baka

BM

Land Preparation Digging beds

Digging or plowing. Depends on the crop but lets focus on the average high value vegetable crops.

We should plow the field when first setting up our area if it's big enough. We should double dig (french intensive method) the beds by hand to establish permanent beds, while incorporating our soil amendments. The good news is that after the initial bed preparation we never have to plow or till again.

According to Keith Mikkelson's book "Sustainable Agriculture in the Tropics"pg. 224, he converted his clay soil by following this formula:

New Soil Preparation

1. Clear grass and weeds for compost
2. Plow or spade down to subsoil (1st dig)
3. Spade in rice hull and charcoal (double dig)
4. Spade in Compost, bokashi etc.
5. Spade in all other Ammendments
6. Aerate with Broad Fork
7. Water in
8. Mulch
9. Water in
10. Place irrigation lines
11. Water in until soil's moist top to bottom

First Year Amendments: 2-4 times: Per 1m x 9m bed (3ftx30ft)Pail 20L

- 12-15 pails Compost (4-5 tons/hectare)
- 10 pails Rice Hull
- 1 pail Vermicompost
- 2 pails Bokashi
- 2 pails Ash
- 10L Bat Guano
- 10-20L Lime

Use the amendments that are available in your area.

Container Planting

So what's the best tried and tested potting soil mix?

The simplest soil mix consists of:
-one part garden soil (should be loam)
-one part sand (should be river sand since sea sand is high in salt)
-one part sifted fully decomposed compost. or chicken manure
This mix may easily encounter disease, so you will need to sterilize it, either cook the soil, pour hot water on it, or burn leaves ontop of the mixed soil.

*This is an important step I've left out in starting my seedlings and may be the root source of some of my problems.

Soilless mixes used in the Philippines:
-two parts Rice hull charcoal, one part compost
-equal parts of rice hull, compost and coconut coir dust
-equal parts of sand, rice hull and coir dust
These are free of disease but you must take care not to contaminate it later.

Caution: DO NOT put earthworms into your pot to help aerate your soil, they will eat your plants...hehe That's the advice of a guy I met in Davao who is successfully growing herbs and vegetables in containers.

Harbest Agribusiness carries a good book on container gardening "A Guide to the exciting and rewarding pursuits of Growing Vegetables and Other Edibles in Containers". The above mixes are quoted from that book pg.48.

EM5 Biorepelent

I want to share to you a simplified method of OHN called EM5.

EM5:1 Liter of Gin
1 Liter of Suka tuba
1 Liter of Molasses
1 Liter EM
6 Liters of Water
2 Kilos of fresh leaves and matter collected early in the morning
(neem leaves, chilies, lemon grass, kakawatti, garlic, green fruits, mahbuhay, ginger, aloe, radish roots, marigold, seeds or oil extracts etc.)
Ferment 14 days

Mix all the ingredients into the plastic container and seal it. Stir daily to prevent gases from building up. After 2 week fermentation bottle the liquid by straining plant matter and squeezing liquid out (with gloves), pour into bottles using a funnel. Can be stored for 6 months. EM5 should have a sweet smell.

Dilute 1:250
Spray with FPE (Fermented Plant Extract) weekly, after sun goes down.

3C recipe

he basic recipe of 3C (good for 1 month consumption)

1 kilo peeled, shredded carrots (you can used a potato peeler or
cheese shredder)
1 kilo shredded whole cucumber including the seeds
1 kilo coarsely chopped celery (if you want to include the roots
please wash thoroughly because soil easily get's spoil)

combined everything in a big basin and evenly coat 1 1/2 kilo of
muscovado sugar. and while doing it - keep a happy disposition! do not
make 3C when angry okay!

Put the mixture in an airtight container ( osmotic pressure) for 10
days. after ten days separate the juice from the sludge or solid with
a plastic strainer or cheesecloth.

this combination and proportion will give you a tangy, smooth, creamy
and salty (natural salt of celery)yummy, yummy juice. i take this
straight up every morning and when we are tired from farm and would
like to sleep, i take a jigger and sleep like a baby!

if you want less tangy and creamy put less carrots and more cucumber
than carrots, if you want tangy but not salty put less celery and
replace cucumber

you may add your ginger garlic lemongrass ampalaya leaves, malunggay
remember the ratio 2:1 for diabetic just reduce sugar and extend
fermentation to another five days to give sugar do the work.

enjoy and please share the recipe and let them experience the benefit
good health!

natural fertilizer

Bokashi:
1 sack of rice hull charcoal, (Carbon) - 7 pesos
1 sack of rice bran (coarse one) (Carbon) - 40 pesos
1 sack of saw dust (Carbon) - 10 pesos
1 sack of goat manure (Nitrogen) - 10 pesos
1/2 sack of copra meal (Nitrogen) - 200 pesos
200 ml of EMExtended - 4 pesos
200 ml molasses - 2.5 pesos
30 liters of water (or until 30% moisture content is reached) should be able to make a ball in your hand a slightly crumble, if too powedery (dry) add more water, if too wet drips when squeezed add more dry materials.

=273.50 pesos

Mix materials together on a concrete floor like mixing cement.
Ferment in air tight containers for 2 weeks.
- A drum also works best if has a wide opening to harvest easier. Pails are easiest to transport.

Good news EM1 has dropped in price from 700 to 600 pesos.

Start making your own high powered fertilizer now!