WATER STEMS SPIDER MITE INFESTATIONS
Spider mites are one of the biggest pest problems in
global floriculture today, especially in greenhouses.
Spider mites are not true insects, but are closely related
to spiders.
The life cycle of the spider mite consists of five stages
namely: egg, larva, protonymph, deutonymph, and adult.
Spider mites reproduce very rapidly and according to
research, under ideal conditions, one female can
produce 3 million offspring in 45 days.
Mites are mainly prevalent on the undersides of plant
leaves and this is where all their development takes
place. They suck the sap out of the leaves, which
results in severe damage. The leaves of crops such as
roses tend to lose their colour and become pale if they
are infested with spider mites.
Mites are spread relatively easily on workers’ clothes,
implements, wind and infected material, and they are
able to re-establish themselves very quickly. They thrive
in a hot, dry climate with a low relative humidity.
If you are using spray-control methods for management,
remember that mites are mainly found on the undersides
of leaves. Spider mites do not like water. Simply
spraying cut flowers regularly with a lot of water will
disrupt the spider mite’s life cycle and reduce infection.
Spray chemicals should be applied using sufficient
measures of water.
Remember that certain chemicals will control the mites
effectively when they are in certain stages of their life
cycle, but not necessarily when they are in others.
This article comes from: Farmer’s Weekly, 11 July 2003, p.51
PROCESSING
OF
CASSAVA
AND
POTATOES FOR ANIMAL FEEDING
SWEET
Roots and tubers are important foods for people
living in warm, tropical climates. In these crops, the
roots or underground stems store food reserves and
become swollen.
The most important root and tuber crops are
cassava, sweet potato, yams, taro (cocoyam) and tannia
(new cocoyam).
Cassava roots and sweet potato tubers are good
energy foods. When you eat them, they give energy to
your body. They are good energy feeds for animals as
well.
If you have extra roots and tubers that you can
spare, it is a good idea to use them to feed animals.
By feeding farm-grown roots and tubers:
• You don’t have to purchase energy feeds from
outside.
• Feed from outside is always expensive. You can
save money by using cassava and sweet
potatoes that are produced on your farm.
• When you are using farm-produced feeds, you
can plan to have more animals. Then you will
have more meat and milk for your family to eat or
to sell.
In Africa, cassava is a staple food. It is used mainly
for human consumption. Only those roots that are
unsuitable for human consumption are used to feed
animals.
In different countries, cassava is known by different
names. In your country, it may be known by one of the
following names: yuca, manioc, tapioca or mandioca.
Cassava is an important crop in warm climates
because:
• It can adapt to many conditions;
• It can grow in areas with little rain;
• It can grow and produce in poor soil;
• It is hardy and easy to grow;
• It is free from serious insect pests and diseases.
This is why cassava is a popular crop in most
tropical countries.
Wait for Agri-Outreach Volume 6 Number 3 to find out
about the Feed Value of Cassava Roots.
This article comes from: Better farming series, Processing of
cassava and sweet potatoes for animal feeding, no. 44
ANIMAL DEHYDRATION
An animal is dehydrated when it has too little water in its
body. Animals become dehydrated when:
• They have diarrhoea and lose a lot of water in the
faeces.
• They are sick, especially with a disease that has
gone on for a long time, or with a disease that
damages the kidneys.
• They do not have enough water to drink,
especially when they are sick.
• They are very hot.
• They lose a lot of blood.
More than half the weight of an animal’s body is water.
Blood is nearly all water. The rest of the water is in the
flesh and bones. All the water inside an animal has salt,
sugar, and other chemicals in it. When an animal loses
a lot of water it also loses these important chemicals.
Animals lose water all the time. They lose it in urine and
faeces, in sweat from the skin and in the damp air they
breathe out. They lose even more water when they
produce milk or give birth. They need to replace this
water by drinking or eating food with water in it.
Signs:
• The animal has a dry skin and rough coat with
raised hair.
• The eyes sink into the head.
• It wants to drink often and is weak and tired.
• When you lift up a fold of the skin it does not fall
back as quickly as normal.
• The animal passes very little urine or has very
dark urine. It has constipation, the faeces are
dry.
•
•
•
•
Treatment:
Give the animal plenty of water to drink. Or better
still give the water mixed with some sugar and
salt.
Don’t graze animals too far from water. Give sick
animals plenty of water to drink.
Keep animals shaded from the hot sun.
Treat sick animals as soon as you can,
especially for diarrhoea.
This article comes from: Where there is no vet, Bill Forse
WHAT CAN A FARMER DO TO EARN MORE
MONEY?
The farmer can make a better choice of crops.
He must grow what sells well.
He must choose crops that bring in a lot of money.
The farmer can produce more by increasing the
yield of his crops.
All his crop-growing work must be better done.
The farmer can produce more by increasing the area
farmed.
He must work longer.
He must organize his work better.
He must work faster.
The farmer can do better with his sales.
He must sell everything that is not needed on the farm.
He must not let anything go bad.
He must try to sell at a higher price.
This article comes from: Better farming series, The modern farm
business, no.26
HOW TO MAKE A NEST BOX FOR YOUR RABBIT
DOE FOR BREEDING COMFORT
Why is a nest box necessary?
It is a warm and secure place for the doe to give birth,
and is where the babies will live for the first few weeks.
Without nest boxes, babies become separated from their
mothers, often get very cold, and may even crawl far
enough to fall out of the cage.
Make your own nest box
It’s easy enough to make your own nest box out of scrap
plywood. Nest boxes should be sized to fit the doe, and
should be at least 100mm longer and wider than she is.
If you have a large rabbit, the box should be about
500mm long. If you rabbit is medium sized, the box need
only be 450mm long.
Keep the following in mind
Make one end of the box lower so the doe doesn’t have
to jump too high t get in. A partial covering of the box
serves two purposes. It reduces heat loss, and provides
the doe with a resting place where the kits can’t get at
her.
The nest box should be placed in the doe’s cage about
30 to 31 days after mating. It’s a good idea to provide
nest materials for the doe, like clean hay or shavings.
Don’t put the nest box in the cage too early because she
may use it as a toilet.
Cleaning the nest boxes
When the kits are about 10 days old you should clean out
the old, soiled materials. Experienced breeders say that
cleaning the nest box just before the baby’s eyes open
helps decrease the chances of bacterial eye infections.
Remove the nest box from the cage when the young are
all out of it, that’s about 30 to 35 days after kindling in
winter and 28 to 32 days after kindling in summer.
This article comes from: Farmer’s Weekly, 16 May 2003, Grow p.6.
This cartoon comes from:
http://bennashcartoons.com/Tomatoes2.html
CACTUS PEAR: A PLANT WITH MANY USES
Planting cactus pears
The parts that look like the leaves of the
cactus pear are actually green, flattened stems.
They are called leaf pads.
Cactus pears are grown from leaf-pads
which are cut from the live plant.
Look for single leaf-pads which are at
least 1 year old. Cut leaf pads from the mother plant
at the joint. Cut them off smoothly.
Spread them in half-shade and leave to
wilt for 4 to 6 weeks.
Plant leaf-pads during spring.
They
should be planted 2 metres apart and in rows 5
metres apart.
Plant them horizontally one-third into the
soil with the end where they were cut off just above
the soil. Water the leaf pads. It is not necessary to
water them again until they start growing.
The leaf-pads you have planted will form
the main stems of strong, new plants.
Harvesting the fruit
A cactus pear plant bears many fruit on 1 year old leafpads and less on 2 year old ones.
When the flower buds are forming, thin them out so that
they are 2 to 3 fingers from one another. If you do this
the fruit will have shorter stems, will be easier to pick and
will taste better.
It is easy to see which are fruit buds and which leaf buds
when they are a few days old. The fruit buds are round
while the leaf buds are flattened.
Using leaf-pads as animal feed
The cactus pear is very useful as feed
because the plant does not need much water, it is
easy to grow and it does not need much care.
Cactus pear leaf-pads do not contain all
the food that animals need, but in times of drought
they can help the animals to stay alive.
If you want to feed the leaf-pads to
animals, cut them off. They can be chopped into
smaller pieces. You can allow them to wilt a little or
you can dry them before giving them as feed. If you
have a mill, you can grind the dry leaf-pads and store
the powder.
The animals will get all the food they need
if you give them 2 parts of cactus pear leaf-pads and
1 part lucerne.
When you feed your animals cactus pear
leaf-pads, they may get a loose stomach. You need
not worry about this, as it is not bad for them.
This article comes from:
Infopak Resource Centre.
National Department of Agriculture,
This cartoon comes from: http://bennashcartoons.com/
We want to invite our readers to tell
us about their success stories as a
result of information received from
PRAIS.
SOW & GROW MELONS
Sowing:
Seed depth: ½ “(13 mm)
Soil temperature: 80-90°F (27-32°C)
Days to germination: 3-5
Sow indoors: 3 weeks before last frost
Sow outdoors: When soil reaches 70°F (21°C) and
after last frost.
Growing:
pH range: 6.0 to 7.0 (6.0 is the absolute minimum;
production drops below this)
Soil temperature: 70-85°F (21-29°C)
Spacing in beds: 16” (40cm)
Watering: Moderate and even from germination to
hardening off; low for one week prior to transplanting;
moderate again from transplanting until fruit is full sized;
low or none during ripening of fruit.
Light: Full sun.
Nutrient requirements: N = low; P = high; K = high
Rotation considerations: Avoid following cucumber,
pumpkin, and summer and winter squash.
Good companions: Corn
Bad companions: Potato
Seed longevity: 4-5 years
Seeds per ounce: 300-1,000 (11-35 seeds per g)
This article is from: The vegetable gardener’s bible, E C Smith