safarifarms:

Just planted the cu986 this afternoon. Nandini will be planted on Monday. Didn't have enough courage to buy more of the cu986.

Will update as it goes.

ideepaul:
I really don't like to spoil people's market, but I just witnessed the height of wickedness from some of them;
If you are a neolife and or gnld super grow marketer, I wonder the difference btw you and the Nigerian politicians...imagine a supergrow marketer telling a newbie into farming not to waste money on manure, fertilizer, and agrochemicals as supergrow will do the work! The said individual followed instructions and bought 2L @8k, the farm is gone and he did not harvest upto 3 bags from more than 2500 stands of cucumber. God will specially punish some people o. I really pity gullible Nigerians, now it's dry season, they will come again and tell you all manner of stories quoting research bodies and papers that don't exist, some will personally attack me, the only thing I will ask from any supergrow marketer is this, snap that container and highlight the NPK values of the supergrow for me to see...
Supergrow is only an adjuvant and a surfactant with very little fertilizer attributes, and when 1l is sold 4 4k, why not transfer that money into buying maybe 5-12 extra bags of manure depending on the cost of manure in your location, and enrich your soils for a better harvest( a very fertile soil can give you more than 12harvests o).
If you want foliar fertilizer, go straight ahead and buy foliar fertilizer like di grow, agrizyme, multi-k, and many other well known brands. If it's soil fertilizer, you can buy organic manure or inorganic fertilizer like the NPK, DAP, MKP, urea, and many more available types.
If you want a surfactant and an adjuvant, then you can buy supergrow. It's good, but can't replace soil fertilizer and manure.
N/B: I don't use that sh#t

modsfucker:


I'll do my research on that

okoroemeka:
if you can get pictures it will help to better evalute the situation

okoroemeka:
caterpillars are the easiest to eradicate,get sharp shooter at 30 ml per knapsack that caterpillar will turn to danfo

okoroemeka:
one thing I like about sack farm is that it is easy to irrigate with hose,my workers use 40-45 mins to irrigate 1000 sacks, nothing fancy or elaborate just hose connected to 1 hp pump at 2-3 seconds per sack will give you 3-4 ltrs per sack.

okoroemeka:
for your no 1 question it's better to check your market and see the type they prefer,maybe take a photo or two,so we can diagnosis the variety or you can divide the land and plant half of each and see the outcome.(2)from the practical experiments conducted in sacks,there's no possible way a cucumber planted on the soil direct will outperform those planted in sacks, because whatever nutrients that is applied in sack remains there,but nutrients applied on soil can easily leech into the soil after a heavy rain and go far down the root zone were it will be useless for the crops but the only drawback in sacks is the back bending,bone wrenching work of filling the sacks with soil.our cucumbers planted in sack are light years ahead of those planted on soil

okoroemeka:
look for wasott,ebonyi fertilizer, Springfield,etc,any fertilizer that is around #6-7000k a bag,but all this solar,golden,etc,that is sold for #3-3500 naira is just moulded clay soil with little urea added.

westliverenterp:
Gud morning how much is cucumber seed and where can I get them in porthacourt?

HornyTave:


are you the gal who want to start cucumber on hectare for the first time.

HornyTave:


The lockdown coupled with economic downturn would make some vegetable crops , less profitable.

okoroemeka:
many farmers I know are pulling back on planting this trying period for reasons that are quite obvious panic, recession, etc ,caused by the global health crisis but whatever happens the economics of supply and demand will always manifest because by the time the produce that supposed to be planted now are to be harvested there will be a sharp drop in supply due to less crops were planted during the health crisis and the demand and prices may go up,but the Outlook is not so Rosy in the long run considering the low prices of oil,but it is obvious that the aftershocks of the low oil prices will strike but not immediately maybe in 3-5 months,by then any farmer that is brave and crazy enough to do a large scale operation this time will cash out.

okoroemeka:
after several experiments on using organic chicken manure(ocm) for fertigation in cucumbers we finally decided to use the method of soaking the OCM in a big vat not putting it in bags and pouring water into it and after turning for 3-4 days the mixture is left to settle for a day so that the solid materials will sediment at the bottom,this method gives faster extraction of nutrients in the OCM,so we simply skim the solution and filter with a fine mesh,we have no method to check the nutrient composition of the OCM but the solution is so potent that if it drops on cucumber leafs that area will turn white in hours just like urea,the organic fertigation was a success no blocked emitters no dramas.with this method it's a cost cutting solution on feeding crops small dose of nutrients even on a daily basis with no added stress either on the body or in the pocket.

Pistotita:


He knows what he is saying, though, there are errors in his calculation. But he is closer to the truth than you. He thinks like a modern farmer. He has issues, and I have told him the only condition I will put mouth in his case. You too also used sense in what you do, but you have not said the whole story. By the time I ask both of you questions, you will see the whole issue right in front of you. I have solved even more technical challenges than that. And you see how modern farmers are forced to down size in Nigeria. Some with the intention of going for 20 ha....they just slashed down to 1 acre max....lol. and then you see them using technology to maximize profit. But the choice of what they buy depends on the choice of workers. When you have illiterates that do not value what you provide and use them recklessly, you start wondering why bother using them in the first place. Why spend so much on borehole when these workers do not even appreciate the convenience you want in your farm? This stage I am, i cannot use local workers when i am on farm. Never. Except I call an ex worker to just make money for me and I will not be the main guy in charge but the fellow. All I do is just visit and most times i see errrors here and there. I have no choice but to just make corrections with love. Still there are many things I may not be able to correct. So I take the loss or little gain like that. This is why I do not visit farms. Cos truth is always bitter. Some will even want to make me tell them how to force their improvised cheap materials to give optimum production. And out of 100 recommendations I make may be 2 are implemented. So why waste my time when I know most will not like the truth. They end up hating me just like nairaland after finishing with them. But they always return to beg that they were foo.lish. Well I dont listen to them again. And that is where hatred starts. But I dont care.

I congratulate both of you that you are seeing these issues. I laugh when one tells me he wants to use 3 ha to start cucumber. And when i see the proposed equipnent I just smile. But one must not advise them; else, trouble don start. Like I said I want this thread to be based on improvisation trial OP is interested in. When you tell people ahead thier failure but they still want to go ahead, why hold such people behind. Experience is the best teacher which many do not have second chance from. It is like going inside the ring with iron Mike Tyson. Just 10 sec to max of 5 mins fight. Afterwards, you do not hear such names again in heavy weight competitions. Permanent knock out. But the way we take the consequences of our decisions depends on individuals. You know positive people when they face huge loss. But when someone passes aggression of his loss on others lol....

You are obviously under irrigating your plants. If you irrigate properly, you will increase yield. And it may do you good to downsize so you spend less on cost of production, and still get more yield (more profit). But you need to get more facts before you do that. I still think of a friend who continously argued with me that land close to river is bad. I pray the fellow starts asap so the truth can be revealed. Maybe the fellow thinks all small scale veggie farmers are stupid for moving close to river in the southern of Nigeria. Only newbies run after land tiu spend milliins on to get enough water Lol. Why? They do not know the quantity if water needed. And farmers who want to run pipes on 30 acres with just one residential borehole are the smartest in the world. Lol. I just laugh. Some want to even do trees which consumes more water. And they argue seriously. I do not get involved with such projects whem the owner is too knowing. Maybe will force the farmer to just do 1 acre of veggie by the side. And when all efforts yields nothing...I let the person alone never to ever do anything with such person again. That is bye bye. But I always do my best to see the end. When the fellow is stubborn, what does one do other than leave such person to go ahead. Experience will teach such person a bitter lesson. What we have tried and seen the end result. In fact, it is that guy I congratulate more cos he saw the problem before starting. You have started. You are just managing the troubles you have created for yourself. And it is why you said "this is Nigeria na". The question is that are you giving your plants optimum irrigation condition for optimum yield?

And then you wonder why seller bring some useless accessorries. They do not even know about them. The guy wants optimum with a very short period of time for irrigation. With his deep research, he has seen the influence of the sizes of pipes. I am sure he is now conscious of land topography (slopes), and other factors. He will not confine himself to the 1 inch pipe or the usual main line seller import. And you have given him hints of dividing the farm, but may still not be good for him because time is vital to him. Time is very vital to me too. And there are reasons for that too. All these issues come with either having the ability to see the future, or having the ability to adjust when trouble starts. Otherwise, it is failure. This is where experience comes in. I that started promoting small farms with sophisticated equipment know what I am talking about. I thank God smart people like you are coming up on NL. And when I laugh at cutlass and hoes farmers, they get bittered. I am just getting started with these clowns and failures on NL who are running after consultancy jobs. Lol.

My comments may be nasty to them, but those are what they need cos they will keep making newbies loss money. But when the orientation of many are changed, we will start having profitable veggie businesses in the south just like poultry farmers. Someone started promoting the proper way of doing poultry after many were wounded financially in Nigeria. And when one person wants to use N50k to do 3 ha people will all laugh at him after we have gotten it tight. Lol..but when these people keep making newbies think improvisation is the answer...hmmmmm. and they are struggling and telling lies here. And when they fail they pass aggression on me. Lol. Just like the boy rat ate most of his seeds. Lol. I laughed and laughed. No be this business? Lol. Very easy to know failures. Defamation my foot..Lol.

See, you all may not like my style...but you will be grateful someday that I rubbished many. This is the story of Nigeria. The man who will turn Nigeria around must be brutal and stubborn, but must know how to play with diplomacy and politics. And must be able to laugh at his critics. And must be a smart person to cut his critics short. Lol. Then, the fellow must not make himself available if he wants to live long. But must always be available at the same time. Lol. These farmers here are exactly the replica of the forces which do not want to make Nigeria progressive. Just the same. Lol.

Let me stop here. I will not derail this thread, but this topic is super interesting.

spyglaxx:

I will do that when everything is set. What crops are you into?

spyglaxx:
Started like two weeks ago. Am using conduit pipes and empty plastic bottles.Its just
a small experiment am conducting.

Pistotita:


"Na experience dey teach many hard lessons". If the so called cheap ways newbies want to do it is successful, there will be many successful veggie farmers. Most newbies get poorer because they enter farming with the idea that it is a quick and cheap option to eradicate poverty. I agree it is the best option to eradicate poverty right now in Nigeria (and fastest), but it is not for the poor and lazy minded (not talking of lazy physically, but laziness in studying materials and carrying out thorough market research). Therefore, it is not the cheapest option. I do not know who advises him that N80k is enough for 2plots. Ordinary seeds (common hybrids from technisem) is around N52,000 for 2 plots if she uses 30cm emitters (i don't recommend it, but this is what many uses because they think they can have more yield because of higher population...lol). So, how N80k will get 2 plots done is a mystery. Anyway, I expect the cash to fly away like a brave eagle. Heehehhehhehe! And back to the mountain to bind principalities and powers against the farmer if christian, and many days spent on a mat reciting verses if moslim. Ha! My people perish because of lack of knowledge.

Bro, I am a natural writer. Though, I talk too. Hmmmm! But it is a gift to be able to offer oneself to humanity. Oh! I was so happy when Sadio Maine won the Best African Footballer yesterday. That is my kind of person. Honestly, I want to be that guy more. The man who pays hundreds, if not thousands over 50 British pounds monthly salary in his home just to assist them, and for-goes buying expensive vehicles and private jets like his team mates. I really want to do more, but every "da.mn" person who has consulted me is after something: "I, me, my, mine, and myself". This is my challenge. I pray we understand soon that it is "we, us, our, ours, and oursleves" is the winning team. Two people contacted me just this frrst week of Jan. Ha...pistotita...you said no one should contact you again if the person does not have N10million naira....bla bla.bla.. Ok. I will help you...go find cash.....no way. So, what will I do if they do not have cash? Alright, find like minds who can contribute N500k - N1million together? No way. Why? Everyone wants to get all the profit for himself/herself. Hmmm! I strongly believe anyone with N10 million will be easy to achieve with.

Pistotita:


It is too expensive to use PVC. Drip is not that expensive. To me, it is affordable. On top, pvc is not easy to pack after harvest. Again, your pipes will be destroyed by workers during weeding. Many disadvantages. It is not just worth the stress. The amount plumber will collect for installation of pipe is even crazy if you cannot handle it yourself. Go for drip kits. You can buy 1,500m at the rate of N50k to N60k max. And then buy other accessories. This will cover 1.5 to 4 plots of land depending on what you are using it to irrigate.

spinna:
From youtube exs it works..im presently testing a moveable pvc system..my early findings

it streams it doesnt drip so its gonna work more like a sprinkler..but if you turn the tap very low it will drip.

Wooden stands will be required for a permanent setup so the pipes can be level.

Conclusion: Its worth a try .. i only use one pipe attached to my hose and move it around..i cover a lot of ground quickly but also use a lot of water so the water saving aspect of drip may not be there..its very efficient for watering.

Great minds think alike they say