₦airaland Forum

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Here's a photo of our first attempt at composting. Completed about 2hrs ago.

The pile contains:

Intermetent layers of brown plant materials (brown grass, small sticks etc all broken into small pieces; green plant materials (chopped elephant grass & some small grasses). We also threw in left-over cucumber fruits, & some remnant tomatoes. We brought & added some of the best soil we could find on the farm. Then we wetted with water, then covered it with the black plastic.

We plan to turn it in 10 days time and every week thereafter.

I hope it works though I expect the composting to be slow as we have been contending with unusually cool weather for several weeks now, and I don't expect better until late September.

Another win for women.

A lot of men, especially in Africa are going to struggle with the changes that are coming to women in the coming years.

If this latest development improves women's sex drive well beyond the typical age of menopause (around 50 yrs), and yet the sexual ability of most men typically reduces around that age, then it puts women in sexual superiority in a way that will upend the established social order.

Are 50 yr old house wives going to be looking beyond their sexually inept husbands for younger men for sexual satisfaction in a way that we have never seen before Like some older men who are currently chasing around young girls.

Don't laugh please. This is serious.

I think women are in the ascendancy which ever way you look. They are smarter, more educated, more financially sufficient than they used to be. Now, we are told they can enjoy good sex long into their old age. Great.

Men, especially African men who have become accustomed to centuries of dominance over women are in for a big shock in the coming years.

Never had Twitter or even checked it out.

Instagram, Facebook too.

I have WhatsApp, but it's full of messages. I venture there once in 2 wks on average. Cant be bothered.

How do people cope with all the noise & chatter.

Even phone calls I hate. My phone is on silence most times.

People dey try o.

Yampotatocarrot:
How long after the rains are gone should I expect to start replanting. My cucumber farm was devastated by DM, and I just cleared them last week, but the rains ain't here again.

Surprisingly, even though most of the cukes didn't produce fruit, I was surprised to see that some produced, although fear no gree me sell them sha. I just left them all in d farm

I personally stopped new cucumber planting a couple of weeks ago, but that's because September is the worst time for persistent rain in my area. I fear DM will be particularly problematic then. I have moved to cabbage for now.

However, it's a personal decision. If you're ready to battle DM, you don't have to stop planting. Start applying fungicide early and stick to a spraying rota religiously. This should help you to manage DM and lead to a fruitful harvest. Go back a few pages and read Mr Okoroemeka's spraying recommendation.

Finally, you should be selling the cucumbers your DM infested plants are producing. They're good to eat. Just make sure to pack only straight & perfectly formed ones as market women usually will not accept badly shaped cucumbers. In my experience, DM result in a lot of badly shaped cucumbers.

But glo is virtually unusable in my area. That's the same in most places I travel to. During the day, it routinely takes up to 1 minute to open a page.

So, where is it usable.

Idemujoseph:
Good evening! Please I want to know if it is advisable to replant where I just finish harvesting.
I am afraid because of DM that attack this current ones.

Probably not a good idea to immediately replant the same location. Truth is even if you plant in another area of your farm, it is highly likely DM will also be present there since it is air borne.

For many farmers, relief from DM will not come until the rains are gone.

ideepaul:
@ all d farmers in d house! why is it that semi determinates and indeterminate varieties are nt commonly grown in open field even wt d theoretical high yield potential attached eg maxim with yields f up 2 80 ton/acre, and does anyone hv any info on openfield polysack tomato and pepper farming, i hv found very little practical info online

1. Climatic, environmental and soil conditions plus disease pressure in the South of the country can make growing tomato a major challenge. Against this backdrop, growing a determinate variety where nursery to harvesting can be completed in a relatively short time makes more sense. The longer your tomato plants remain in the open soil, the greater the risk of a devastating disease.

2. Unless you have a contract to supply buyers like supermarkets at a decent fixed price, there's no point taking the risk with indeterminate tomato plants for 4 or 5 months or more. Prices are often too low in the open markets to justify wasting all that time.

3. Determinate gives you an opportunity to harvest most of your fruits over a short period. This is perfect for targeting mid - May to late June when tomato price is highest in this country.

Good luck.

FarmTech:
.
Hello Okoro. what will raingun do to cukes? Because i plan buying one.

In addition to what Mr Okoroemeka said:

1. rain gun will splash water all over the cucumber plant thus increasing the likelihood of disease.

2. drip tape uses between 80 - 90% less water compared to watering with rain gun.

3. during harmattan, from leaving the rain gun to landing on the soil, up to 20% of the water could be lost to evaporation.

Unless you absolutely have no choice, drip irrigation is superior to rain gun in cucumber farming.

Yampotatocarrot:
Is there any disadvantage to using it like that, or will d two chemicals "fight" inside the knapsack?
I want to know

Even a small quantity of herbicide left in the knapsack before mixing pesticides can harm, or worse still, kill your plants.

Olaleyeabdullah:
can I be using the same knapsack sprayer for both herbicide ND pesticide

Yes, but make sure you wash and rinse the knapsack thoroughly immediately after herbicide use.

Yampotatocarrot:
I get you Sir. But the smell part actually comes during the soaking from what I've read here. I usually just leave them in bags, just that this method takes longer time

That's why I suggested you experiment with not soaking, in order to significantly reduce the bad odour.. Dilute with sufficient amount of water and use straightaway.

Yampotatocarrot:
I'm having a hard time soaking my poultry droppings in water, because of the smell (Its a residential area

If one of the issues with fresh poop is that it is 'too strong', then it seems to me that one solution will be to dilute it with sufficient amount of water & use straightaway as an alternative to soaking.

Start with a dilution rate of 1 part poop to 10 part water. Experiment with a small patch of cucumber plants & see if it works. If it still feels too strong, then try 1 part to 12 part & so on until you get to a satisfactory dilution rate. Well diluted fresh poop will have much less stink compared to the soaked version.

If you experiment & kindly announce the result here, it will help those of us looking for an alternative to soaking. I personally don't have easy access to chicken poop at the moment, otherwise I would have experimented.

benardj3:
My 22days old cucumber farm

Please ensure you wear a nose mask when spraying.

Some of the fungicides & pesticides are very dangerous to human health.

How much is Velum Prime & Furadan.

EMMAACHILE:
@DeLaRue
Where is your location?
Imagine whereas in Lokoja, rain is very scanty like once a week.

Ogun State my bro.

Even today, rain again

I dread what I'm likely to see in the farm tomorrow. I pray it's not going to be a sea of yellow leaves.

Actually Ridomil Gold plus (RGP) and mancozeb (Zforce) can be mixed, it just wont be as effective as when they are applied separately a few days apart.

The mode of action of RGP is different from that of Zforce.

RGP can be effective (not 100%) where plants are already infested with Downy Mildew, whereas Zforce is preventative only. So, if your plants are already infested, the idea is you use RGP and allow it to work for a few days, then apply Zforce to protect the plant against new infection. But be aware that most of the Zforce protecting the leaves is likely to be washed away each time it rains heavily.

Only God can help in my situation. The sun has barely broken out in the past 2 weeks and it has been raining virtually every day. Perfect condition for Downy Mildew. It's a battle. No easy solution. Cant wait for October and some sustained period of sunshine.

[quote author=Wizs2019 post=80200820]Great question!

[/quot

Great, thanks.

Wizs2019:
Okay this is the setup I have. The venturi (see attached image) can then be used to suck (using pressure) a fertiliser solution (dissolved fertilisers in water) contained in a 200ltr drum into the drip system

How does one calculate the amount of fertilizer to put/mix in the venturi? Thanks.

okoroemeka:
,we got original copper fungicide from syngenta and used it last 5 days and the spread of DM stopped automatically and salvation is in sight,rainy season is not time to play with China and India fungicides because disease don't come to play.

Did you mean every day for 5 days? I am interested to know if I need to spray for consecutive days.

I am battling a new bout of DM again, but I 've sprayed R.Gold once so far, as well as cut off infected leaves to slow down spread.

madridsta007:
Perhaps he can resign like all honourable people do?

This is hardly a resignation issue for a vice President.

simonlee:
Yemi Osinbajo's silence on this matter is so loud i can hear it from Kaduna!

What exactly do you want him to say. That he opposes this and that. He can't do that.

Being Vice President of a country is not the same as being vice chairman of a local branch of NURTW or a student union body.

That last picture

The Governor following Tinubu like his life depends on it.

Actually, his second term depends largely, though not wholly, on being in Tinubu's good books.

abbey621:
You must have really gone deep behind Novare, I mean really deep for you to see the actual ocean. Areas close to the Expressway or the mall are safe but you see those building along Atican beach and the coastal line, it's only a matter of time before mother nature does her thing.

Actually, depends on what you call deep. The ocean is probably less than 2000 metres (2km) from Novare. 2kms of low-lying flat land is no barrier for a raging ocean. Standing less than 30 metres from the ocean, I could see Monastery, a landmark in that axis. Monastery is probably not more than 500m from the shopping mall.

Thinking about it again, it seems the mall and the immediate area including the Lekki Epe expressway sit on a small elevation, which might offer some protection. However, everything up to Monastery is very vulnerable, I think.

A potential solution is the extension of the ocean barrier being built at Eko Atlantic all the way to Ajah.

If you have seen some trucks carrying huge pieces of rock along Lagos-Ibadan expressway into Lagos, those rocks are destined for the Eko Atlantic ocean barrier. They've been building the barrier for several years now, and I believe they have only built 8km of it. It's a very expensive project. Can Lagos State afford to extend it all the way to Ajah? If no, then one can only predict that most of Ajah face a real risk of falling into the sea. It may take 50 years, but if the current pattern continues, there will be trouble.

Last year, I was in a group visiting a location behind Novare Lekki Mall (the last Shoprite on the Lekki-Epe Expressway). I had to excuse myself as we walked towards the ocean which was about 30 metres way. I just couldn't go any nearer the ocean.

I was shocked by how low-lying our location and the entire area up to Lekki-Epe Expressway was, in relation to the ocean. The ocean was literally above me, by at least 3 metres . This means the day this aggressive ocean surges, everything along its path up to and beyond Lekki Epe expressway could be under a huge body of water in no time. The threat is real and the result could be unprecedented in terms of loss of life.

Just thinking of the worst case scenario in the event of a deadly ocean surge in that area is horrifying. And nobody, not least the government, seem to have taken notice.

I've found Haifa Bonus to be quite useful when I need to give plants a quick infusion of nutrients e.g after intensive harvest.

A soil-applied regular fertilizer like 15-15-15 takes a few days before some of the nutrients are available for plant use. So, if you feel your plants need urgent nutrient intervention, then Haifa bonus & the like can come in handy.

Konafas:
Pls what is the quantity of the Epsom salt when to start using it and how often

I use 6 - 8 table spoons per large paint bucket of water. Some might use more than that, but I like to play it safe.

As for regularity, I only use once or twice during the lifetime of a cucumber plant. Excessive magnesium may interfere with the plants ability to take in other nutrients.

More importantly, if your plants are green and lush and showing no signs of distress, you should ask yourself if there's any need to apply magnesium.

Wizs2019:
Silence reader here. See images from my farm at 35 days. I have Jorad (on the mulch) and Cu999 on two different sections of approx 2.5plots and 3.4plots respectively.

Very nice. Plants are green, lush, and seem happy.

Sorry, I'll let others comment on rotation, though I believe anything outside the cucurbit family should be fine.

Back to your cucumber, I wonder if it's a problem with my phone - it seems there's little flowering going on even @ day 35. Perhaps this is normal with the varieties you're planting & the flowers will come on in a few days.

Your contact no. please.

okoroemeka:
we will also order on Friday a further 4000 seeds from Mr olatian.

Pls can you drop Mr Olaitan's number. I assume he's a direct agent of EW seeds. I got greengo from a seller, but it was more expensive because he's a sub seller.

FMCASH:
Very true sir, if well fed with organic and trained on trellis. Theoretical, Magnesium supplement help in darken cucumber too

Interesting. My downy mildew-infected Tokyo seems to produce much darker fruit than normal. I wonder if it's to do with the magnesium sulphate I applied when I initially mis-diagnosed the yellowing leaves as possible magnesium deficiency.