It was exactly one year ago when we started blogging about our activities at Savera Farms. The journey so far has been truly thrilling. As we venture into new activities, technologies and experiences into the second year, we hope that the readers find this blog informative and interesting. I appreciate the inputs, questions and queries from all of you..so keep posting!!
Lastly, all this would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from my parents and my brother - our NRI think tank from the US. Given that he has so much time to think about our activities, future initiatives and overall road map of Savera Farms, I suspect US economy must be really slowing down :)
Coincidentally, today is also the day when we had our first sales..Well, you can call it a sample/prototype sale (It turns out that even village folks need a sample..).
This was the first fruit that was spotted at 80 days - seeds are Kiran by Ankur company.
This was at 90 days (today) and is almost 1.5 times the size of an egg..it turns out that this is overripe and the buyer rejected it.. I shall be consuming for dinner in a few minutes from now :)
Karnan, one of the people we hire rotavator from, demanded a sample of 1 Kg before 'sealing the deal'. On an average, one fruit weighed around 80-100 grams.
Although all of us are thrilled with the inception of harvest, we had our own set of battles to fight..against the shoot and fruit borers.
Shoot borer is a common pest and we had a bunch of them to eliminate. Typical symptom is wilting of leaves above a shoot. If you break open that shoot, sure enough you will find one these bugs.
The remedy is to mix Carbaryl (Sevin brand) and Wettable Sulphur (Sulfix), 2 gm/L each and spray on the veggies. 5ml/L Neemoil (Nimecidine from T.E. Stanes company) is also being sprayed every 3 days - this is organic..
A fruit affected by a borer.
Lastly, all this would not have been possible without the support and encouragement from my parents and my brother - our NRI think tank from the US. Given that he has so much time to think about our activities, future initiatives and overall road map of Savera Farms, I suspect US economy must be really slowing down :)
Coincidentally, today is also the day when we had our first sales..Well, you can call it a sample/prototype sale (It turns out that even village folks need a sample..).
This was the first fruit that was spotted at 80 days - seeds are Kiran by Ankur company. 
Although all of us are thrilled with the inception of harvest, we had our own set of battles to fight..against the shoot and fruit borers.
The remedy is to mix Carbaryl (Sevin brand) and Wettable Sulphur (Sulfix), 2 gm/L each and spray on the veggies. 5ml/L Neemoil (Nimecidine from T.E. Stanes company) is also being sprayed every 3 days - this is organic..
Congratulations friend :) Wish you all the best.
ReplyDeleteAwesome ! It is very nice to see the fruits of your effort.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Why dont you apply organic methods for pest control
ReplyDeleteWe are using Nimecidine!
ReplyDeleteCongrats! A long journey begins with a small step ...
ReplyDeleteBtw, what is your yield and what farm gate price are you getting? If this is confidential, its ok.
I am selling at 13-15/- per Kg.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Kaustubh for the first sale !
ReplyDeleteThis also marks completed reads of all articles of this blog!
It has been motivating and informative experience in last 15 days reading this blog..
Looking forward for more articles, specially on drip irrigation..
Good luck!
Regards
Lokesh
can u tell us the yield per acre.This is your first yield. how many more harvest do you expect from this variety of brinjal
ReplyDeleteArticle about papaya:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/agri-biz/article2726583.ece
Papaya: Introducing high-yield varieties key to healthy profits
Anonymous - Thanks for sharing the link on papaya..This is very informative!
ReplyDeleteHi Congrats .
ReplyDeleteWhats is the yield per acre .If you can put a consolidated expense against yield and profit .It would be helpful.
Example :- Pesticide cost ,Seed Cost ,Labour cost ,Maintenace Cost ,Finally Sale Cost.
Give me a few days, I am working on this!
ReplyDeleteDid you look at ZBF farming as it could bring you cost way down. Also do mulching and try Natural farming.
ReplyDeleteMadhu from pittsburgh.
rajumadhu@gmail.com
Owner(upcoming Nature Valley farms near Kollegal, KA)
Madhu,
DeleteThanks for sharing. We are looking into ZBF - maybe even attend a course in the near future.
Do you have a blog where we can follow your activities?