Sunday 27 September 2015

A to Z Germination tips

Different Germination Tips & Articles





Mail: contct@shiatoshi.com







Saturday 26 September 2015

Universal Germination Guide




      
  Growing your Seeds

Most important: Avoid rainy day or a cloudy weather.

You will definitely get nothing; wait for the bright sunny day and clear weather.

Please check the forecast before sowing the seeds on the following website:



1.       Select your Area.
2.       Check the local weather. It will let you know whether forecast for about 7 days of your city.

If you got problems with rats then take care of them because they will dig and eat seeds and you will never know what happened or they will cut and eat your seedlings in early stages.

This guide applies to all kind of fruits, vegetables and flower seeds (excluding Exotic Fruit Variety). For best germination, you have to place your seeds in the refrigerator for about 40 to 50 days. This will destroy all unnecessary microorganisms. After this, start germination process ending the Dormancy period.

Now prepare your soil for seeds:
1.       Coco peat Sieved
2.       Sand Sieved 
3.       Fungicide (Bavastin, etc.)

You should make professional quality seeding mix for best germination. 

Follow the steps below:

1.       Prepare fine Coconut powder by filtering with a strainer and dry it directly on sunlight.

2.       At the time of filtering, you can get two types coconut fibre separately with another basket.

3.       Use thick coconut fibre on the bottom of our sowing pot. They will be working as a strainer can controlling the water flow and it will also protect coconut powder flow from out of the bottom of the pot.

4.       Use water mixed fungicide (Bavastin, etc.)  chemical for watering dry coconut powder until it's soaked. To protect the baby seedling, fungicide chemical is very important. Through this process, the roots will be nice.

Secret Tips for tiny or very small seeds:

·         Try to use a mix of half virgin forest leaf soil for better germination if the seeds are tiny.
·         Mix 80% Coco peat & 20% Sand Sieved. After mixing add Fungicide 1 gm / 2.6 Kg.
·         Now your seeding mix is ready.
 Coco peat is basically finely cut coconut outer fibre because of its great ability to hold water (moisture), helping proper seeds germination providing air space for the roots, light in weight and easy to handle. Thus, makes it the best soilless germination media for seeds in the modern horticulture industry.
 Today almost all commercial growers in the world use this as growing and germination medium because it sterilized. It does not contain any fungus that can kill or destroy seeds at germination and at seedlings early stages. It is very easy to find it at any gardening stores or nursery. It’s sold as solid compressed blocks of many weights and sometimes in prepared ready to use condition, starting from 1 Kg. to 5 Kg. cost of Coco peat is around INR 30 to 50 per Kg. depending on the quality. 1 Kg. of Coco peat block will become about 4 to 5 litres in volume. After buying, you just have to add water to submerge and wait for 20 minutes. It requires a rather big container from its size because it expands almost 4 to 5 times in volume after getting moist.

Follow these steps below for growing a healthy plant:

1.       Use a Seeding tray or soil seedling pot: Put seeding mix then put one seed in every Cavity about 5mm deep (not too deep and not too shallow). Cover it with seeding mix and place the seedling tray in shaded place.
                                                                    OR

2.       Use a flat tray container about 10 inches by 15 inches (biggest or smaller your choice) 1.5 to 2 inches deep. Make sure you have plenty of holes in it for good water drainage put the seedling mix you prepared up to almost top leaving about 0.5 inches space now evenly spread the seeds over it after that cover the seeds with seedling mix only about 0.5 cm (half a centimeter)  water it by watering can è place the container in semi-shaded place.

3.       Watering tips: Use a watering can for watering. By moving the water stream constantly waves the can. Do not let the water to flood in particular area. Or use a sprayer to spray the water like mist.

4.       Very essential: After sowing the seeds in coco peat for best germination cover the pot with clear plastic wrapper until they are germinated. Remove the plastic once in 2 days for about 20 to 30 minutes to have a good air circulation (do not give water if not needed). After that, again cover the pot with the clear plastic wrapper, this will act like you are using a Seeds Incubator. It helps a lot to maintain humidity, raises the temperature and protects seeds from rats and birds.

5.       Important tips about Coco Peat: It may look as the seedling mix is dry from outside but it will be wet from inside. Always check the seedling mix by scratching it by hand that it is wet or dry from inside.

6.       Watering it on need base so check regularly for watering. Do not over water the plants.


After seeds germinate you will wait till seedlings get more than 6 leaves. After that, you need to transplant the plant to where you want. Remove your seedling from the tray. Make sure that whole seedling mix is also removed from the tray with your plant. Do not try to remove seedling mix from the roots. Take them out as a whole, otherwise, the root of the plant will lose moisture during transplantation. Spray fungicide and insecticide every 20 days or as per need, fertilize every 20 days. Now you have got healthy plants.

Reference  link  :https://www.shiatoshi.com/blog

Friday 18 September 2015

Pear (Pyrus Communis) and benefits




Pear (Pyrus Communis)


Pears are a member of the rose family of plants (Rosaceae), which, in addition (of course) to roses, contains a long list of fruits including apples, apricots, cherries, chokeberry, crabapples, loquats, peaches, plums, quinces, raspberries, serviceberries, and strawberries as well as the tree nut, almonds. The many different varieties of pears commonly found in North & North East India.These pears typically have a rounded body that tapers into a neck of various lengths.

There are more than 5,000 varieties of pear available in the world. Pyrus Communis is the most common pear. They are called Wild Pear also.

The average height of a mature pear tree is 25-30 feet and spread to 15-20 feet. They need full sun and medium water. The flowers are Fragrant, white to pale pink. About 1-5cm wide. They need at least 4-5 years to produce flower after planting. Leaves are dark green about 4-10cm long. Best grown in well-drained humusy loams. They prefer cool dry weather. 


Season: July to Spring, depending on the variety. They require some chill winter to produce fruits.

Nutritional Qualities : Phosphorus, Potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B, Sodium, folic acid, amino acid.

Health Benefits: Different part of the plant has the following benefits:-

· Low calories and fibre helps to lose weight

· Helps fight cholesterol and hypertension

· Helps to lower blood pressure

· Increases immunity

· Suitable for diabetic patients

· Helps to stimulate Kidney, fight kidney pain, kidney stone

· In certain cultures pears are believed to help increase a person's sex drive.

Peaches (Prunus persica) and benefits


Peaches (Prunus persica)


The peach is a member of the rose family. It was first cultivated in China. Peach is considered to be a sign of Good Luck, longevity and immortality in China. Now, most of the world’s commercial production comes from California, Italy, Spain, Grace, Mexico and Chile. 

The average height of a mature peach tree is 4-10m and 6in wide. The leaves are 8-16cm long and 2-3cm wide. Flowers are pale pink and are about 2-3cm in diameter. The fruits, however, vary colour depending on the variety. Yellow, Cream is most common. Some of them may have red blushes. Fruits are sweet and fragrant. They have White-yellowish flesh. White flesh is sweet and yellow is little acidic.

SOIL: Peaches are best grown in sandy loam to clay loam, well-drained soil with a PH level of 6.5. 

CLIMATE: They need cool dry temperature. Chill winter is essential but summer heat is also required. The temperature should not drop below 30°F and shouldn’t go up above 65 °F. Only high altitudes can satisfy this need. 

VARIETIES: Different varieties of peaches are available all round year. Like Queencrest, Elegant Lady or clingstone to name a few. Fresh varieties are sold in the market while clingstone is mostly sold as canned food. Can label with "packed in its own juice" and "no added sugar" are healthier.

STORING: It’s best to eat when ripe. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Or in a paper bag at room temperature for 2-3 days to get ripen. Ripe peaches taste best when eaten at room temperature. So it should be taken out of the refrigerator one hour before eating. It can either be cooked or eaten raw in fruit salads.

NUTRITIONAL QUALITIES: It’s an excellent source of Vitamin A, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B-6, Calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, phosphorous, zinc, copper and Potassium.

One raw medium peach (147 grams) also has-

· 50 calories

· 0.5 grams of fat 

· 15 grams of carbohydrate

· 13 grams of sugar 

· 2 grams of fiber 

· 1 gram of protein

Sow Outdoors: Surface. Following the last frost. Spacing 4 to 24 inches (10 to 60 cm).

Sow Indoors: Mix seeds in a growing medium, place in a freezer bag, keep moist, then stratify by refrigeration for two to three weeks. Use peat pots. Germination time: one to three weeks in the light. Temperature 75°F (24°C). Seven or eight weeks in advance. Transplant outdoors in the last month of spring.

HEALTH BENEFIT: Peaches have the following benefits-

· They are good for skin.
· Good for diabetic patients. 

· Helps cure cancer specially Breast-Cancer.

· High fibre helps fight obesity. 

· Improves heart and eye health. 

· Reduces hair fall

· Stress & anxiety reliever

· Aids in Digestion

· Controls High Cholesterol & Blood Pressure

· Helps fight Anemia

· Cures bone diseases. Helps in strengthening bones and teeth.

· Has Anti-Aging properties

Caution: Peaches may cause allergy. Peach seeds are toxic in nature

   IMPORTANT WATERING USE: Use watering can for watering. By moving the water stream constantly waves the can. Do not let the water to flood area. Or use sprayer to spray the water like mist






Custard Apple (Sugar apple ) Germination & Health benefits



Custard Apple is a semi-evergreen tree. The average height of this tree is 8-10 meters. Their leaves can be 10-20 cm long and 5-7 cm wide. The flowers are greenish-yellow and are about 2-3 cm in diameter. The fruit sizes vary. They can be 8-12cm depending on the species and climate. Ripe fruits are brown-yellowish. Very sweet in taste. 

This plant is now abundantly found in many tropical countries like Bangladesh, India, China, Philippines, Egypt, Australia, Pakistan and Africa but it is believed to be a native of Central America. 

They like warm, frost-free climate and humidity. 25oC - 28oC temperature are good for them with 70% - 80% humidity level. They like summer-rain. They grow best in the sandy well-drained soil. Planting is mainly done during rainy season.

GERMINATION :



1. Prepare a seedling tray with vermicompost and sand or make a soil bed.

2. Soak the seeds in water for 48hours. Then wash them thoroughly with bare hands.

3. Sow three seeds together and spray fungicide water.

4. In case of soil, spread coco peat over the seeds. Or else, put the wet paper on top of it.

5. Water after every 2-3 days.


*Temperature should remain between 18-25 degree Celsius.  
PROCESS OF PLANTATION  :
Dig a  big hole, 12-inch diameter and 1 feet deep on the ground and throw out soil outside. Fill soil, collect from outside surface and  mix with organic vermicompost (cow dung +bonemeal powder+hornmeal+ neam cake  powder )

Now sprinkle diluted fungicide(SAAF) water top to bottom. 

 250 gm vermicompost enough for the baby plant

HEALTH BEFITS OF CUSTARD APPLE

Health benefit of eating this luscious fruits are- 

· Vitamin C: Custard apple contains anti-oxidant vitamin C, which fights free radicals thereby preventing diseases. This vitamin is also known for its innate anti-inflammatory and immune boosting properties. 

· Vitamin A: Keeps skin and hair healthy. It is good for eyesight. 

· Potassium: Potassium boosts energy level & helps to fight muscle weakness. 

· Magnesium: Magnesium helps to maintain water balance in the body. It is good for arthritic patients as it removes acids from joints. Prevents heart-attacks. 

· Copper: Works against constipation. Copper is a part of haemoglobin is highly recommended for pregnant women. Copper contributes towards formation of melanin, which prevents premature grey-hair 

· Fiber: Fiber helps in smooth digestion and eases constipation. It is good for diabetic patients. 

· Iron: Iron helps to cure anaemia. 

· Niacin: lowers bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol. 

· Vitamin B6: Helps fight stress, tension, irritability and depression. Improves brain health 

· Calcium: Good for bone health 


Sugar apple also helps under-weight persons to gain weight. This fruit may be used as a substitute for milk. It Controls Blood-Pressure. 


Nutritional Facts of Custard Apple 

Every 100 gram of custard apple contains the following nutrition s: 

· Calories (80-101) 

· protein (68g) 

· Fat (0.5g) 

· Carbohydrate (20g) 

· Fiber (0.9 g) 

· Calcium (17.6 mg) 

· Phosphorous (14.7mg) 

· Iron (0.42 mg) 

· Carotene (0.007 mg) 

· Thiamine (0.075 mg) 

· Riboflavin (0.086 mg) 

· Niacin (0.528m) 

· Ascorbic Acid (15 mg) 

· Nicotinic acid (0.5 mg) 

· Vitamin B6 (0.6 gm) 


Medicinal Uses of Custard Apple 

· The paste of the flesh is beneficial to treat boils, abscesses and ulcers. 

· The dried crushed parts of custard apple are good in curing of diarrhoea and dysentery. 

· Eating custard removes expectorants. 

· The bark of the custard apple tree is used for herbal medicine because it contains astringents and tannins. These medicines help to cure cancer and tumours and its also used in the treatment of a toothache and gum pain. 



Tuesday 15 September 2015

Star Fruits (Averrhoa carambola )




 The "Carambola" or "Averrhoa carambola" is a bushy evergreen tree with many branches. It is slow-growing and short-trunked tree. The average height of a mature tree is 25-30 feet and it can spread to 20-25 feet.

It is known as Starfruit as it will exactly look like a star if cut in cross-section slices. The skin is thin, smooth and has a waxy surface. Mixed with Light and dark yellow. The flesh is soft and juicy, without fibre. It tastes mild, sour but best when ripe.

The flowers are fragrant, pink or dark pink, 3/8 inch in diameter. Blooms in a group in axils of leaves on young branches. And on older branches, they bloom without leaves. They can bloom throughout the year.

The leaves are 2 - 5 inches long, soft, light green and spirally arranged. Smooth on the upper surface and slightly hairy and whitish underside. The leaflets are 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches in length, more or less sensitive to light and are prone to fold together at night.

GERMINATION GUIDE

Common Name: Star Fruit
Type: Tropical
Sunlight: Full sun
Plant Height: 25 - 30 feet
Seed Spacing: 6 to 18 inches apart in all directions
Days to Germination: 10 - 21
Life circle : Annuals
Bloom time : September and October
Fruiting time: April to June
Soil type : Sandy or Well drained soilPh level : 5.5 - 6.5

Benefits and side effect:

1. The star fruit is a decent source of several nutrients — especially fiber and vitamin C.
2. Star fruit may cause adverse effects in some people, mainly due to its high oxalate content.