It has already been mentioned in previous articles that the soil must be kept moist until the seedlings emerge. Light regular water applications must be applied from sowing until the seedlings emerge. heavy irrigation will make herbicides less effective. Beetroots grown during alternating dry and wet periods have poor quality and poor emergence. The beets [...]

Sowing beetroot commercially Sowing beetroot is a practice used by commercial farmers. They are not planted with seedlings. Once the seed is cleaned and salts removed they are ready for sowing. In most cases a seed planter is used since commercial growers can plant 50 ha or more, especially for the canning industry. Very little [...]

Beetroot¹ seed treatment is mostly done by commercial seed companies. There are instances where local seed can be harvested. In this case it is important to understand why it must be washed so that low stands can be avoided. Beetroot seed appears corky and fairly big compared [...]

Pigeon pea climatic requirements The pigeon pea is susceptible to frost damage at all stages of growth.. The most favourable temperature range is between 18-29°C (64-85°F).  For best seed yields bright sunshine is essential. excessive cloud or shade produces spindly growth and poor seed set. There are short day, day neutral and intermediate varieties in [...]

Beetroot is not grown by many farmers. Mainly because the demand is not that great and commercial companies have the market share. A large portion of the beetroot sold is processed and bottled. A small portion is sold as fresh. This does not mean there are not opportunities. The advantage of growing beetroot is that [...]

Okra is not well known in South Africa. Actually its not very well known except maybe in Turkey, India and Asian countries (but they use a different variety). Okra has various popular names such as Gumbo and Lady's Finger. Chinese Okra is something totally different, Luffa acutangula, family Cucurbitaceae. The Okra we are talking about is from [...]

Soil compactionFeatured Image obtained from: Photos Public Domain; Dirt is a problem that all growers face. There are a huge variety of equipment for soil preparation, but the primary tillage implements are mouldboard ploughs, large discs and chisel ploughs. The mouldboard and large disc ploughs tend to produce a compacted hard layer just below [...]

Nutritional value of pigeon peas can vary considerably, as with any crop. Climate, growth stage, plant part, fertilizer application are but a few variables that can affect the nutrient content of a pigeon pea analysis. The table below should just be used as a general guideline. The total protein, fat and fibre content are high [...]