By Herbert Musoke
A nursery bed is a crucial stage in vegetable growing because it is where the crops start getting strong. Unless this stage is handled properly, farmers should not expect good growth and production.
Seed selection: Male explains that setting a nursery bed starts with quality seed selection. The farmer should consider the germination rate, yield, resilience to disease, as well as pests and climate.
“The place where you are going to grow your vegetables should be considered — open field or greenhouse with controlled environment,” he adds, noting that seeds must be got from certified dealers.
Growing medium/soil: Male says because a seed is fragile, you need to use a growing media, which is disease free, but aids easy germination. This can be fertile, black soils or what is called media.
“Here, we use pittmoss, which is a well-decomposed material mixed with charcoal dust or composited material.
Trays: Male uses planting plastic trays, which are filled with growing media. He plants a seed per planting space. This is called seeding. The trays are then covered with a black polythene for three days.
He uses a sprayer to water the seedlings because they are still young and weak. They are cared for for four to five weeks, after which they will be ready for transplanting.
Planting tray prices vary from sh5,000 onwards, depending on the number of spaces needed for seeds.
