Thanks for all your wealth of information. Please can I get your number sir.

oyetpel:
Dry season is the best time for planting tomatoes.
Because it doesn't need too much rain. And heavy rain won't be bending your tomato stems.

jidestroud:
This is the perfect time to go into tomato farming. Tomato does well in a Sandy - loamy soil with lots of Sunlight. The dry season also helps warm the soil up for efficient growth.

Tnx; this is encouraging. I fear that if I plant now, the tomatoes won't be done before the rainy season starts; the rain may spoil everything.

NOTE: You will also need to put the variety to be planted into consideration (A dry weather resistant variety)
I will be doing a little of Tomato farming myself. I have gotten two major types grown in the Northern part of Nigeria i.e. Roma VF and the Uc 82b variety.

I picked Roma VFN because among the available varieties: (1) it's nematode resistant (my soil has nematodes), and (2) I love the fruit shape.

fluentinfor:
Any farmer who plants now will compete with tomatoes from the north. It is already dry season. So, this is not the time to do commercial tomato farming if you do not want to compete with the northerners. Except you have your special market.

Tnx; noted. (Even as a mere gardener, I would prefer to harvest my tomatoes when tomatoes are relatively expensive, to justify the effort)

Quick Update (Planting of Tete and Soko)

Just a quick update on today's activities in my kitchen size garden. I was able to do some planting of the Lagos spinach/Green (Soko and Tete) this morning before heading out. I was able to transplant into about 7 mini-sized beds (lol). Activities continues tomorrow, more beds to be filled up with my vegetables.

Updates on the Fluted pumpkin


FLUTED PUMPKIN

Lo and behold, I never even noticed my ugu plant had started bringing out pods. How it escaped my radar is still a surprise to me.

Bad news for me then, NO MORE CUTTING OF THE LEAVES AGAIN!!! (CHAI!!!, especially when all my neigbhours don dey patronize my garden). Now I'm caught in-between staking the Ugu plants with bamboo sticks or letting it run wild on the ground. Nevertheless, I'm yet to see a correlation between staking the plant for good quality seeds or just letting it spread out on the ground (I could be wrong though). To prove this, I will be staking part, while letting the other part run wild.

jidestroud:


Finally, exactly 11days after, desired rooting system have been gotten. Patience pays after all, it's time to transplant my basil into proper nursing pots (bags).

Updates on the Basil plants

The plants are doing very well, almost forgot about them. So many of them in the garden now, even the Igbos around keep commending my efforts for bringing their favorite ingredient for soup making to their doorstep (Walahi, shame dey catch me if someone knocks on my door telling me "I wan buy scent leaves", I simply tell them, I don't sell but you can have some.

jidestroud:
Quick Update (Planting of Tete and Soko)Just a quick update on today's activities in my kitchen size garden. I was able to do some planting of the Lagos spinach/Green (Soko and Tete) this morning before heading out. I was able to transplant into about 7 mini-sized beds (lol). Activities continues tomorrow, more beds to be filled up with my vegetables.

Beautiful. I just can't stop admiring the way you neatly arrange your green vegetables. How did you finally overcome the challenges with Tete?

jidestroud:


Updates on the Basil plants

The plants are doing very well, almost forgot about them. So many of them in the garden now, even the Igbos around keep commending my efforts bring their favorite ingredient for soup making to their doorstep (Walahi, shame dey catch me if someone knocks on my door telling me "I wan buy scent leaves", I simply tell them, I don't sell but you can have some.

I didn't know this is basil, they grow anyhow around our house here.

jidestroud:
Quick Update (Planting of Tete and Soko)

Just a quick update on today's activities in my kitchen size garden. I was able to do some planting of the Lagos spinach/Green (Soko and Tete) this morning before heading out. I was able to transplant into about 7 mini-sized beds (lol). Activities continues tomorrow, more beds to be filled up with my vegetables.

Impressive!. It's just the season. at this stage you really need to make a cool cash out of this two.

jidestroud:
Quick Update (Planting of Tete and Soko)

Just a quick update on today's activities in my kitchen size garden. I was able to do some planting of the Lagos spinach/Green (Soko and Tete) this morning before heading out. I was able to transplant into about 7 mini-sized beds (lol). Activities continues tomorrow, more beds to be filled up with my vegetables.

Impressive!. It's just the season. at this stage you really need to make a cool cash out of this two.
They are also insect inviting. it's a war just around the corner.

Munzy14:

Impressive!. It's just the season. at this stage you really need to make a cool cash out of this two.
They are also insect inviting. it's a war just around the corner.

Very true. The whiteflies are just so annoying and very destructive.

oyetpel:


I didn't know this is basil, they grow anyhow around our house here.

Yup, this is the Ocimum gratissimum, also known as clove basil, Efinrin in Yoruba, Daidoya in Hausa, Nchuanwu in Igbo, and many others just call it "scent leaf"

Seun:

Beautiful. I just can't stop admiring the way you neatly arrange your green vegetables. How did you finally overcome the challenges with Tete?

How I overcame the challenge i had with the nursing of Tete? I haven't really!!! . Those were the few i was able to save. Most of them still rotted away. But i did manage to pull it off on another nursery bed by dispersing a few seeds. I guess overcrowding was a major contributor.

Update: (Soko and Tete)

Exactly a week and 3days after, things seems to be moving on quite well. The transplanted vegetables are gradually picking up and adding more leaves.
The every morning and evening wetting don dey tell on the plants lol...

Observation:
I am beginning to see more activities of insects; most especially "whiteflies" lately on the farm. I guess it's time for preparation of my organic insecticides.

Male Ugu plant Eradication

This morning was totally dedicated to the removal of all the Male Ugu plants. Got a few among my fluted pumpkin kitchen size farm (about 4 of them).

I was adviced to take them all out because it spoils the whole bunch (Scientifically, I see no meaning to this, but it was an advice coming from someone who has infinite number of experience in ugu farming so I obliged).

Nevertheless, the Male ugu leaves are just so small and of little economical importance.

Pic:
Male on the left while the Female on the right

Nice thread,am highly motivated,I also visited oyetpel thread,very insightful I must commend. I just opened my farm 2weeks ago(plot).I intend planting ugu(300 seeds) and plant other veggies; tomato,maize,ewedu,green veggie,okro).the ugu would be majorly for sale,Hoping to realize money to pay my house rent and the other veggies would be for consumption...I have irrigation facility,so I have no problem with water and light is 24hrs here(light for pumping water).the land is been cleared and ugu seed bought,I planted 4 ugu seeds yesterday for demonstration sake

Mehhn, thus thread is LIT. Good to see a fellow Nigerian doing so well in the agricultural field. I'm starting a tomato farm(strictly tomatoes) this month and I seek advice from people who have already planted tomatoes before. This Rio de grande tomato specie looks very good, I want to buy them. I got some San Marzano tomato seeds(worldclass chefs see it as the the best paste tomato on earth) from amazon and was wondering if people will like them here because I've never seem sold locally before. Another question I have, what can I use to completely rid the soil of any bacterial, fungal or nematodal(forgive my grammer ) diseases? Because I don't want disease to comman destroy my crops. Plus where can I get the Rio de grande tomato seeds? I need about 1000 of em

Frostyflame:
Mehhn, thus thread is LIT. Good to see a fellow Nigerian doing so well in the agricultural field. I'm starting a tomato farm(strictly tomatoes) this month and I seek advice from people who have already planted tomatoes before. This Rio de grande tomato specie looks very good, I want to buy them. I got some San Marzano tomato seeds(worldclass chefs see it as the the best paste tomato on earth) from amazon and was wondering if people will like them here because I've never seem sold locally before. Another question I have, what can I use to completely rid the soil of any bacterial, fungal or nematodal(forgive my grammer ) diseases? Because I don't want disease to comman destroy my crops. Plus where can I get the Rio de grande tomato seeds? I need about 1000 of em

Thanks for dropping in. Lol

Like someone rightly advised, the Rio de grande may not be the best option when thinking commercial farming especially with the nematodes infestation complained about. You need to opt for a nematode resistant variety.

Moreover, I am strictly organic in my approach to dealing with diseases/pests relation problems (which of course won't work well with commercial farming). You need to seek an expert's approach when talking real business here.

My approach to dealing with Nematodes (Note: Not commercially)
1. Tilling the soil after which I water then cover the soil with black nylon to raise the temp.

2. Applying organic manure, then tilling it with the soil again...days before planting

3. Always making sure the beds are water after planting. Cool temperature helps reduce the activities of nematodes.

4. Seek out resistant varieties to plant.

Please once again, seek out professional expertise if going commercial farming.

Thanks. (Hope I helped a little)

cc: fluentinfor

jidestroud:


Thanks for dropping in. Lol

Like someone rightly advised, the Rio de grande may not be the best option when thinking commercial farming especially with the nematodes infestation complained about. You need to opt for a nematode resistant variety.

Moreover, I am strictly organic in my approach to dealing with diseases/pests relation problems (which of course won't work well with commercial farming). You need to seek an expert's approach when talking real business here.

My approach to dealing with Nematodes (Note: Not commercially)
1. Tilling the soil after which I water then cover the soil with black nylon to raise the temp.

2. Applying organic manure, then tilling it with the soil again...days before planting

3. Always making sure the beds are water after planting. Cool temperature helps reduce the activities of nematodes.

4. Seek out resistant varieties to plant.

Please once again, seek out professional expertise if going commercial farming.

Thanks. (Hope I helped a little)

cc: fluentinfor

Excellent reply. Actually what you stated is actually one of the methods used commercially and it is what I will opt for if I want to sterilize my soil. However, you should not use black.

You are right, black can trap heat and it is why it is not my choice for mulch. And the kind of heat it traps can injure plants but cannot destroy nematodes and other pathogens. You need a material which allows infra red to pass through so you get super high heat. The most likely color is clear poly material.

Tilling manure into the soil is great. Also, organically, increasing microbes on your soil can reduce the potency of most pathogens. Bacteria and Fungi like Pseudomonas and Trichoderma can knock them out. Some mocrobes manufacturers just call theirs Effective Microorganisms. While some farmers actually culture their own microbes. Someone like me goes further by separating beneficial ones from bad ones. This method can take care of so many pathogens. What happens is microbes you cultured multiply and they colonize the root of your plant and will not allow the bad microorganisms do much damage. The caution is that, the microbes you cultured might be good for your plants but might be harmful to you. Always protect yourself while multiplying them so you do not get infected.

Again, you can deal with nematoes inorganically by using nemacides. I do not recommend brands on public forums cos i do not want to endorse any brand. You should go to agricultural stores and look for anyone.

In general, using 40 to 120 tonnes of manure/compost per hectare is not a bad practice. We use far too less and it is why we damage our soil easily. More compost means more organic matters. And more organic matters means more microbes population.

I hope this helps.

Frostyflame:
Mehhn, thus thread is LIT. Good to see a fellow Nigerian doing so well in the agricultural field. I'm starting a tomato farm(strictly tomatoes) this month and I seek advice from people who have already planted tomatoes before. This Rio de grande tomato specie looks very good, I want to buy them. I got some San Marzano tomato seeds(worldclass chefs see it as the the best paste tomato on earth) from amazon and was wondering if people will like them here because I've never seem sold locally before. Another question I have, what can I use to completely rid the soil of any bacterial, fungal or nematodal(forgive my grammer ) diseases? Because I don't want disease to comman destroy my crops. Plus where can I get the Rio de grande tomato seeds? I need about 1000 of em

SAN MARZANO
Very lovely plum variety if you get it right. But I doubt you can get through if you are in SW. Bacteria Wilt will kill it. So, sterilize your soil using mulch which i described above, or you plant in bags of sterilized/pasteurized soil (pasteurize your soil for about 8 hours). From the link below, this variety has resistance to verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt races 1 and 2. You still need to battle TMV, Blight, and TYLCV diseases. You might need a nethouse for this to survive in SW of Nigeria.

https://bonnieplants.com/product/san-marzano-tomato/

As for Rio de grande, I leave it for you to research. Please write what you can find out about it for everyone to benefit from.

Frostyflame:
This Rio de grande tomato specie looks very good, I want to buy them. I got some San Marzano tomato seeds(worldclass chefs see it as the the best paste tomato on earth) from amazon and was wondering if people will like them here because I've never seem sold locally before.

From my investigation, tomato consumers in Nigeria don't seem to care about varieties. People will pay more for tomatoes that are firm and not watery, mild and not sour, and mostly red in color. Subtle differences in taste between Roma VF and San Marzano are lost on them. Grow the San Marzano for personal consumption but for commercial production, I think a prolific hybrid with very strong disease resistance is best.

Using hybrid with strong resistance might be a way out. I scout for such too. However, when you consider the cost and the way these companies create scarcity, you will want to go with the hausas. They still grow Open pollinated varieties and you cannot still beat them.

The person who mentioned buying San Marzano is a small scale farmer and the link of San Marzano says it is indeterminate. Which means it is a green house variety. It is why I gave that option.

Personally, I am going against using most of these companies' seeds. If you want to buy hybrid, i suggest you check the same source those San Marzano are got. If you rely on these companies selling hybrids in Nigeria, you will be frustrated because they do not have your progress in mind.

Plant your San Marzano in pasteurized soil in bags. Do everything in your power to fight air borne diseases. If you can fix a local low cost nethouse around it, perfect. If not, you can still give it a shot. If you get this right, you have mastered tomato. When I teach anyone how to grow tomatoes, I do not use hybrid. But when just anyone who I see that is not teacheable consults me, I simply tell the person to buy certain hybrids. Simple. There are very few teacheable people around. Some are smart in wrong ways because they do not want them duped. Some read wrong materials and feel over confident. Many others just want to show off they are knowledgeable about the topic. And the worst of them all are graduates of Agricultural related programs. But that guy I get OPV for, will definitely be a better tomato farmer.

can you take me tru ds processes pls am so sharing in ur xcitemnt... 1..land 2...capital(50k�) 3..Energy Those are the things i have
nice wrk bro 07063742909

Update: (Soko and Tete)
Exactly a week and 3days after, things seems to be moving on quite well. The transplanted vegetables are gradually picking up and adding more leaves.
The every morning and evening wetting don dey tell on the plants lol...

Observation:
I am beginning to see more activities of insects; most especially "whiteflies" lately on the farm. I guess it's time for preparation of my organic insecticides.

Three gbosa!!! For you boss, I've been following your thread all along. Boss, you are just a blessing to this generation. God bless you sir.

I just started a little garden of water leaf, ugwu, ewedu and tete. My question, i live in ondo state, but due to the hotness of the sun now, do you advice i provide shade for the tete cause others are doing fine except the tete. I water twice a day.
N.B reading your thread pushed me into it ooo lol...

Kowemonday:
Update: (Soko and Tete)
Exactly a week and 3days after, things seems to be moving on quite well. The transplanted vegetables are gradually picking up and adding more leaves.
The every morning and evening wetting don dey tell on the plants lol...

Observation:
I am beginning to see more activities of insects; most especially "whiteflies" lately on the farm. I guess it's time for preparation of my organic insecticides.

Three gbosa!!! For you boss, I've been following your thread all along. Boss, you are just a blessing to this generation. God bless you sir.

I just started a little garden of water leaf, ugwu, ewedu and tete. My question, i live in ondo state, but due to the hotness of the sun now, do you advice i provide shade for the tete cause others are doing fine except the tete. I water twice a day.
N.B reading your thread pushed me into it ooo lol...

Lol...Your Tete will do just fine. You don't need any erected shades for it sir. Lol! Just make sure you've got enough manure applied and water regularly. (All your need is good irrigation)

Tete is about the easiest vegetable to grow, all you need to worry about is pests invasion.

Thanks for dropping in.

Thanks boss, I'm now a great farmer. Keep you posted.

jidestroud:
Day 38: (Garden at a glance)

So far so good, everything seems to be doing quite well, and so green. Although, had issues with white flies and my tomato plants but all thanks to home-made dongoyaro leaves spray (neem leaves), I was able to reduce their activities.

How did you prepare the dogonyaro leaves (neem) pest control pest. Appreciate detailed guide.
Thanks bro

jidestroud:


Finally, exactly 11days after, desired rooting system have been gotten. Patience pays after all, it's time to transplant my basil into proper nursing pots (bags).

This is impressive. I never knew you can propagate these spices with be stem multiplication.
A friend mentioned it once that the mint spices he planted were bought from Shoprite. I thought he bought the ones with roots. I then rushed to Shoprite to buy some for planting, only to see that it was just stem and leaves, so I left disappointed not knowing it actually the stem he planted.

Now, I'm going back there to get the fresh parsley, rosemary and mint stems for my experimental balcony spice garden!!!

cuteboy2:


This is impressive. I never knew you can propagate these spices with be stem multiplication.
A friend mentioned it once that the mint spices he planted were bought from Shoprite. I thought he bought the ones with roots. I then rushed to Shoprite to buy some for planting, only to see that it was just stem and leaves, so I left disappointed not knowing it actually the stem he planted.

Now, I'm going back there to get the fresh parsley, rosemary and mint stems for my experimental balcony spice garden!!!

Keep us posted and so share pictures if/when you can.


Good luck

It is lovely to read that guys are going into herbs and spices. Lovely. However to make the journey easy, it is better to learn the easier way to propagate each plant.

Stem: mint, basil, lemon balm, stevia, rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage etc (for woody herbs, take cuttings from new, green growth, and not from old brown stems)

Seeds: lettuce, parsley, cilantro, etc (learn making a decent nursery)

For berries, it is better to use stems.

Be extra careful with mint as it can easily become an unwanted plant on your farm. Lol. The way mint spreads is terrible. It is why I think I will use vertical style for it.

Always change water every 2 days when rooting any stem. It helps a lot. Some use rooting hormone, but it may not be necessary for most of these herbs.

please am having serious issues with aphids, whiteflies, caterpillars and other pests including snails (no be small thing o.....
pls how do i make organic pesticide with the dongoyaro leaves...i won do world war 3 with those guys....
thanks