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Cultivation Tips
 
Turmeric
 
Normal Monsoon

Crop Stage
Two months after planting - Tiller initiation and root and shoot development.
 
Cultivation Tips
  • Check for diseases while planting rhizomes.
  • Adopt raised bed planting in rain fed areas and ridges and furrows in irrigated areas.
  • Apply fertilizer and manures - 20 t farm yard manure per hectare and 2 t neem cake per hectare. 280 kg. rock phosphate per hectare.
  • Follow mulching after fertilizer application.
  • To prevent fungal rhizome rot treat the seed rhizomes with Mancozeb 0.3% prior to storage and before sowing. When the disease is noticed in the filed drench the soil with 0.3% Mancozeb.
  • Adopt following PREVENTIVE measures against Root knot nematode and lesion nematode.
Planting Stage
  • Check the rhizomes for nematode infestation and discard infected seed rhizomes or treat with hot water.
  • Mulching and incorporation of biocontrol agents at the time of sowing.
  • The fungal leaf blotch is common in irrigated areas. Adopt spraying of Mancozeb 0.2%.
Erratic Monsoon
 
Late onset (after June I week)
  • Provide thick mulch cover with green leaves/coir pith compost.
  • Reduce the plant population.
  • Cultivate short duration varieties (especially in turmeric such as Suguna or Sudarshana) if planting has not been done yet.
Failure during July/August or breaks
  • Reduce the plant population.
  • Spray/ drench 1% Bordeaux mixture or Dithane M-45 (2.5 g/L) (especially in ginger) to prevent rhizome rot.
Assured irrigation
  • Irrigate the beds once (loamy) or twice(sandy) a week depending on the soil type till germination and thereafter once in 7-10 days till 150 days (tillering and rhizome formation) after planting if the rains are not received.
  • Provide a mulch cover with locally available leaves (20-30 tons/Ha.)
  • Plant high yielding varieties (Varada/Mahima in ginger and Prabha/Prathibha in turmeric)
General measures to be followed in water scarce areas
  • Harvest rain water in farm ponds and recycle.
  • Irrigate the crop during critical crop growth stages such as germination (upto 30 days after planting), tillering, rhizome formation and initial rhizome growth period (90 to 150 days after planting) at an interval of at least 10 days.
  • Cultivate in broad bed and furrow system.
  • Adopt wider spacing.
  • Mulch the beds at @ 20-30 tons/Ha or coir pith compost (12.5 tons/Ha for turmeric)
  • Apply sufficient quantity of organic manure such as FYM (10-20 t/Ha), vermicompost, groundnut cake etc.
  • Grow intercrops like perennial redgram, Sesbania sp. etc. for shade.