Week 4 (Applying fertilizer,Sowing and Mulching)

WEEK 4

FRIDAY

30 MARCH 2018

SHARE FARM UITM JASIN MELAKA


Fertilizer Process

Assalamualaikum and hey everyone, I hope all of you in healthy and always happy with your family or friends. According to our lecturer we cannot used chemical fertilizer because we are using organic planting so we just use organic fertilizer from animal wastes. The organic fertilizers are fertilizers derived from animal matter, animal excreta(manure), human excreta, and vegetable matter such as compost and crop residues. Naturally occurring organic fertilizers include animal wastes from meat processing, peat, manure, slurry, and guano.

Measure the chicken dung 6 kilo for each planting bed

In contrast, the majority of fertilizers used in commercial farming are extracted from minerals such as phosphate rock or produced industrially like ammonia. Organic agriculture, a system of farming, allows for certain fertilizers and amendments and disallows others. For us our planting bed is sized 4 times 22 feet so we must apply 6 kilogram of chicken dung to our planting bed. We divided the chicken dung by using the weighting scale. 

Our friends is demo to us about how to apply the chicken dung into planting bed.

Basically, function of chicken dung is to give nutrient to crop and to fertility the. This is the important thing to soil because it is can give nutrient for crops growth. For planting bed size of 4 times 22, we apply 6 kilogram of chicken dung to our planting bed. 

There are five ways can we apply the chicken dung:  

1. Plow the soil  
2. Open small hole along the planting bed
3. Throw the chicken dung to the holes that we make earlier
4. Close the hole and plow the soil to make sure the chicken dung blend well to the soil
5. Continued to the all part of the planting bed

Our P.E  monitoring us 

Focus is important

For your information, after we finish apply the chicken dung to the planting bed we let the soil blend well with the fertilizer in 1 day. It is because normally chicken dung is the high heat matters so it is not good for the crops if we keep on planting the crop.

SOWING PROCESS

According to Wikipedia sowing is the process of planting. An area or object that has had seed planted in it will be described as being sowed. We plants our crop with type of sowing which is hand sowing is the process of casting handfuls of seed over prepared ground, or broadcasting. Usually , a drag or harrow is employed to incorporate the seed into the soil. We make 2 to 3 centimeter depth of the holes and 20 to 25 centimeter between the holes throughout the planting bed. 

Put seed on the holes

At my planting bed, i have make 48 holes to sow the seed and each holes.I have put 3 to 4 seeds of long beans which is the crops that our class must plants. The reason I plants the seed 3 to 4 seeds each holes is to make precautionary measures if I plants only a seed in a hole the possibility of the seed not sprout is high. 

Focus !!!!

Why so serious bro!!!

After we settled with planting the seeds, we keep on with watering the planting bed with 3 watering can. Walla....

Mulching Process

A mulch is a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. Reasons for applying mulch include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area. A mulch is usually, but not exclusively, organic in nature. it may be permanent such plastic sheeting or temporary such bark chips and dry leaves. It may be applied to bare soil or around existing plants. Mulches of manure or compost will be incorporated naturally into the soil by the activity of worms and other organisms. The process is used both in commercial crop production and in gardening , and when applied correctly, can dramatically improve soil productivity.

Collect the dry leaves from the near bush.

Careful when using machete 

Organic mulches decay over time and are temporary. The way a particular organic much decomposes and reacts to wetting by rain and dew affects its usefulness. Some mulches such as straw peat sawdust and other wood products may for a while negatively affect plant growth because of their wide carbon to nitrogen ratio, because bacteria and fungi that decompose the materials remove nitrogen from the surrounding soil for growth. However, whether this effect has any practical impact on gardens is disputed by researchers and the experience of gardeners.

Collect from the oil palm

Organic mulches can mat down, forming a barrier that blocks water and air flow between the soil and the atmosphere. vertically applied organic mulches can wick water from the soil to the surface, which can dry out the soil.

Apply mulches on the planting bed

Some of the mulches that we collects

The effect of mulch upon soil moisture content is complex. Mulch forms a layer between the soil and the atmosphere preventing sunlight from reaching the soil surface, thus reducing evaporation. However, mulch can also prevent water from reaching the soil by absorbing or blocking water from direct sunlight and rains. In order to maximize the benefits of mulch, while minimizing its negative influences, it is often applied in late spring or early summer when soil temperatures have risen sufficiently, but soil moisture content is still relatively high.

That all from me this week see you in week 5 guyss....