Paddy waste : NOT the best mulching source for Mango Plantations

Post Pongal is always a good time to hoard on all the paddy waste we can procure from the neighboring farms to mulch our mango plants. This year around, there was stiff competition from Kerala since large quantities of hay was exported out to the state. Nonetheless, we were able to procure about 10 tractor loads - all for free.

However, when I was writing the post initially, the title did not have the NOT. A few days into mulching, we found that there was termite around some plants. On researching further and talking to some experts, we found that paddy waste attracts a lot of termite and does not decay very fast. Although there was a repetition in the activity of mulching and then de-mulching, but we are happy, we arrested the problem in time.

Last year, we used the agri waste from watermelons to mulch. As they say, there should be no waste on the farm and whatever you can find should be used to enrich the soil and the plants. Benefits of mulching are maintaining soil moisture, temperature and controlling weeds. The link here elaborates well on the different types of mulch, advantages and disadvantages.  
 

Using agri waste as a mulching source..

Finally, the rain gods showed some mercy at us and showered a couple of good spells in mid July. Not excessively moist, it was the right time to plough the intercrop area between the mangoes. After the watermelon harvest, vines and leaves were left on the ground to decay to enhance the organic content. 
Like last year, the plan is to sprinkle some Daincha seeds in between mango rows to augment nitrogen levels of the soil.
A 9-finger implement was used to plough the area. After a couple of runs, larger vines (entangled within the implement) were dislodged at the end of the field. In order to make use of the 'waste', it was decided to use it as mulch for the existing mango plants. Mulching results in suppression of weeds, retention of moisture and decrease in  soil temperature.

Mulch placed under a plant.

In any agri related operation, it is imperative to use and reuse available waste and resources to augment soil quality and reduce maintenance costs like reduction in manure, fertilizers and watering etc..

Harvesting Daincha!

Back in June, I had planted Daincha to enrich the soil in Nitrogen and to generate some organic matter for mango pits. Typically, the plants are cut within 45 days when they flower. Since I was not ready for planting mangoes, I let it grow for another 45 days.
There was a wild growth and some stems grew as high as 6 feet. The stems just above the soil were hard and thick and one could easily be hurt if not wearing shoes.
Last week, we finally cut the plants and to my surprise I found new growth emerging from the sides of cut stems (Like Melia Dubia)..This was a pleasant discovery but for now I have had enough of Daincha and would be uprooting all the undergrowth with a 5 finger implement.

Standing 6 feet tall!

All rolled up to be dumped in the mango pits..

Daincha Next-Gen!

Coir Pith manure ready to use!

My previous post on coir pith manure was way back in April where I described the process of decomposing coir pith. Decomposition is extremely essential before it can be used as manure. In case you missed it, you can find the details here.

http://techie2aggie.blogspot.com/2011/04/making-in-house-manure-coir-pith.html

Well, the good news is that after making 150 beds of 500 Kg each and after almost 3+ months, the manure is ready. We  got it tested at TNAU and C:N ratio was 20:1 which is acceptable. According to our rough estimates, each bed is approx. 300 Kg (after decomposition). So there was a 40% reduction in mass during the decomposition  process.

Initially, we covered it with palm leaves. That was a management disaster since it was not easy to water the beds (sharp edges of leaves was a major hindrance) and was prone to shifting due to strong winds.
We figured it would be easier to use jute bags. This worked out great since we could water through it.

Our workers bagging the manure.

Ready to be transported to Melia Dubia pits...

The final product..According to academicians, you know it is ready when it is "coffee coloured".
In my opinion, it is better to get the C:N ratio tested to ascertain if it is ready to use.

Recipe for making EM

EM stands for Effective Microorganism and is used in decomposition of organic matter. We used it in the decomposition of coir pith. There are multiple solutions available in the market. Maple's EM.1 being one of them.

Take 1 kg of black jaggery and powder it.

Add about 1 litre of water in a container and mix it with ground jaggery.Then pour the solution in a 20L can.

Add 1 litre of EM to a 20L can. Add approx. 18L of water to the 20L can. Leave a little space at the top.

Ensure the lid is tight.


















Open the lid once in the morning and evening for a minute. Continue this for 7-10 days until foul smell is prevalent. At this point of time, EM is ready for application. Make sure the can is placed in a cool place and not exposed to direct sunlight.

Once ready, each litre of 'activated' EM can be diluted in 20L of water. The resultant solution can be used for decomposition of organic matter. 

Daincha - Green manure

In the detailed soil report, we found that organic matter and NPK levels are low since our farm has not been cultivated in a long time.
We decided to sow daincha seeds in the pits to increase the nutrient levels. Daincha essentially fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil. We also broadcasted the seeds in about 5 acres of plot where we intend to do some short-term inter-cropping. Results were fantastic, given that we started the activity in the peak of summer and watered it 3-4 times only.
Daincha typically grows to about 2 ft after which it is harvested - it can be either incorporated into the soil with a rotavator (to increase the organic matter) or can be cut and used as animal fodder.

Other alternatives include cowpea, sunhemp and grams. Cost of 1Kg daincha is Rs 35 and we used a handful per pit.

Seeds sprout on day 3.

Day 10

At the time of planting, we will add FYM and other farm inputs on top of daincha.

Flowering took place in 45 days.

Case in point: Plants grow better when FYM is applied..compare the height of the plants on the right (near FYM) to the ones on left.

Making in-house manure: Coir Pith

Thanks to a coir pith factory adjacent to our farm, we were able to procure 78 tractor loads of unprocessed coir pith waste. We are planning on decomposing it in the next couple of months so that we have good quality, home-grown manure for this years planting season.

Berg Top Coir factory, Sivagangai, a subsidiary of a dutch company.

Everything is for grabs!

The first tractor gets loaded up by a JCB...

...while others wait for their turn.

We employed a total of 10 tractors and a JCB. Our farm is approx 6 Km away from factory and 10 tractors ensured continuous loading of coir pith.

JCB compacting the material.

Covering up the load (we do not like to 'waste' waste )
















Once the goods were on the farm, it was time to process it. First, we made a sieve to filter out undesirable items like plastics etc..

Karan Singh and Sher Singh - our coir pith sieve architects..

15 ft by 10 ft beds were made - 15 ft was divided into 5 sections. The height of bed was maintained at 6 inches. In other words, 15 cubic ft = 100 Kg of coir pith waste.

Sieving in process..

First bed complete..

..and many more. We re-used the pit marking pegs to divide the bed into 5 sections.















After dividing the bed into 5 sections, the 3rd section was evened out and a layer of pleurotus sajor was put on it for rapid decomposition. We got 300 gm packet (enough for a 100 Kg layer) from TNAU Madurai. I assume most Agri colleges should be able to supply it.

Mixing pleurotus sajor with water so that it does not fly off (it was a windy evening)

Solution was poured onto the coir layer and then abundantly watered.

Then another layer of coir pith was put on top of pleurotus sajor layer.

A layer of Urea (1 Kg for 100 Kg of coir) was placed on top of second coir layer.















We continued doing this 2 more times. Overall, 600 gm of pleurotus sajor and 2 Kg of Urea was used for a total of 500 Kg of coir waste.

..and then it was covered with palm leaves to reduce moisture loss.

...and marked it with the date. We shall check on it after 2 months. In the meanwhile, we will continue watering it to enhance the decomposition process.












I know this is a long post, but would like to summarize the process once more.

1. Make 15 ft by 10 ft by 0.5 ft bed. 10 ft by 3 ft by 0.5 ft bed should be approx 100 Kg
2. On a layer of 100 Kg sieved coir, put 300 gm of pleurotus sajor. Water it
3. Place another 100 Kg of sieved coir. Water it.
4. Put 1 Kg of urea and evening spread it. Water it.
5. Repeat step 3.
6. Repeat step 2.
7. Repeat step 3.
8. Repeat step 4.
9. Repeat 3. So totally, you should have 5 coir layers and 2 layers of pleurotus sajor and urea each.
10. Compact the mount with a spade or any other flat implement.
11. Cover it water coconut or palm leaves for rapid decomposition and to contain moisture loss.
12. In 2 months, you should be able to get coffee colored compost. Ensure continuous watering during the 2 months.


Economics:
Material - FREE.

Transportation - Rs 30,000 for 78 loads and a JCB. Rough calculations indicate that we may have procured 100 tons of coir waste i.e. Rs 0.30/Kg

Inputs - Urea: 2Kg (Rs 6/Kg)
          - Pleurotus sajor: 600 gm (Rs 40)

For a bed of 500Kg (5 layers of coir), total input expenses is Rs 52 i.e. Rs 0.10/Kg.

Total cost of production - Rs 0.40/Kg

Solving the mystery of FPS (Foot,Pound,Second) and CGS (cm,gram,second) systems!

Apart from paddy waste manure, we also plan on making some coir manure from coir pith waste. Fortunately, there is a coir factory near our farm that manufactures coir pith and the plant manager was kind enough to give us 80 tractor loads for FREE. We procured the waste last week and we are in process of sieving it before we decompose it.

The process became even more interesting when we referred to "experts" in the field regarding the bed sizes we should make. We talked to 5 different professors and their proposed bed sizes ranged from 3m x 3m to 6m x 3m and the height ranged from 6 inches to 1 ft. However, the most intriguing part was that all of them talked about 100 Kg of waste per layer (it is a multi layer process), and 300 gms of Plurotis/layer and 1 Kg of Urea/layer.

So the mystery was how in the world can you have 100 Kg of waste in beds that are almost twice as much in length and height. There had to be some missing link some where. Fortunately, I still remember my Class 9 physics formula - Density = Mass/Volume and the two engineers in the house (my dad and  I) got working.

So we got a carton and filled it up with sieved waste and weighed it. Mass was 5.8 Kg and Volume was 0.865 ft ^3..In other words density was 5.8/.865 = 6.7 Kg/ft^3
Having established the density, and keeping the magic number 100Kg constant, we found that the volume of bed should really be approx 15ft^3

What we found was that the dimension of bed should have been 5ft by 3ft (and 1 ft height) and NOT 5m by 3m. Unfortunately, the flaw in TNAU guidelines still exists and probably scores of batches have graduated without realizing it and our so called experts are following it blindly. 

It is amazing how information spreads fast but misinformation spreads faster. In this day and age, where information is available by googling, one needs to be diligent about interpreting information. Maybe I should bring this up to the TNAU dean - maybe I will be conferred with an honorary doctarate :)

Mounds of Coir waste

Coir Pith block that was transported accidentally (probably a reject). People practise floriculture on this in the west, especially Europe!

Sieved Coir waste which will undergo decomposition soon.
















More info on cooking some coir manure in another post - stay tuned!

Making some in-house organic Manure: Paddy Waste

We are planning on making some manure in-house which should decrease some of our manure expenses. We went on a 'rice straw collection' spree last month and were able to gather 10 tipper loads (approx 10 tons) for a total of Rs 6000.
We have dug 8-10 pits which are going to be used as compost pits during dry season and as rain water harvesting structures in monsoon season. The pits are spread out across the land close to cultivation areas.
Conscious effort was made not to dig out fertile land to make these pits; there were several 'low lying areas' formed after removing bigger boulders. Using a JCB, these areas were made deeper.

Economics:
8L of Activated EM solution is required per ton of waste.
Expected Waste conversion to manure = 25%

1L of EM = 20L of activated EM = Rs 280
Cost of Input material (EM solution and Jaggery) = (8L/20L)*280/250  ~ Rs 0.45/Kg
Cost of Paddy Waste = Rs 600/250Kg = Rs 2.4
Total Cost = Rs 2.85/Kg
Compare this to various composts that are sold in the market for Rs 5-6. (Not to forget that a lot of places are selling sand instead of pure compost in order to increase their margins.

One of the several low lying pits that was converted into a compost pit/Water harvesting unit This is one of the smaller pits. The biggest one is close to 15 m x10 m x 2m 

Everything is up for grabs!

And our workers attack the grub!!

Loading the final one..

A couple of loads of rice straw in one of the bigger pits. As of now, we have filled up 10 pits with straw. We will add EM (Effective Microorganism) for rapid decomposition of straw.












EM is nothing but a bacterial solution. 1 Kg of Jaggery and 19 L of water needed to be added to this solution and kept in a 20L can for 10 days. You need to open twice daily in the morning and evening (for 5 mins) to get 'Activated' EM that can be used directly with the paddy waste.

The last step would be to cover the pits with soil for a couple of months. Come summer, we should have some good quality, in-house manure!
More updates then..