Drip irrigation the best watering method, farming Botswana

Recently i visited a farm where they just introduced drip irrigation, and i have to say i was amazed, the speed the crops grew was almost doubled in comparison to the sprinkler method that they were using before also there was way less water wasted. With a sprinkler method only a very small amount of water reachs the roots of the plant also water go,s all over the leaves of the crops which causes disease and rot, however with the drip method the water is directed right at the roots of the plant, hence using less water and preventing disease. Really if you can afford drip irrigation go for it, it is amazing, you will save water your crops will grow faster and you will have less disease,

Cabbage growing using drip irrigation 

The dangers of using chicken manure, Botswana farming

Todays post is about the dangers of using chicken manure when vegetable farming,
As farmers we know the high value of chicken manure in soil preparation so i am not going to tell you things that you already know.

However here is a little warning that we often over look, and that is that chicken's are famous for being carriers of mites, and some of these mites can attack plants, and of course this is not a good thing, in particular red spider mites, in fact often when you open a sack of chicken manure you can see these little mites crawling all over the place!

What can you do to avoid these mites?

Well first you could just stop using chicken manure or some farmers process there chicken manure by soaking it in huge drums of water, thus drowning all the mites and then mixing the soaked manure into there compost heap.

Well that was the Botswana farming tip for today, i hope you found it helpful!  If you did please subscribe of follow
More tips will be up next Monday
Thanks for reading

Cabbage pests and disease's Botswana farming tips

Cabbage pests and disease's Botswana farming tips

Recently a reader of this blog asked the question: what are some of the diseases that cabbage farmers have to deal with in Botswana?

Well each farmer, often depending on location and weather, will find that his cabbages face different diseases and pests. Hence i will not here write out a list of all the diseases and pests that affect cabbages, rather we will just take a look at a few common cabbage diseases and pests that affect most Botswana farmer's.

1. Damping off
Seedlings will collapse with dark water-soaked stems soon after transplanting. Damping off is a fungus that lives in the soil, particularly where humidity is high.
So make sure the soil is well drained.
Don't plant out seedlings in the heat of the day, rather plant out seedlings in the late evenings.
Don't plant out in cold water soaked ground.

2. Cut worm's
Seedlings are eaten or cut off near soil level. Cutworms are gray grubs that can be found curled under the soil. They chew stems, roots, and leaves.
Also the larvae of the dung beetle, can also be a very big problem if you use kraal manure, goat/cow dung.
Most agriculture shops sell sprays/powders/baits.
However just by keeping a clean farm one can often avoid having to much of a problem, keep compost heap away from main farming/growing areas. Dont use dung straight from the kraal, allow it to dry in the sun, and powder it.

3. Aphids
Spray regularly, ants also farm aphids, so destroy ant nests with baits or powders, keep up this practice only in the vicinity of your field and only if this problem appears.

Basically in conclusion, keep your farm clean, remove weeds don't allow piles of garden waste to build up, make sure the ground is well drained, don't plant cabbage s under tree's. Don't use pest control unnecessarily.

Birds can also be a big problem to cabbage farmers, to learn how to deal with them, you can check out this article: Birds and cabbages

Cabbage farming tips, Botswana part 2.

Botswana cabbage farming tips part two.

Once you have transplanted your young cabbage seedlings out into your field,you will sadly, probably discover that the wild bird population will start to decenend upon your crops and start biting the growing point or head off each cabbage plant!
So what is to be done?

Well i tried first a scare crow, then hanging old music cds off strings hanging about the field, nothing worked, so finally i put up walls of shade netting around the cabbage patch,this was the best method that i found that actually worked well kind of lets say it worked 65% since most birds felt uncomfortable in the field because

1.the shade netting was always moving from the wind

2.they could not see what was happening around them

So yes birds are cabbages number one problem in northern Botswana anyway, so please if you have found any solutions to prevent them pesky birds please leave a comment

And botswana-cabbage-growing-tips-part-1 for all of you who have not yet read it.
Of course birds are not the only pest to attack cabbages, so here is an article that discusses the common cabbage diseases and pests that affect cabbages in Botswana: The common cabbage pests and disease's for Botswana

Botswana Cabbage growing tips part 1

Farming cabbages in Botswana has it own set of rules. One of the greatest challenges to Botswana cabbage farmers is the heat. When it comes to growing cabbages a farmer wants plenty of sun light at least six hours yet he does not want extreme heat as this sucks the water out of the grownd leaving the cabbage field looking like a vegetable compost heap. So what's to be done about this? Well one thing you want to do is to slow down the amount of water that is lost by evaporation each day. So the more sandy the soil the quicker the water will evaporate so in order to slow this down, before a farmer plants out his crops about a month before he will inrich his field with as much organic mulch as possible, Some mulching ideas are....
Cow dung
Goat dung
Old leaves
Old grass cuttings
Elephant dung is great if you can find it ko kasane

To find out why growing cabbages in Botswana is a great idea click Here
And you can now read part two Here

Growing cabbages in Botswana

Today i am going to talk a bit about growing cabbages here in Botswana as a source of income. and the reason for growing cabbages over other vegetables such as tomatoes is really very simple. 1 cabbages are very hardy and do well in most of the soils found here in Botswana. 2 cabbages are a popular vegetable and so you will have a market as soon as you harvest. 3 cabbages are ready for harvesting in three months and under and that means that you will be able to get more sets of crops from your land per year then you would if you were growing onions or some other vegetable. 4th the price of cabbages hovers around 8 pula and 12 pula each at times rising as high as 25 pula per cabbage! and so i am sure you can see why cabbages are the the crop to grow. feel free to leave questions in the comments for more information on growing cabbages in Botswana click Here