Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi
Dr. Ramanaidu Ekalavya Grameena Vikas Foundation
KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRA - MEDAK
Tuniki, Kowdipally, Medak Telangana - 502 316
      

Vegetable Nursery


  • The nursery means a place where young plants or seedlings are grown for sale or for planting elsewhere.
  • Planting healthy seedlings in the main field leads to better harvests and good yields.
  • Some of the vegetable crops like tomato, brinjal, chili, cabbage, cauliflower, gourds, and flower crops like marigold seeds are raised in the nursery under 50% shade net to achieve maximum germination count and healthy plant establishment and then transplanted to the main field.
  • For vegetable seedlings production, the shade net structure was established in 0.25 acres at KVK, Tuniki.

Objectives

  1. Supply of quality planting materials to the farmers
  2. To enhance the crop yield and income of the farmer

Importance of vegetable nursery

  1. Less loss of expensive seeds
  2. Proper seed germination, uniform growth, least seedling mortality
  3. Least pest and disease incidence
  4. The root portion will not get damaged while uprooting seedlings from portrays.
  5. The survival rate of seedlings is high after transplanting in the main field.

Procedure for raising of vegetable seedlings


Media preparation:

  1. Soilless media like coco peat and vermicompost mixing with the ratio of 2:1 and enriched with biofertilizers like azotobacter, PSB & Zn solubulizing bacteria and Bio fungicides like Trichoderma viridi or pseudomonas flourscens at 15 to 20 days before filling in portrays.
  2. To enrich the media, take 1 kg or lit of each bio fertilizer and bio fungicide for every 100 kg of media and mix well.
  3. Everyday rotate the media once and sprinkle with jaggery water to maintain optimum moisture and also cover with gunny bags or leaves. It is better to prepare media under 50% shade net.

Filling of media in portrays

  1. All the cells of portrays should fill with the enriched media in uniform and properly.

Seed Sowing

  1. Each portrays having 98 cells and each cell depth is 3 to 4 cm. single seed should be placed at 2 cm depth in every individual cell and covered with media properly.

Germination

  1. Seeds will be geminate within 3 to 4 days after sowing. To get uniform and early germination, keep the trays one above another and cover them with a polythene sheet to create dark conditions and heat generation.

Intercultural Operations

  1. Seedlings should be irrigated regularly for better growth and development of the seedlings. Rose can or flush boom can be used to irrigate the seedlings. Excess irrigation is also dangerous for the growing seedlings as there might be chances of developing collar rot, root rot, and foliar diseases.
  2. Nutrient management is important to raise healthy seedlings apart from the nutrients present in the coco peat or growing media. The nutrition is supplied through foliar application of panchaghavya@ 10 ml per lit and Fish amino acid @ 10 ml per lit alternate with 3 to 4 days intervals and also drench with jeevamrutham & waste decomposer (1:4 ratio) once in a week.

Pest and Disease Management

  1. Drench with Trichoderma viridi @ 5ml per lit for management of soil-born diseases.
  2. Spray fermented butter milk @50ml per lit and pseudomonas flourscens @5ml per lit for management of foliar diseases.
  3. Spray neem oil 25ml per lit for the management of sucking pests and leaf-eating caterpillar infestation.

Transplanting

  1. 25 to 30 days old seedlings are ready for transplanting in main field.