Home Garden and Organic Farming

Weeds are ubiquitous. They grow everywhere, compete with crops for soil moisture, nutrients, solar radiation, and space, thus reducing the crop yields.  Weeds also act as alternative hosts that harbor insects, pests and diseases, and micro-organisms. Some weeds release into the soil inhibitors or poisonous substances that may be harmful to the crop plants and livestock. In the aquatic environment, weeds block the flow of water in canals, water-transport system, and drainage system, rendering navigation difficult. The dense growth of aquatic weeds pollutes water by deoxygenating it and killing the fishes. Weed management is done through mechanical, chemical, and biologically. Crop losses due to weeds: Most of these weeds are self-sown and they provide competition by virtue of their faster growth rate in the initial stages of crop growth.  In some crops, the yields are reduced by more than 50% due to weed infestation. Besides competition for resources, weeds often reduc...

What is healthy living soil? Healthy living soil is the most important factor for growing vegetables, fruits, and grains.  The soil must be replenished each season so that plants have all the nutrients necessary to grow. It must be protected from erosion to build healthy topsoil and from the sun, wind to preserve the moisture content. Soil quality directly relates to good nutrition, and they taste better and improve health. The untrapped minerals in any kind of soil are only accessed by humus complex. Humus is the most important thing in organic farming. Humus provides food for the soil biota includes bacteria, microorganisms, earthworms, and many more small insects. The organic residues left after the extensive decomposition of organic debris (leaves, woods, grass clippings, branches, and other plant parts) by bacteria and fungi is called humus, it contains 60-70% of the total organic carbon in soils. It contains a good mix of clay, sand particles, and air pockets....

These are derived from organic sources like the plant, animal, and human residues. Among these are bulky organic manures such as farmyard manure(FYM), compost, concentrated manures like Oil-Cakes, and various products of animal origin like dried blood, fish manure..etc. are added in the soil, to improve the physical condition of the soil, replenish and maintain it's human status via soil organic matter, create optimum conditions for the activities of soil microorganisms and contribute a small part of the plant nutrients removed by the crops or otherwise lost through leaching and soil erosion. The plant-food elements contained in manure are released in an available form upon decomposition by soil microorganisms. The main role of this manure is to add organic matter and humus content. Biofertilizers or bio inoculants: These are the preparations containing microorganisms beneficial to agricultural production in terms of nutrient supply, especially N and P. Fertilizer and thei...

Coco peat or coir pith is an agriculture waste byproduct from a coir industry, used as a soil additive. It contains macro and micronutrients, natural enzymes, and helps to improve soil aeration, improve soil structure. Coco peat is mainly used as a lightweight growing medium for the germination of seeds. Processed coco peat used as a compost for growing plants. It absorbs water up to eight times its weight.           About 180 grams of coir pith is obtained from the husk of one coconut. Coir pith contains C: N in the ratio of 112:1 and it also contains lignin (75%) which does not permit natural composting as in other agricultural wastes. Mushroom pleurotus has the capacity to degrade the lignin present in the coir pith by producing enzymes like cellulases and lactases. The C: N ratio is reduced to 24:1 from 112:1 at the end of composting. Coco peat for germination of seeds Composting method: Follow this simple composting method for large-scale pr...

Any potting media for growing plants will generally consist of 2-3 types of components. The first is organic plant-derived materials like peat moss, leaf mold, bark these are absorbing the water very well, and also nutrient holding capacity will be great. The second component is called the coarse aggregates like sand, perlite, vermiculite, charcoal these are improving the drainage of the medium because of the shape of each particle creates large pore spaces it makes easier the flow of air. A third component is soil it is used to hold and supply the nutrients, such as loamy soil, clay soil, sandy soil are most commonly used in many potting media. Organic plant-derived materials:   Peat moss is the main ingredient for many potting mixtures for houseplants. Sometimes it is used alone for air layering and rooting, cuttings. Having very good water holding capacity proving an ideal combination of moisture and air. Leaf mold is the second possible component after peat moss in man...