Planting indigenous mango varieties

 Mango seedlings collected from Sakhil of IMCP group, Gireesh Sir etc...are being planted this year. Only plants which have grown really well and have reached around 5 feet is being planted this year. Idea is to establish them well before the next drought.

The following varieties are planted....Red ponnus, Golden Ponnus, Blue Ponnus, Manikyan, IMCP kilichundan, Chelan, Dukran, Sakhi, Kanimangalam etc...Each one will be photographed and growth will be monitored in this page.

Blue Ponnus

Dukran

Golden Ponnus

IMCP KCN

IMCP KCN

Jaan Priyur

Kanimangalam

Manikyan

Red Ponnus

Sakhi

Chelan

Happy hill rice in pots

Just to keep seeds, happy hill rice seeds were sown in the pots, without pre-soaking them. Seeds were kept at the refrigerator hence kept them outside for a day and then sown them. Germinated well and growing, applied compost tea couple of times and weed extract liquid couple of times, and also applied compost once. Watering them regularly...Seeds sown around May 15th...

16-June-2024

28-June-2024

16-July-2024

25-July-2024

grains started forming

grains started turning yellow

13-Aug-2024

harvested few of the heads in bit advance so that I don't loose the seeds

27-Aug-2024

02-Sept-2024

Organic tilled paddy - 1st season 2024

This year summer was very hot and usual summer rains didn't happen, 1st rain came on April 12nd and after that around 3 weeks delay and next rain came. After that it has been consistently raining now. Since I am completely rainfed now, wanted to utilise every rain, especially paddy has to be started with early rains. Traditionally it says, paddy has to be started in Aswathy (April 13 to 27th)  or Bharani njattuvela (April 27th to May 11th).

Bought 10Kgs of Uma seed from Kannannur rice mill of Sivadasan for 35/- per Kg. Also bought 2Kgs of green gram at 150/- per Kg, and 0.5Kgs of Sesame at 200/- perKg and also used some finger millet seeds from last year. All mixed well in a sack and then sown in the field after the tractor completed 1st round of rotovator tilling.

Also put a coir fence around the field, one labor was used and 10 bunches of coir was used at around 180/ rupees totally. Next two days there was heavy rain at the night, so left everything to nature, to see what happens.

May 14th, 2024

May 20,2024

can see green gram and paddy seedlings,both germinated well..could see weeds also coming up well, that is the next challenge

16-June-2024

green gram and sesame grows very well, rice germinated very well, but not able to compete with weeds. May be I have to get a variety which compete with weeds well and also can tolerate drought. 

16-July-2024

finally it is just sesame that is seen..surprisingly sesame just came above the seeds and they look quite heavily loaded, but not sure about the harvest since it may be raining when they mature

Starting of agriculture activities - traditional way

 According to our traditional agriculture system, Medam 1st - in Malayalam calendar is the starting of agriculture activities, this was on April 14th this year. Medam 1st is celebrated as Vishu in Kerala which is a festival along with farmers starts farming activities. Typically in Kerala climate, it would rain before Vishu festival and there is a saying 'വിഷു കഴിഞ്ഞാൽ വേനലില്ല ' meaning there is no summer after this festival. Also they say in Aswathy njattuvela which happens to be between April 13th to April 27th, and seeds sown in this duration never goes bad. Again there is a saying 'അശ്വതിയിലിട്ട വിത്തും ,ഭരണിയിലിട്ട മാങ്ങയും ,അച്ഛൻ വളർത്തിയ മക്കളും കേടാവില്ല ' which means seeds sown in Aswathy and mangoes put in Ceramic pot and children broughtup by father, never goes bad.

Also there is another auspicious day called Medam 10th, happened to be on April 23rd. Farmers starts planting crops on this day,and since rain would start soon, they have to just water it so that crops are alive till the rain and then they will take off.

Now a days with climate change, things never happens this way. This year it rained on April 12th, it was a reasonably good rain, but after that it hasn't rained so far in this region. 

Since earlier complete farming was rain dependent every rain was utilized so these calendars were really important. I do complete rainfed farming and hence these things are important but with climate change, it becomes more challenging.

May be with first rain, I could have planted some fodder grass slips and Vetiver slips to see if they come up well, but that has to be done on the next day.

Kolumbu mango sapling infront of house

This mango sapling was planted in front of the house in June 2023. This is a very tasty traditional variety and fruits every year.

This time cut and mulched grass around in a big circle so that more moisture is retained and also no grass grows nearby. In mango orchards, they pile up soil around the base of the tree and these trees seems to be growing well. Instead of piling up soil, wants to see if the mulched grass also can do the same.

28-1-24

Cut and mulched around in big circles so that moisture is retained in more area and weed also is controlled in a better way

09-July-2024

In the summer peak, cows grazed this area and sapling was damaged, with rain it is recovering

27-Aug-2024

23-Oct-24

02-Dec-24

22-Feb-2025

even though it is dry season, it has a new shoot

09-June-2025

Two year completed,with rain, new shoot is coming

11-Nov-2025

has gone to next level

17-May-2026

Didn't water in the summer, still it survived. Also some one set fire to grass in the ground as part of festival preparation, some leaves were lost, but didn't effect the full plant. But since I had seen, I just put out fire around the sapling, otherwise it would have been lost.

09-July-26

with rain, new shoots are coming....

Sesame cultivation - as 2023 second crop

First crop paddy didn't do well this time, because of lack of rain. Overall rain was bad this year, so next crop paddy is ruled out. So thought of doing sesame which need less water and also cows/deer does not eat it. Called Mohanan tractor person and he came promptly, took around 1.5 hours to complete the field then sesame 800gms mixed with compost were sown by Palani and rotovated for another 0.5 hour.

Farm at the end of 2023 rainy season

This year no grass was cut in the farm since rain was less. Basically wanted to provide good shade for the trees, the growth of grass is wild, coconut trees are yet to recover from last summer, they would take some time. I will be cutting the grass and other shrubs at the beginning of next rainy season.