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Navdeep Rapid germination and vigorous growth occur when soil temperature reaches 20º C. First fruits can often be harvested from 40 to 50 days after sowing. Plants need sheltered areas with full sun.Light soils that warm quickly are suitable for early sowings: heavier soils are better suited to plantings that will be producing late in the season. Whatever the soil type, the crop will do best if the soil is well structured and drained and has plenty of organic matter. The top 50 mm of the bed should be loose to allow the seedlings to emerge freely. Average, well-drained soilPrepare raised bids or pits in the field at a distance of 2-3 feet. Mix about 2 tons of manure + 2 Kg VAM + 50 Kg each of Neem cake, Castor cake mixture. Mix thoroughly and moisten with EM as wetting agent and set asi.... (Read More)

Navdeep Rapid germination and vigorous growth occur when soil temperature reaches 20º C. First fruits can often be harvested from 40 to 50 days after sowing. Plants need sheltered areas with full sun.Light soils that warm quickly are suitable for early sowings: heavier soils are better suited to plantings that will be producing late in the season. Whatever the soil type, the crop will do best if the soil is well structured and drained and has plenty of organic matter. The top 50 mm of the bed should be loose to allow the seedlings to emerge freely. Average, well-drained soilPrepare raised bids or pits in the field at a distance of 2-3 feet. Mix about 2 tons of manure + 2 Kg VAM + 50 Kg each of Neem cake, Castor cake mixture. Mix thoroughly and moisten with EM as wetting agent and set aside for three days. Mix into beds or pits as case may be. Give side-dressings at flowering or fruit-set with potassium solubiliser. Most crops are direct-sown. Soil temperatures should be above 20ºC. The seed should be sown about 35 mm deep. Alternatively plant seedlings that are at three leaf stage when grown in plastic trays. To sow seeds plant seeds/seedlings in a central hill and thin to 3 plants per hill once true leaves formed. Cut extra seedlings with a scissors to avoid damaging remain in plants. The plants are generally grown in rows around 1 meter apart and from 500 to 900 mm between plants within the row. This gives a population of 7500 to 11000 plants per ha. An alternative system is to sow double rows of plants 750 mm apart with a pathway of about 1.4 meters between pairs of rows. Mix a quantity of 5 tons of Compost+300 kg Bokashi+150 Kg neem cake+3 Kg VAM+1 L Pseudomonas. Add sufficient quantity of water to moisten the heap and set aside for 3 days. Then apply @ 2-3 kg per pit. At the time of top dressing, mix bio fertilizer – Azospirillium (250 ml)+PSB (250 ml) in good quality compost (200 kg) and 1 kg of Trichoderma and apply at the time of earthing about 30 days from transplanting. Spray crop with Panchakavya or Amrit Pani on 30th, 45th and 60th day for better yields. Water immediately after sowing or planting and on third day. Yields will suffer if the crop does not get enough moisture. Then irrigate once a week in summer and carefully in rainy season depending on soil moisture. To the irrigation water add EM @ 1L in 250 Litres of water. Give EM water twice a week in the drip water. Add bio fertilizer – Azospirillium (250 ml) + Phosphorous Solubilising Bacteria (250 ml) + Potash Mobiliser (250 ml) to the irrigation water twice a week. Give EM and the bio-fertiliser mix on separate days. Stop EM Once flowering commences and continue with PSB and K mobiliser only. One/two weedings followed by one earthing up and a second if necessary a fortnight later is sufficient for the crop.Fruit needs to be picked every second day, otherwise the fruit soon becomes too large. Constant picking also prevents formation of seed and stimulates further fruit-set. One plant can produce up to 40 fruit a season if properly cared for.