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Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Agriculture / "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods (43016 Views)
Organic Layer Solution By: Organicfoods / Sack Farming : Diary Of My Mix Crop Sack Farm / Sack Farming From Start (2) (3) (4)
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"Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 1:58pm On May 30, 2016 |
I will be using this new thread to share my experience in vertical sack farming. This will serve as a learning curve for many up starter. During the journey so far, we have witnessed the emergence of this phenomenon concept called "Vertical Sack Farming" which was introduced to Nairaland by Pavore9, as a result of the little success, a lot of vertical sack farmers are emerging everyday with astonishing concept and improve version of the idea. It is a great joy for me to be part of this revolution. Vanpeele, ishaqteejay and several others had improvise on this concept to a point of perfection. The agriculture community should be grateful to these guys for daring to sustain this form of farming thus far. The pix outline how we started. 10 Likes 5 Shares
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Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Marvel1206: 2:04pm On May 30, 2016 |
Following FTC! ![]() ![]() 1 Like |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 2:07pm On May 30, 2016 |
I'm following closely. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by vikacydevato(m): 2:31pm On May 30, 2016 |
No knowledge is a waste. 1 Like |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 3:20pm On May 30, 2016 |
Gradually we made some little progress on the field. The journey wasn't really smooth. My farm assistance used the short cut of bush burning before my arrival to the farm and I felt bad. As a proponent of organic farming, bush burning is a no, no. The reasons are not far fetched. The bio diversity of the land is further destroyed as many beneficiary insects and animals are killed. Besides the nutrients are made to be available in sudden large quantity on the field when you practice bush burning, which cannot be used by the plants because it takes a while for it grow and obtain such nutrients, hence exposing the nutrients to leaching, wind and water erosion when it rains. Remember the bio build up of a particular land consists of many living organism and micro organisms thriving on it, so also many weeds, some deep rooted others perennial. Deep rooted dig deep into the soil to extract nutrients locked there. When such plants dies they make available these nutrients for other plants that doesn't have a well developed root system to extract nutrients, burning such plants and releasing those nutrients without using it, is waste of nature's effort and resource to nourish the soil. So consider dropping bush burning as a method of bush clearing. 12 Likes 2 Shares
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Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 3:29pm On May 30, 2016 |
Works on the field as it progresses 3 Likes 1 Share
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Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 3:48pm On May 30, 2016 |
Fertilization: When you are planing for your vertical farm (cucumber) You must provide enough organic matters and manure for them. They grow very fast and don't waste time consuming nutrients. If not for my experience in the manufacture of cheap liquid fertilizer, I would have given up. You mus be prepared to supplement the nutrients in the sack, especially during budding and fruiting. They tend to demand a lot of nutrients. Fast releasing nutrients would do you a lot of joy. So to avoid nutrients depletion consider stuffing the bags enough with chicken poo and also supplements, it is a must or else you become an actor in the epic movie "Story that touch" lol! Pest Management: One big problem I encountered is pest control....Kai, the pest love it like mad, they behave as if their lives depend on it. If you are not prepared to do battle with the pest then don't even go into cucumber farming. One short cut I will be adopting is planting varieties of other vegetables along side cucumber. Crops like celery, marigold and basil will be planted...They tend to confuse deceive pest that recognizes their victim by smell. I farm organically so I used Neem oil, Ginger/Garlic Extract, and plethora of other pest management procedures. Water: Cucumbers love water and if you can't supply enough then don't think of risking it. There is this thing about mulching that I noticed. Mulching the sack with leaves can save a lot of stress. Frogs and lizards love to hide around the bags as well. I initially I never trusted their presence, but after careful study, I discover that they are working on my side. They feed on the pests attacking the plants. They can however become a nuisance in early stage of the plants life...they clip the leaves of the tender plant destroying them. Squirrels also are great nemesis. Spacing: Three plants in a sack appears to be too much for the sack. I think two plants are good to go. Three can be so crowded 13 Likes 1 Share
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Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 4:25pm On May 30, 2016 |
organicfoods: Now my legs are shaking! |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by abgold: 4:52pm On May 30, 2016 |
interesting!Organicfoods.what is d space measurement for producing a bag?under a normal yeild. 1 Like |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 5:10pm On May 30, 2016 |
Mercie123:Thank God your liver still dey Kampe.. Legs na to obey order lol. 5 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 6:11pm On May 30, 2016 |
I think the craziest of these challenges is the Pest management. Please lay more emphasis on this and tell us what to do. I learnt some hybrid seeds have self-resistant to pest and all. Which seeds? Murano? 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 7:08pm On May 30, 2016 |
Mercie123:Hybrid can help with disease but with pests, they are powerless. The weaker plants are always susceptible to pests attack. In my next post I will elaborate how to get prepared for pests management and how to improve on sack composition that will help protect the plants. 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by muamar(m): 7:35pm On May 30, 2016 |
learnt about sha. but the person tend to insist on buying the netlike bags made from south africa... wats ur take. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by vanpeele: 8:29pm On May 30, 2016 |
very nice...I don't think you've mentioned the number of sacks, yield per week and duration of your harvests |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 10:02am On May 31, 2016 |
vanpeele:Sorry...I should have done that earlier. Was thinking of doing it in another post. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 10:22am On May 31, 2016 |
Numbers of Sack Deployed: I deployed 440 sacks, planting 3 cucumber in each bags Total Numbers of cucumbers: On the average I had close to 1,300 cucumber vines on the farm (Massive you will say) Space: Not up to half a plot. Variety: Murano2F1 Expected Yield per plants : 15 fruits per vine Actual Yield per plant was 5 fruits on the average. (Reasons for this low yield was as a result of water management that affected us) I will discuss this in another post. We divided the farm into four, planting them with 10 days interval. (Reason was to have a continous harvest all through) Our first harvest was given out. We had a lot of Nairalanders and other visitors coming to the farm...plus the fact that we were shooting a documentary on the farm. On the average we had more than 200 fruits per harvest every week. Our first harvest. 14 Likes 6 Shares
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Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by vanpeele: 10:46am On May 31, 2016 |
organicfoods: You can but also here |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Pavore9: 12:25pm On May 31, 2016 |
This is nice as many of us are learning. There is no excuse not to start with what is readily available, even that decked uncompleted building or that empty space piled with junks near you is a potential farmland where sack farming is concerned! @organicfoods, loving the sight of the cucumbers, looking so fresh. Do look into using plastic crates in packing during harvest. Just feel like eating cucumber noodles now! ![]() 14 Likes 2 Shares
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Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 2:42pm On May 31, 2016 |
organicfoods: I love your facts and figures. Please like how many seeds are in a 50g of Murano 2 F1? By the way, someone told me it's sold for N9,000 now. 4 Likes 1 Share |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by organicfoods(m): 3:08pm On May 31, 2016 |
Mercie123:Yes it could that much. I know a can and half will do one acre. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 3:26pm On May 31, 2016 |
organicfoods: Ok I'm trying to have 1,500 - 3,000 sacks on my plot, possibly. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Pavore9: 3:38pm On May 31, 2016 |
Mercie123: Where is your plot located? |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 4:50pm On May 31, 2016 |
Pavore9: I have both in Lagos and Ibadan but I'm starting with the one in Ibadan. Cost of production is way cheaper in IB. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Pavore9: 4:56pm On May 31, 2016 |
Mercie123: How is it cheaper? I guess you already have access to the land in Lagos, 1 Like 1 Share |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 5:06pm On May 31, 2016 |
Pavore9: I could say 'cost of labour' is cheaper in IB sef. Yes, I've had the two parcels since 2013, both fenced and gated. |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Pavore9: 5:10pm On May 31, 2016 |
Mercie123: Between Ibadan and Lagos, what is the difference in the market price of cucumber? |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 5:20pm On May 31, 2016 |
Pavore9: Now that's a great question and I totally get what you mean but I can transport it to Lagos, can't I? On a second thought, transportation would add to my cost...hmmm...*pondering* |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Pavore9: 5:39pm On May 31, 2016 |
Mercie123: The nearer you are to your market the better. Lagos offers market at different levels. I streamed online this morning listening to Fidelity bank's SME radio show. I was inspired by the resource person who co-own greenhouse based farm, owned by two well educated and widely travelled women with strong corporate backgrounds, having worked in the U.S, Canada, UK, France, Singapore etc. They even brought in a Kenyan who is a guru in greenhouse farming to work for them. They know their target market is upscale shopping centres, thus applying international standards in their operations in their farm there in Lagos. What is your projected scale of operation? Who is your target market? These should influence your decision-making. 2 Likes 2 Shares |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 7:13pm On May 31, 2016 |
Pavore9: I'll consider my first operation to be on a small scale after which I'll scale up. But I really hope to be harvesting as much as 1million fruits per season at some point. Rome wasn't built in a day but I'm pumped to gradually walk through this. I'll weigh my options. 1 Like |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Pavore9: 7:35pm On May 31, 2016 |
Mercie123: Starting out, let the location where you tend to be more often be your starting point and experiment with a pilot project of half a plot. You will really learn a lot from the practicals and gain the confidence to expand. There are many high value crops that can be grown with such bags even strawberries. The capacity of the human mind is limitless.....it is good to be ambitious. 7 Likes 3 Shares |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Hallams(m): 8:30pm On May 31, 2016 |
where is your location |
Re: "Vertical Sack Farming" My Pains, My Joy! My Experience So Far By: Organicfoods by Mercie123(f): 9:03pm On May 31, 2016 |
Pavore9: Thank you so much for these great tips!!! God bless you. 4 Likes |
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