 |  | Better Farming Series 17 - Groundnuts (FAO - INADES, 1977, 40 p.) | ||
 |  | Sowing | ||
|  | When to sow | ||
| | How to sow | ||
| | What is the correct spacing? | ||
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24. The right time for sowing is when the soil has been well prepared and is fairly damp.
Sow 30 to 40 days before the heaviest rains.
Like that, the heavy rains will come when the plant is flowering and forming its fruits; that is, when the plant most needs water.
When the fruits are ripe, it rains less and so the pods do not rot.
Choose either short- season or long- season varieties of groundnuts according to the length of the rainy season in your area.
Examples:
- Senegal, Tivaouane region
The rainy season is short: it is best to sow short- season groundnuts.
Quantity of rainfall per month
- Mali, Kayes region
The rainy season is short: it is best to sow short- season groundnuts.
Quantity of rainfall per month
- Upper Volta, Niangoloko region
The rainy season is long: it is best to sow long- season groundnuts.
Quantity of rainfall per month
- Congo (Brazzaville), Loudima region
There are two rainy seasons.
Two crops can be grown In one year.
During the first rainy season one can grow short- season groundnuts (15 November to 15 February).
During the second rainy season one can grow short- season groundnuts or maize (15 March to end June).
Quantity of rainfall per
month
25. Some farmers have the habit of sowing without planning.
They make a little hole with a stick or the hoe, and in that hole they put a groundnut seed and then cover it up with earth.
But the seeds are sown all over the place.
Sometimes the plants are too close together and get in each other's way when growing.
Sometimes the plants are not close enough. They don't make full use of the soil.
Without a plan you will not get the right density. When weeding has to be done, the young plants get trodden on and are often damaged.
26. By sowing In rows you can
- place your seeds at the same distance from each other along the rows;
- calculate more easily the amount of seed needed;
- weed more easily, because the animal drawing the hoe can walk between the rows;
- give each plant the same amount of fertilizer.
It is better to sow in rows.
Irregular sowing
Sowing in rows
27. Put one seed only In each hole.
Put the groundnut into the earth at a depth of 4 or 5 centimetres. Sow all the seeds at the same depth.
Cover the seeds well with earth. Like that they do not dry out in the sun.
After tracing your rows with a marker, sow either by hand, or with the help of a spacing wheel, or with a seed- planting machine.
28. Spacing wheel.
This can be made of wood or of iron. Each tooth makes a little hole in the soil. Put a seed in each hole, and cover the seed with a little earth, either with the hoe or with your foot.
Spacing wheel.
29. Seed drill.
In several countries people are beginning to use seed drills.
These can be drawn by a donkey or by oxen, or pushed by hand.
The seed drill makes a furrow and places the seeds in the soil at the same distance from each other and all at the same depth.
With some seed drills fertilizer can be applied at the same time.
Seed
drill
Very often groundnuts are not sown densely enough.
30. Dense spacing
- makes it easier to deal with the weeds for if the ground is covered by groundnuts, fewer weeds can grow;
- increases the yieldfor if there are more plants, there will also be more pods;
- makes it easier to control rosette disease;
- makes it easier to give each plant the same amount of
fertilizer.
31. For long- season varieties, which take 5 months to ripen:
Leave 15 centimetres between seeds in each row, and 60 centimetres between rows.
Like that you will have 110000 plants per hectare.
You should sow 110 kilogrammes of pods per hectare.
32. For short- season varieties, which take 3 months to ripen:
Leave 15 centimetres between seeds in each row, and 40 centimetres between rows.
Like that you will have 165 000 plants per hectare.
You should sow 160 kilogrammes of pods per hectare.
- On sloping ground, make the rows across the slope so as to prevent erosion.
33. If you sow on ridges, In very damp soll:
Leave 15 centimetres between seeds in each ridge and 80 centimetres between ridges. Like that you will have 85 000 plants per hectare. You should sow 80 kilogrammes of pods per hectare. One week after sowing, replace any plants that have not grown.
Density of 110.000 plants per
hectare
Density of 165.000 plants per
hectare
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