weeds.

Prepare the land thoroughly. Plow and harrow the field 2 to 3 times to break loss the soil. Plant the seeds directly to the soil in furrows. Plant 2 to 3 seeds per hill. Keep maximum distance each hill as the plant will grow robust and has thick foliage.

Let it grow freely in the soil to cover the land. It is best to suppress weed germination and frequency of weeding. No need to do periodic weeding as the plant control the emergence of weeds. Spot weeding can only be done to isolated portion if the weeds in the field persist.

Most often, there’s no need to apply fertilizer as the plant can adapt to any soil type. But in case the plant will not grow healthy despite its resistance to poor soil then apply periodic fertilization to the plant.

In case of pest infestation, spray the foliage with pesticides for the pests to keep away from the foliage to damage the leaves, flowers and fruits.

The plants can tolerate diseases. But in the event they are severely affected by the disease, remove or uproot the affected plants from the good ones to avoid spread of bacterial infection.

Harvest the young pods regularly. Avoid the pod to mature as it can no longer good to sell to the market.

There are many uses of bataw:

-The dry weight of seeds has crude protein containing high level of iron.

-Its young pod is best serve as table vegetables.

-Dried seeds are good alternative for snack foods, cooked or eaten directly. It was used to process bean cake.

-The leaves and flowers are cooked and eaten.

-Sprouts are good for palatable menu.

-The bean hay serves as forage of many animals.

-It was used as silage.

-The green manure serves as fertilizer.

-It was used in the prevention of soil erosion because of its thick foliage.

-It is good cover crop for plantation.

-It has the ability to serve as nitrogen-fixing crop.

TOMATO PRODUCTION GUIDE

Tomato is very popular in the kitchen, the main ingredient in the preparation of a dish for the family. Tomato is not difficult to produce. It can grow even in containers, pots, rubber tires. It grows in many types of soil but best suited in compost soil.

The first step is to make seedbed, the wood box to plant the seeds for germination.  The size of the seedbed should be 50 centimeters long, 30 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters deep. Mix the garden soil with 2 parts compost soil and one part charcoal (burnt rice hull).

To kill harmful micro-organisms in the soil, place the mixture in metal container and heat it under the fire for 45 minutes then cooled. Place the mixture to the seedbed. Be sure that the soil has fine texture.

Make rows where to place the seeds 4 centimeters apart each other. Drill the surface 1 centimeter deep. Cover it with the mixture soil lightly but not to be pressed hardly for the seeds to germinate comfortably.

Spray the seedbed with water in handy sprayer to keep the soil moist but not too wet. Spray it early in the morning.

Transfer the germinated seeds or seedlings to another seedbed 10 days after its germination under the planting distance of 5 centimeters x 5 centimeters. Water the seedlings after the transfer to another seedbed to avoid stress. Try not to expose the seedlings directly to sunlight to avoid wilting.

Use starter solution to sprinkle the seedling after 3 days of transfer. The solution is made of 1 tablespoon ammonium sulfate (ammosul) per 1 gallon of water to assist the seedlings to have a firm stand.

Slowly expose the seedlings to sunlight early in the morning only. Spray the seedling with water in case there is sign of wilting.

Prepare the field. Plow and harrow alternately two to three times to make the soil to have better tilt.

Schedule the transplanting as it aged 4 weeks after germination. The distance between hills should be 40 centimeters. Water the transplanted seedling to loosen the soil and to avoid stress to the plants.

In transferring the seedlings to the prepared field, see to it that the roots is balled with clay soil slowly and carefully to avoid injury to the roots that may cause the  seedling to wilt. Water the plants consistently to avoid heat stress.

Start application of organic fertilizer composed of animal manure or compost materials 2 weeks before the replanting of seeds. Compost application of 1 liter per hill is most effective a day before or at the time of replanting.

Apply 15 grams of complete fertilizer (inorganic) 14-14-14 per hill at planting time. Slowly cover the fertilizer. See to it that the roots of the plant are away from the fertilizer to minimize the impact of sudden potency of the fertilizer to the roots of the plants.

At the same day, application of starter solution per plant is necessary. Side-dress each plant with 5 grams urea together with 5 grams muriate of potash after 30 days of transplanting.

Maintain cleanliness around the planting area. Keep the plants away from weeds. Spot weeding is useful to remove any germinated seeds to harm the plants.

Spray the plants with commercial pesticides (inorganic) if sign of pest’s infestation to the plants is visible but not during the flowering or fruiting stage. Application of organic pesticides is best during this condition.

Remove the plants affected by bacterial wilt to stop the spread of the infection. Schedule the application of fungicide to control sign of disease.

If the plants are in full fruiting stage, harvesting is to be done slowly to matured green to give time to ripe during the selling. Matured ripe tomatoes is not very competitive in the market as it can easily rot if not sold in due time.