Hello Hiveians❤️
It's been almost a year since I decided to plant yam but in a more conventional way. There has been this new trend of planting yam in sacks. The usual way our fathers and grandfathers do plant yam is basically by making hips and planting the yam sets in it. But then as the world evolves,several aspects of agriculture has also evolved.
PLANTING YAM IN SACK
The process it took to plant yam in sacks is not so complex and difficult though it was tedious. Unlike the usual way where yams are planted in ridges this time around a different approach was used
Location of site
Yam in sacks as the name implies can be located or situated in several places. It can be done at the backyard of the house or anywhere around the house or in the farm. Planting yam in sacks makes it possible for it to be located basically anywhere but it has to be exposed to sunshine.Clearing of land
Well, clearing is really not that important as the yams will basically be planted in sacks but then if the location is in a farm and the farm is busy then clearing will be done.Filling of sacks
This is basically the most tidious part. This involves filling of the sacks to be used for planting with soil preferably top soil that is rich in nutrient.Planting of yam sets
At this stage after filling of sacks with soil, we then proceed to planting yam sets into the already filled sacks.Mulching
This is more like applying mulching materials on top of the already planted yams in order o reduce the effect of sun 🌞 on the yams.
So that's basically it as regards the planting.
A NOT SO GREAT HARVEST
Well, this post is really about things we do or not do to have a bad harvest like I said earlier. A lot of maintenance goes into farming in order to get a good harvest. This maintenance can be in the form of weed control, pest and insect control if any, application of organic and inorganic nutrients, wetting if any and so on.
These series of maintenance in implemented in order to get a good harvest at the end. The moment one or two of these is neglected, the effect will tell on the harvest obviously.
Here are some of the things I neglected while waiting for harvest
Wetting:- you'd be wondering why this is even coming up at all. Well, few months after the germination of the yams, there was a total lack of rain for more than a month and it really affected the yams to the extent that some of the yams died due to the lack of rain 🌧️. At this point, I was supposed to apply water manually but I didn't until it was too late. This was the first sign of trouble.
Spacing:- After I planted the yams the spacing I used was okay in my own eyes until the yams germinated and started spreading and I realized the space was not okay at all and this was going to affect the production
Manure Application:- With the fact that the spacing was a problem on its own, the yams were in a way competing for available nutrients. At this point the solution was to apply manure to it to solve the problem to an extent but it was never done.
Animal Attack:- So basically,at month four(4) the farm was attacked by goats and sheeps ad they devastated the crops in a very bad way eating almost every single leaf 🌿 on the yams. This was the most painful part though.
At the end of it all, these few points are the main reason why I am presently having a bad harvest in my farm and hopefully this coming farming season I would be looking to correct all these
Below are some pictures of my harvest so far. Quite bad by the way but I am optimistic about the new farming season
Then we have this good looking yam set that has germinated already. Basically telling me there is hope for the future 😁😁
Like the wise do say only a fool doesn't learn from his mistakes
Thank you all for vie