Preparing the field
There's more to preparing the field that just digging pits and planting the saplings. If done systematically, ita can help you in reducing your plant care expenses in the coming few years and at the same time help in maximizing the yield.
i. Making a nursery (atleast 18 months prior)
It would be nice to visit the high yielding farms in and around your vicinity. This will help you compare the variety of plants (Njallani is the most common variety, however there are hybrids made by individual farmers) with that of the fields being visited. Once you decide on whether to go with the variety of the plants in your field or to buy saplings you can decide on whether to make a nursery or not. If you plan to go with the variety in your field, you should make a nursery.
a. Decide the number of plants you require for planting. For this, first decide the distance between plants. If you decide of 10Ft X 10 Ft, then one acre will need (43560 Sq Ft / 100 = 435 Plants). If you decide 11Ft X 11 Ft (43560/ 121 = 360 plants and so on and so forth.
Plain land with moderate or no slope will do good with 10Ft X 10Ft. However in steep terrain, you can try and reduce the gaps between plants moderately with low impact on yield.
ii. Clearing old plants
First you need to clear the area of all the old plants. Basically you remove the old plants off the field, then clear the roots using fork or earth moving machinery.
Although a cumbersome process, this will ensure that no root related diseases that existed in the earlier plants gets carried over.
iii. Cutting old and dying trees
Have a look at the field and identify the old and dying trees that will probably fall in the coming years. Have those trees removed from the field. (As per the Kerala Forest Officials, if your field falls in the CHR area of Idukki district in Kerala, they will have to inspect the trees before we are given the permission to cut the trees). Please adhere to the procedures to avoid heartburns or unwanted confrontations.
ideally, you medium sized trees every 20-25 feet, however if the trees are big in size, then you may have decide in accordance to it.
iv. Making planting pits
There are different approaches to making planting pits;
a. The traditional way is to make planting pits of 2.5Ft Depth 2Ft X 2Ft. This ensures that the soil is loosened to promote root growth.
b. Loosen the entire field using earth moving machineries (JCB, Hitachi etc). But this has an impact on the trees and should be chosen only with concurrence with forest officials and depending on the terrain. If the same is done is steep terrain, you risk losing the top soil in the rainy season.
c. Make a 1 Ft X 1 Ft X 1 Ft pit using just a spade and continue with planting. This is possible in fields with moderate sloped and rich loamy soil.
