Transcription
In today's video, we are going to understand how capsicum is cultivated in soil. We have Piyush Pandey sir with us again, who has almost two decades of experience. If I want to cultivate capsicum in soil in a polyhouse, in which areas can I do it? The nature of capsicum is that it is a crop designed for hot and humid climates. The climate of North India is suitable in terms of humidity because the climate here is a bit fluctuating. How is plant maintenance done at different stages, like fertigation, training, pruning? Usually, if we talk about plant health, the first flower is pruned. What is pruning, sir? Pruning means removing that part. Pest attack is a very big problem in capsicum right now, a major problem across the country, black thrips, white thrips. First of all, how do these pests arrive, where do they come from, what damage do they do to the plant, how should identification be done properly, and is there anything else, sir, that people should keep in mind if they want to work with capsicum? The most important thing is hygiene and [music] sanitation.
Hello friends, welcome to a new video. In the past few videos, we have learned about cucumber farming. Perhaps you have learned about capsicum marketing, depending on when this video is uploaded. In today's video, we are going to understand how capsicum is cultivated in soil. We have Piyush Pandey sir with us again, who has almost two decades of experience. So, we are going to get complete details about capsicum farming from him again. This is soil-based farming, so sir, first of all, hello. Where should we start? Let's understand the growing conditions. Sir, if I want to cultivate capsicum in soil in a polyhouse, in which areas can I do it? Because, as we see, Bangalore has very good production, it comes for 12 months. Production comes in North, in Himachal. What are the temperature, humidity, and elevation requirements for capsicum farming? Basically, what is the nature of capsicum? It is a crop designed for hot and humid climates. Currently, the climate of North India is suitable in terms of humidity because the climate here is a bit fluctuating. Constant humidity cannot be maintained, nor can constant temperature be maintained, whereas in places like Bangalore, where humidity and temperature are not such a big issue, and the day length is also proper, all things are consistent. So, it is easier to grow a long crop in such places. But when we are in North India, like today we are in Lucknow, here we are seeing that there is a crop that was planted around August, and today we are standing around the 10th of December, where this crop is at the harvesting stage, and there is also fruiting and flowering. So, in such conditions, we see that as the climate changes, changes occur in the crop's behavior, whether it is in soil or soilless. In both conditions, as the behavior changes, we also have to change our practices accordingly. Now, since in conditions like Bangalore, where there is not much variation in humidity and temperature, farming can be done in normal structures. In normal conditions, here, like a polyhouse is installed, the environment needs a lot of management in a greenhouse. There, not much management is needed because the natural environment is suitable for it. Therefore, even in net houses, a lot of farming is done there. So, today, when we are talking about soil, in soil, the preparation and all other things are very important because a crop that is planted in August will last here until April, May, June. It is a 9-month crop cycle. So, people here take 9 to 10 months, depending on the conditions in the greenhouse and how much setting occurs. So, after harvesting the complete setting, you sell it out. For that, how long the crop has to wait. Sometimes it finishes in April, sometimes people extend it to May and June. But typically, it is a 9-month crop cycle, and a 9 to 10-month crop is taken here, from August to April, May, or even May. The crop remains in May as well. So, this is the scenario here. Now, regarding the field preparation and other things, because it is a long crop, and in between, there is a severe winter period. Plantation is done by crossing summer, but the crop has to cross winter. This entire crop goes through winter, especially the months of December and January. So, the soil preparation process can be done in such a way that when we plant in August, we prepare the field by adding bulk organic manure, mixing basal fertilizer, and making beds. The beds are simply as we saw in cucumber, where in a span of 8 meters, there are five beds, with a space of 80x80 cm. The height of the bed should be taken according to the slope of the soil. If our soil is normal, you can take the bed height up to about 1 foot. A height of 1 foot is suitable. It is similar to cucumber. Like cucumber, it is also a slightly shallow-rooted crop, so its root fiber is in the top layer, around 30 cm, and does not go deeper than that. Cucumber roots go deeper and spread more in length. So, in this case, you need to make good beds. After adding this initially, when the winter season crosses, we also do side dressing. What is side dressing? Side dressing is a mixture similar to basal fertilizer, which contains compost, single superphosphate or DAP, calcium, boron, magnesium, etc. Mixing all these things, removing the mulch from the side, like this mulch, we will remove this portion here. We will cut and remove this portion, and add all these things to the soil. The preparation that farmers start a month in advance, so after adding all these things, we cover it again by piling soil on it. So, its new root development will spread in this entire area, and it will get new strength, which will maintain the quality and all other aspects of the fruit in its setting. So, this is one task. This is about bed preparation. Secondly, since it is a shallow-rooted crop, managing EC and pH is very important. What is pH, sir? For correct soil and pH, see, pH is always about slightly acidic. In this, our target for pH will be between 6.5 and 6. So, the pH should be between 6 to 6.5. Soil, root zone, basically we don't talk about the entire soil, but if we do, it will have an advantage. If you use such fertilizers or acids in winter, your fruit setting and growth will continue properly, and the plant's uptake will not stop, and it will properly set fruit through fertigation. Yes, fruit setting is when a flower becomes a fruit. That's right. So, as you can see here, there is flowering for fruit setting. This is flowering, from which fruit comes. Yes, as you can see, the fruit has set here. So, you see, the fruit has set, then at the next stage, this happened first, then that happened. So, this continues to happen. So, you keep getting this, and there is no break in winter, because if there is a break, our production is lost. For this, you have to manage it by giving proper fertigation and nutrition. We, we are actually at this time, you will see that at night, there is very extreme humidity. Humidity increases a lot, going up to 90 percent, and during the day, it drops significantly, to 40-35 percent. Due to this, we have to manage the greenhouse climate properly. For example, now, if you lower the greenhouse curtain, the temperature inside increases a bit. The plant starts evaporating. Up to 30 degrees, it has no problem. If you can maintain a temperature of 30 degrees, it is very good. But if it goes below 10 degrees, you need to close the curtain at night as well, to maintain warmth, so that the heat is maintained. The day and night difference should not be too much, otherwise, the flowers will drop. Absolutely, if the day and night difference is too much, flower dropping will increase. To maintain this, you have to operate the greenhouse curtain properly on all sides. You have to observe the humidity and temperature. Do you also close this at night, sir? Yes, we close this as well. We will cover it completely before leaving so that the heat is retained, the heat, the radiation that is trapped inside. Understood. Tell me one thing, sir, this fruit is very big here, and this one is small here, because it has already been harvested. Yes, they are all planted at the same time, but they are harvested at different times due to fruit setting. Yes, what happens is that if a plant appears small, the first flower appears in 25 days. After that, you can assume that a flower appears every week. Every week, one flower, one flower appears. And similarly, you can see all the nodes from bottom to top. Here you have harvested, here it is harvested. So, harvesting is done like this. So, as harvesting is done at each node, setting also develops upwards. So, at one time, the plant, with its capacity, after setting that many fruits, it aborts, and then it breaks. After that, when we start the second harvesting, the setting for the second flush starts. So, this is a continuous process. Friends, as we can see, it has become quite dark in the polyhouse. Quickly, we are going to understand about cap farming. Sir, we were just understanding that this is a 9-month crop. In a 9-month crop, my first production comes after three months. After that, what is the production cycle? How are harvests obtained? First, let's discuss that. Then we will go back to how plant maintenance is done at different stages, fertigation, training, pruning. So, as I mentioned, the first flower appears 25 days after planting the seedling. First flower after 25 days. First flower. Usually, if we talk about plant health, the first flower is pruned. Okay. What is pruning, sir? Pruning means removing it, removing that part. Why do we do it? The basic requirement is that if the plant is taken to reproductive growth, then vegetative growth will be hampered. Until the plant develops a healthy vegetative growth, a healthy bush is prepared, until then, we keep it in vegetative growth and remove reproductive growth. Reproductive growth means flowers. Flowering continues, flowers turn into fruits, fruits turn into seeds, so that is part of reproductive growth. So, we remove fruiting and flowering. When the flower of the first node of the plant is removed, after getting good vegetative growth, when we take the fruit in continuity, first, second, third, then in the first flush, according to the plant's vegetative capacity, that much setting occurs. So, how many times do I have to prune like this, as you said, the first flower appears after a few days? I prune the first flower. How many such flowers do I have to prune? See, there are different practices in different places. For example, in the South, the vegetative growth of the plant becomes very good. In the North, what happens is that vegetative growth is a bit difficult at that time because the temperature can go to extremes. So, sometimes, considering the market for pests and other things, people only remove the flower of the zero node. But our approach is that you remove the flower of the zero and first node, so that the plant's health improves. Basically, the first two nodes. Understand. So, this is what we call pruning. Yes, removing the zero node and the first node. So, our vegetative growth becomes good. By cutting and pruning, you maintain the plant. So, from the beginning to the end, the plant can bear more fruits at once. So, this is pruning. What is cutting, sir? Now, in cutting, what happens is that as the plant grows, you will see that a side branch comes from every node on every plant. Like here, they have already removed it, done cutting. So, that side branch comes, we have to remove it because we have to maintain only two branches. Like this plant, you see two branches are maintained on it. How? Show me two branches. Here, from its main junction point, and from here, these two branches are running. Okay. So, maintaining two branches from here. Maintaining two branches from here, as we move forward, we have to get fruit from these two branches only. Whatever side branches come, see, they have been removed here. All the side branches are removed here. This branch is removed, this branch is removed. You also put clips here. Yes, we put clips here. After that, only the growth of these two branches is allowed, and we harvest the fruit that comes on them. So, this is the basic principle: we should not take a third branch besides two. Understood. Okay. So, this is your basic pruning. Training is also called this. Training is also this. How to tie the plant, its proper shape. If we talk about training, it should not be too loose. This tracing system should not be loose. It should not be loose, so that the plant's this happens, that it doesn't come out like this, but like this. So, you see these two are open, meaning they are not touching each other. They should be like this. This can come like this. This can happen with this. But the two branches of one plant should not come together. The two branches of two plants, the two branches of one plant should not come together like this. Oh, what will happen then? Competition. Yes, it causes problems. Understood. Training is done. Pruning is done. So, now my harvests start coming after 90 days. So, what are the processes for me after 90 days? First of all, the basic process of 90 days is cutting, which we are talking about, all that process, and clipping it from time to time, maintaining its cutting, so that it grows properly on two branches. We put clips on every node. We keep putting clips. Now, the main thing is that the primary fertigation is also quite important, about which we talked. Your first 25 days are very crucial when you set up the nursery. The first seven days are for establishment. After establishment, the primary function for the next 20 days is root development. I am talking about after transplanting. After transplanting, it also has the same role. Like phosphorus and other things go in initially. As soon as flowering starts appearing, calcium and boron also start increasing. Then, as its fruit setting increases, the requirement of potassium also increases. This plant, if seen from the perspective of fertigation, is a bit different from others. It loves nitrate fertilizers a lot. Meaning, yes, nitrate fertilizer. You see, the entire plant, whether it is the stem, the leaf, or the fruit, everything is green. So, nitrate nitrogen is required in very large quantities. Therefore, we use a lot of nitrates, like potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, nitric acid, etc. Because of that, its vegetation is very strong. Meaning, a good bush will form, a healthy bush, which will have the capacity to bear fruit. Secondly, the leaves of the main stem should never be removed if they are healthy. The main stem, yes. Its main stem. You have removed the side branches, but like there is a leaf on the main stem, there is a leaf with every fruit. So, you should not remove this leaf quickly. From bottom to top, if all the leaves are healthy and there is no disease, keep them until the end. It will give you an advantage. Okay. Now, regarding the fruit, its color, if it has to come quickly, all these things. If you bring the color on time, without forcing anything. Like some people do unnecessary pruning and expose the entire fruit, so its shine is lost. Now, it is completely covered with vegetation, so its shine will remain. When you take it to the market, your fruit will be liked first. So, pruning should not be done excessively. Yes, pruning, you know, apart from the main stem, is fine, but excessive leaf pruning on the main stem should not be done. Okay. Yes, when you do unnecessary pruning, it affects the fruit's shining quality a bit. Okay. So, this is after my 90 days, and now the harvest is starting. How many days apart will I harvest? Now, this depends on how the color comes. We should remove it from the plant as it comes. You don't do it all at once. Not all at once. But with this, you get a long interval with capsicum. It can be weekly, or it can be 15 days. What do you mean by interval? Yes, harvesting. Harvesting. If you want, because the color has come, like it will come first, 10 percent color will come on some fruits, a light color will come on some. After that, that color will gradually move towards full color, meaning 10, 20, 50, 100, 100% color will come. So, its process is about three to four days, five days, from green to full color. When the color starts appearing, it takes some time to get full color. As you can see here, it has started. It has started to turn a bit yellow. Here it is completely green. Oops. It broke. Sorry, farmer. So, this green was yours. Gradually, it is starting to turn slightly yellow. Now, when is the right time to pick it? It will get 100% color in the next three to four days. And when it gets 100% color, its acceptability in the market is established. If you want to sell to a distant market, you can send it in this condition. But if you want to sell it directly to your vendor, then they demand it at 90 percent color. Understood. So, even if you harvest it at this stage, it will get color. The more frequently you harvest, the better setting you will get. Understood. If there is no need, do not leave the fruit on the plant. As it gets color, harvest it. And due to its shelf life, like its shelf life, if I do it now, its shelf life will be longer. Yes, it will also have shelf life, and due to winter in the North, this advantage is obtained. We can store it for up to 10 days. That's right. Because it is a very cold crop, the effect of cold storage is natural. Naturally. That's right. Let's go back to zero. Like, if we are doing one acre, approximately how many plants are planted? About 10,000-12,000 plants are planted. About 10,800-11,200 plants can be accommodated. After 90 days, all of them start producing. Yes. So, then I harvest. Yes. All the crop at one time. Yes. You can consider it roughly that in some months you can harvest three tons, in some months it can go up to four, five, seven tons. Why will the harvest in January and February be used? Actually, it is a time when in North India, this problem is more severe, there is less light. Due to less light, the color change stops. Color change happens again when you start getting light again. So, when you get the advantage of that, when the light comes fully, after January 15-20, it comes to the market completely, and at that time, we get a lot of produce at once. Okay. That's why I am saying that an average production of three to four tons per month. Three to four tons. Per month. Excellent. In a six-month cycle, you can easily harvest at least 15 to 20 tons, up to 24-22 tons, if the plant is managed properly. Understood. Sir, pest attack is a very big problem in capsicum right now, across the country. We are seeing thrips, mites are also a major problem, black thrips, white thrips. Absolutely, absolutely. First of all, how do these pests arrive, where do they come from, what damage do they do to the plant? Secondly, when I am a farmer, and I have started capsicum cultivation, what things should I be looking for, meaning in the farm, that I see here, how to identify them? When we guide you, we tell you. First of all, there is a person who is an agronomist or someone who knows about that pest, knows its behavior, its appearance, and its damage. This should be communicated to the farmer or grower. They should be properly trained and informed about this pest, that this is thrips, this is mites, this is how it is identified, this is how it damages. So, we have to explain all these things to the customer or farmer once. That when you observe this, there is a possibility of this problem. How are thrips observed? Meaning, there is a basic difference in the symptoms of thrips and mites. If the new leaf comes, and its margin is curling downwards, meaning it is bending downwards, then it is mites. And if the edges are curling upwards, then it is thrips. There is nothing here now. There is nothing here. This white white thing. This is if you are spraying something, then something remains with the water, so it gets deposited here. Understood. Understood. So, the major pests are thrips and mites in capsicum farming. And how do we manage them? Meaning, with pesticides. See, there is a threshold level for thrips and mites. When that pest starts appearing more than necessary, and its incidence on the plant is also very high, then a pattern is seen in our polyhouse. From which side is it coming? You need to understand that. Accordingly, you should apply plant protection measures from that side regularly. So that the rest of the area is saved from infestation. The major damage that is going to happen, or for which more chemicals will be spent, will be limited and stopped there. So, you will always see this thing on the side from which sunlight emerges, or sometimes the incidence is such that if the western wind is blowing, and if your curtains on that side are open, and you haven't paid attention, and a pest enters with a strong wind, then it causes damage from that side as well. So, when we know where it came from, we can control it just as easily. And the scheduled pest management continues according to the planning on paper. Basic precautionary sprays, as you call them, continue continuously. Understood. And what about caterpillars? We saw a lot of damage there. Why does that happen? See, caterpillars, at one time, when we do the initial plantation. So, at that time, what happens is that when we add compost, all these things, the compost comes from outside, and the adult caterpillars lay their eggs on it. And when they come here, they hatch, and they fly around and cause some initial damage. Understood. Okay. So, one thing is that whenever you bring compost, always solarize it after adding it. Solarization. Then you get control there. Secondly, our sanitation management program, there should be no dirt or grass around. The entry and exit points of the greenhouse. Yes, we also put mulch for this reason, so that it is restricted. So, if we do all these things, then our caterpillars are completely controlled. Because the incidence of caterpillars in polyhouses is not very high. It is occasional or conditional. If you understand it there, it is controlled very easily. Understood. And sir, the crops are all done. One more thing, which is very important, we discussed briefly that it is a hot and humid crop, meaning high temperature is also not possible, and regarding the day-night temperature difference, which we talk about, it is also very important for capsicum that the day-night temperature difference should not be too much. Absolutely. So, what is the correct temperature? What can be the day-night temperature difference? This crop grows well if our minimum temperature is 15 degrees and the maximum is 30-32 degrees, which is very good. How is it in North India? It's not that much. See, in North India, the temperature drops here. This is a polyhouse. If you look at it now, let's say the temperature will reach 17-18 degrees now, maybe even less. Yes, it will reach 17-18 degrees, up to 19 degrees. But by night, it will cross the 10-degree level for two to four hours, not for as long as it does in the open. So, there will be no flower drop. So, there will be no flower drop, so the impact will be very long. So, it can also impact. In that case, what will happen is that the preventive measure is that you start closing the greenhouse a bit earlier. So, the more heat you trap, the longer it will remain warm. Understood. Understood. And when the crop is ready, meaning I am harvesting almost every alternate day, almost every alternate day, I am harvesting. So, what is the correct way of harvesting? As I understand, it should be cut at a particular angle. These things. See, the basic of harvesting is the market. Where do you want to market it? To whom are you going to give it? If it is individual, then perhaps its requirement is not very specific. But if you are targeting a market that is very specific, where you have to give a lot of premium, export quality, then you have to follow all these. It works here. Yes, it works a bit here. In North India, not that much, because these growing conditions here, it is not exported anywhere. It mostly goes to Delhi, otherwise, it is consumed locally in Lucknow or nearby. Understood. So, all those international parameters, its fruit size, fruit weight, fruit cutting, everything should be proper. Understood. One more thing, sir, it is quite dark now. Let's quickly discuss the basics. The role of air circulation fans is also very important in capsicum. And the second thing is labor requirement. Typically, we say that a lot of labor is required for capsicum harvesting. How much labor is required per acre? And how do we operate these fans and nets for capsicum? I also see you have installed foggers. Yes. See, here I will tell you everything. Two or three things have a very important role. One is labor management. You have to follow all practices in a timely manner. When the branches are growing very fast, they grow very rapidly. So, you have to get the pruning process done rapidly throughout the entire one acre by teaching the labor. So, there is a process of pinching. You keep pinching. Removing the terminal growth. What is pinching? Can you show it? Removing the terminal growth. Like its terminal growth is this. If you remove it, these branches will stop. So, here, if we pinch this, then this growth will stop here. Similarly, pinching is done when there is very fast vegetation. August, September. Yes, we remove it from there. Remove it. Yes. So, the leaf is removed. What leaf? It's the entire terminal bud. Oh, the bud. We remove the bud. It's not there now because it's past that stage. Understood. So, we have to do that. We have to do that. A lot of labor is needed for this. Labor is needed for this. After that, when the crop reaches this stage, after August, September, October, then harvesting starts from October, November. So, there is the role of harvesting. The role of clipping, so that the branches do not fall or break. That role is there. And the role of spraying, etc. So, you can consider an average of three laborers. If it is a one-acre polyhouse, then three laborers will manage your entire polyhouse. Three laborers. Understood. Three. Understood. And what about these fans and nets? Now, this is for fans and nets in a greenhouse. We have a basic meter for humidity and temperature. Use it and see accordingly. If your humidity is dropping too much, like after September, October, the weather starts getting a bit cold. So, during the day, if the humidity is quite high, because setting is happening very rapidly at that time, then sometimes fogging may be needed once or twice during the day. It becomes dry. Yes, it becomes dry. But when we move forward after March, it may be needed four to five times a day, because at that time, it is completely dry season. So, at that time, foggers are needed four to five times. When the fogger is turned off, then immediately air circulation fans are turned on, so that the mist and air churn together. So, this is basically for places where it is dry, where humidity is low, fogging and air circulation play a big role. Air circulation also does a good job of mixing the gases in the greenhouse, the hot pockets that develop, it homogenizes them. The air mixture, and thus maintains uniform CO2 availability and uniform gas availability throughout the greenhouse. Plus, it speeds up evaporation. If moisture is evaporating from the leaves and saturation occurs here, then its evaporation stops. Air circulation movement, then evaporation starts again, and the plant's uptake increases. So, here also air circulation helps. Sometimes it is observed that when the natural wind flow is stopped, we need this more. Understood. Sir, many people, I think, are entering capsicum farming, especially beginners. But they are very afraid of mites and thrips. I think we are all seeing in the market these days that the price has gone up to 50-100 rupees per kg in North India, and people are earning good revenue. Still, what would you say to those who want to do capsicum farming? What should they keep in mind? What should they do right? What should they avoid so that they can be successful? See, now the biggest problem is the thrips that are affecting the flowers, which is a problem nowadays. It's not here. It is here, but it is controlled. Okay. If it is not controlled, then you will see scratches on it. When it becomes very severe, you will see a lot of scratches. On the new fruit setting, you will also see scratches. So, here, you don't see any such scratches. This is new fruit setting, but there are no scratches here. So, it means it is controlled here. But if you look carefully inside the flower, you will still find it here and there. We are following a schedule here, due to which thrips are under control. What is the schedule, sir? It's a complete list of pesticides. Meaning, what is important to keep in mind in that schedule is that the chemical should not be repeated. Yes, yes, yes. Do not repeat any technical repeatedly. In that condition, resistance will develop less in the insect, and it will be controlled well. Understood. So, it should include biological products, chemical products, and no repetition. Understood. Chemical. And anything else, sir, that people should keep in mind if they are doing capsicum? See, the most important thing is hygiene and sanitation. That is most important. Whatever problem arises, it comes from there. You do cutting and pruning and leave everything there. Keep it clean. Keep the area around the greenhouse clean. Control entry and exit properly. It's not like the door is open, so it's open. Don't let people like us come inside repeatedly. No, you see that thing. Otherwise, if a grower forbids someone, it's about their income for the whole year. No, that's right. If you are maintaining the farm, hygiene is very important. There should be a foot-soaking pad at the entrance. Gloves, head caps are also suggested by many people. Absolutely, absolutely. So, friends, I think it has become quite dark. We want to discuss many things, but we have another video on capsicum farming with many details. Here, we have understood practically with Sir Piyush. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments below. We will definitely answer that question. And I hope that from our on-farm videos, you have gained a lot of practical experience and learned a lot. Thank you for watching the video. Thank you, Piyush Sir. Thank you. And see you in the next video.