Nursery management

Nursery Area

• Select nursery area in a well drained plot with coarse texture soil near water source for irrigation. Nursery can be raised in the open space with artificial shade or in the adult coconut garden.

Nursery Bed Preparation
1.5 m Width with Convenient Length	75 cm Space Between Beds		Levelled Beds
Small Length Sized Beds		Well Prepared Nursery Beds

Nursery Structure
Nursery Area between Coconut	Raised Nursery Bed		50 % Shaded Nursery	Nursery under Partial Shade in Coconut Plantation

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Seed Nut Planting

• Plant seed nuts in a long and narrow bed at a spacing of 30 x 30 cm either horizontally or vertically in deep trenches with 20-25 cm depth. Five rows of nuts may be planted in each bed accommodating 50 nuts per row.

Planting Seed Nuts

Prepared Bed for Planting	Nursery Bed	Bed Preparation	Planting Seed Nuts Properly
Placing Seed Nuts Horizontally	Top Portion of Nuts Visible	Seedling Growth from Top Portion of Nuts	Seedling Growth from Visible Portion of Nuts

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Intercultural Operations in Nursery

• Irrigate the nursery beds once in three days.
• Keep the nursery free of weeds. To manage the weed problem in coconut nursery, growing sun hemp 2 times (each harvested at flowering stage) followed by one hand weeding at 6th month was found to be very effective besides yielding green manure for manuring the adult coconut palms.
• Provide shade to the nursery by raising Sesbania or Leucaena on the sides of beds.
• The seed nuts start germination 6 – 8 weeks after planting and germination continues upto six months. Select seedlings that germinate before 5 months after planting. Remove those nuts which do not germinate 5 months after sowing.
• Regularly survey for pest and diseases.

Irrigation Channel	Irrigated after Planting	Irrigated Nursery	Seedling Emergence
Seedling Emergence Field	2 Months Old Seedlings	3 Months Old Seedlings	4 Months Old Seedlings
5 Months Old Seedlings	8 Months Old Seedlings	9 Months Old Seedlings	10 Month Old Seedling
Top Portion of Seedling Husk Visibling	Late Germination	Well Germinated Seedlings	Hand Weeding in Nursery
Seed to Seedling

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Selection of Seedlings

• Select seedlings 9 to 12 months after planting. Seedlings, which have germinated earlier, having good girth at collar and early splitting of leaflets, should be selected for planting.

Healthy Root System

Pest and Disease Free Seedling

Ideal Well Growth Seedling

Discarded Seedling

Do not select the seed nuts which have just germinated. Eliminate the seedlings which are deformed or having stunted growth.

Bud Rot Affected Seedling

Deformed Seed Nut

Disease Affected Seedling

Stunted Growth Seedling

Stunted Root Growth Seedling

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Seedling Harvesting

• Remove the seedlings from the nursery by lifting with spade. Do not pull out the seedlings by pulling leaves or stem.
• Select quality seedlings with a minimum of 6 leaves and girth of 10 cm at collar.