Protected nursery

• Prepare the nursery area of 3 cents with slanting slope of 2 % for the seedling production to cover 1 ha.

• Cover the nursery area with 50 % shade net and cover the sides using 40 / 50 mesh insect proof nylon net.

• Form raised beds of 1 m width and convenient length and place HDPV pipes at 2m interval for further protection with polythene sheets during rainy months.

• Mix sterilized cocopeat @ 300 kg with neem cake 5 kg along with Azospirillum and phosphobacteria each @ 1 kg. Approximately 1.2 kg of cocopeat is required for filling one protray. 200 protrays are required for the production of 18,700 seedlings, which is required for one hectare adopting a spacing of 90 x 60 x 75 cm in paired row system.

• Sow the treated seeds in protrays @ 1 seed per cell.

• Cover the seed with cocopeat and keep the trays one above the other and cover with a polythene sheet till germination starts.

• After 6 days, place the protrays with germinated seeds individually on the raised beds inside the shade net.

• Water with rose-can everyday and drench with 19:19:19 @ 0.5% (5g/l) at 18 days after sowing.