[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by murillo

Dear members,

My father has a 6-acre, irrigated land which he is asking me to look after. Currently, nothing is cultivated there.

I work in the city and don't have much time to spare for farming. Hence, I am thinking of going for a long-term plantation crop.

The farm land is situated in northern parts of Tamil Nadu (Vellore district). I am interested in putting up a teak plantation there. I would like to get advice and feedback from anyone who has experience in teak estate. I have gleaned preliminary info regarding this and plan to plant the saplings next year. I would especially like to know:
-What is the ideal month to plant the saplings?
-What is the current rate for a unit at first thinning and at the end of life cycle?
-Ideally where should I buy saplings?
-How much irrigation is needed in the initial years?
-What is estimated first year investment per acre?

Any guidance is highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

The first thing I will suggest is that if you plant anything valuable on the land (ie teak, rosewood, sandalwood etc) make sure someone is there who can protect the trees properly. In Coorg we have enough cases of people coming in and stealing one of these trees from the estate. Imagine what a temptation six acres of planted trees presents.

If you can manage one or two full time labour a suggestion as taken from Coorg will be silver oaks and if then possible, pepper creepers on the trees once they get big enough to support them. Pepper is a good crop with an annual yield.

[pganapathy]

We have 30 odd acres of land in south Coorg. About 20 acres of coffee and the shade trees have pepper and around 10 acres of paddy fields that usually stay fallow due to a shortage of labour.

The only animal we have is an Indian mixed breed dog. Likes me best of all because I play with it everytime am at home

[Fillmore]

Has anyone implemented a mobile GSM based pump controller ?
i.e. based on an sms/missed call you can switch on/off a water pump ?

If you have , please let me know of your feedback on the same.

-Fillmore

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Has anyone implemented a mobile GSM based pump controller ?
i.e. based on an sms/missed call you can switch on/off a water pump ?

If you have , please let me know of your feedback on the same.

-Fillmore

That is such a good idea!!! Please let me know if you find more info on the same.

1 query i have. How would you know your pumpset has power? Do you get notified? Someone should make a app for that!

Maddy

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by maddy42

That is such a good idea!!! Please let me know if you find more info on the same.

1 query i have. How would you know your pumpset has power? Do you get notified? Someone should make a app for that!

Maddy

Some are complete solutions, some are partial. But they support the following features.
- Return sms if there is no power at the destination
- Auto pump shutdown in case water level drops below the pump (based on voltage change within the pump)
- Confirmation sms on successful start/stop of the pump etc..

You can check out the following vendors. Let me know if you are planning to implement one. I contacted one vendor and he quoted 8k for the complete setup.

http://www.niagaraautomation.com/mob...-starters.html

http://www.khyatee.in/mobile-starters-panels.html

http://www.ebay.in/itm/GSM-BASED-MOT...ht_1582wt_1037

http://www.eworldtradefair.com/gsm-c...bangalore.html

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

Some are complete solutions, some are partial. But they support the following features.
- Return sms if there is no power at the destination
- Auto pump shutdown in case water level drops below the pump (based on voltage change within the pump)
- Confirmation sms on successful start/stop of the pump etc..

You can check out the following vendors. Let me know if you are planning to implement one. I contacted one vendor and he quoted 8k for the complete setup.

http://www.niagaraautomation.com/mob...-starters.html

http://www.khyatee.in/mobile-starters-panels.html

http://www.ebay.in/itm/GSM-BASED-MOT...ht_1582wt_1037

http://www.eworldtradefair.com/gsm-c...bangalore.html

Thanks for this info, I will pass it on to my dad( who is the farmer) and me being away!

There was a company which did some sort of sensor work in water tanks. The pump came on automatically when the level of water was low.

Solar water pumps is a good idea. But theft is one thing you cant prevent. A year back our family dhobis cycle got stolen. Solar panel tho kuch nahin hai!

Maddy

[kishgator]

We own a 14 acre farm near bangalore, following are the achievements my father has done for past 30 years

800+ coconut trees
100 Mango trees
2 wells (no water now)
2 borewells (with water)
100s of Teak, Mango, Sapota, Cocoa, Survey, Nilgiri and other trees whose name i dont know

Our farm is maintained strictly organic, no fertilizers or pesticides for many decades. I would definitely like to network with people in Bidadi and surrounding areas for sharing know-how

[vikramvicky1984]

Hi,

Anyone who has worked on Quinoa and jamun?
I wish to learn about them

[foby.sebastian]

Any Nutmeg farmers in the forum ?

Would like to know the time saving techniques used for harvesting ?

Any one tried budding the male Nutmeg trees with the female bud for better productivity ?

What is the ratio of Male nutmeg trees for a farm of around 100 female (productive) trees ?

How to keep snakes (both venomeous and non venomeous) away from the plantation ?

Thanks in advance

[condor]

Originally Posted by murillo

I am interested in putting up a teak plantation there. I would like to get advice and feedback from anyone who has experience in teak estate.

@murillo, your query is almost a year old. Any updates ?

reg teak, I hope you found information that teak in the wild is harvested after 120 years. Cultivated teak will grow faster, but it will not have the same strength was teak from the forest.

I dont mind anyone contradicting this, but my source is an IFS officer, who I have worked with.

[foby.sebastian]

Originally Posted by condor

@murillo, your query is almost a year old. Any updates ?

reg teak, I hope you found information that teak in the wild is harvested after 120 years. Cultivated teak will grow faster, but it will not have the same strength was teak from the forest.

I dont mind anyone contradicting this, but my source is an IFS officer, who I have worked with.

To add on I have heard that the teak leaves make the soil less fertile for the other corps / cultivations .

[condor]

Not aware of the effects of teak leaves on soil. But missed to add that teak will need maintenance to crop the branches so that the tree grows straight (longer logs are valued)

[reddy6980]

Hi All,

A suggestion needed,

We have a canal near our farm from which we can pump water.

The canal is around 50 feet deep, the water should be transported to around 500 meters

I was thinking of having a tractor operated PTO driven wter pump to pump the water,

we know that the water can be delivered to around 2 to 3 kms but will the water pump we able to pump water from 50 feet deep.

Also if anybody as any other suggestions pls suggest.

Regards,
Vamsi

[speed_edge]

Guys..

I'm fed-up with this bad quality and worst tasted mangoes available in the market today. All of them seems ripped with lot of chemicals and they only look good.

I request you all if anyone knows farms where I can drive to village any buy non-ripped mangoes directly from farmers. I heard there are lot of mango farms available on these villages around Hosur-Krishnagiri road. Appreciate if anyone can provide details on village where I can drive and directly buy them from farmers.

Regards
SE

[rajesh1868]

Originally Posted by speed_edge

Guys..

I'm fed-up with this bad quality and worst tasted mangoes available in the market today. All of them seems ripped with lot of chemicals and they only look good.

Not an answer to your question, but many of these farms sell directly during the mango festival in Lal bagh. It should be around the corner