UBI CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

Ubi is a tuber root crop. Already grown as commercial crops. Its tuber is used in different food preparation. It contains vitamins and minerals and other essential nutrients.

It grows best in well-drained sandy loam soil and silt loam soil or clay loam soil especially if it has high organic properties. It can be planted in lowland or highland with an elevation of 2,500 meters above sea level. For good normal growth best temperatures for the plants is 26 to 30’C.

As ubi needs enough moisture for its development throughout the planting stage up to maturity period, irrigate the field. It is only applicable to those planted in lowland areas. Not applicable in high elevation. Even without the supply of enough water for the highland varieties, it can still grow well from the moisture around the field. But if it has a long season of drought, growth and yield are affected.

Plow and harrow the field deep twice to loosen the soil. The grass taken during land cultivation can be used as alternative fertilizer when it become compost.

The planting materials to use is setts taken from the large tubers. Tubers can be sliced into several setts by utilizing its head, middle and tail. Treat setts by applying wood ash or fungicides to keep away free from fungal infection. If planted, ubi is best suited in a flat or ridge seedbed. Construct ridges 60 centimeters apart. In a sloping or rolling areas, contour the ridges. This is to minimize soil erosion.

In a mound method, draw top soil first into piles. Use a hoe to break the soil for better root development. Planting of the setts can be done anytime for as long as the tuber dormancy is broken. It is best to plant during rainy days. Plant setts in the seedbed. The distance should be 1 meter x 50 centimeters or an ideal 60 cm x 60 cm. Plant the setts at the deep of 10 cm. The sprouts should be in upward position.

The purpose of mulching is important to the life of ubi. It conserves soil moisture, increases temperature of the soil for possible dryness, and can control weeds development. Using rice straw is best mulching materials to use. See to it that rice straw is free from insect infestation. Mulch the areas right after the planting.

In the absence of a pre-sprouted setts without mulching materials, you have to do weeding 3 to 4 times or even more as necessary. But those with protection from weeds, you can do weeding 2 times in 2 months interval.

Through experience, a setts that is planted without doing pre-sprouting is mostly has high mortality rate. It is necessary to plant the setts with enough sprouts.

Hill-up the ridges once every 2-3 months after planting. It is important to allow tubers to develop properly. Hand tools maybe used.

As ubi is a clinging vines, installing stakes is a must especially if the plants started to crawl looking for something to hold. Provide stakes (trellis) with measurement of 2 meters high to support density of leaves.

Before doing planting, it is best if you have a soil analysis of the area in order to apply the right rate of fertilizer application and to know the deficiency of the soil.

You need 4 bags of complete fertilizer (14-14-14) per hectare before planting. Additional 4 bags of complete fertilizer 2 months after the first application. Apply nitrogen fertilizer one month after planting at the rate of 2 bags/hectare. During tuber formation apply 3 bags of potassium fertilizer.

Prevent fungal diseases. If the infection is severe, uproot the plants and bury them. Apply regular application of fungicides to control or minimize infection every 2 weeks.

Remove rotten tubers to prevent spreading to other plants. Have a regular check on the plants to determine its condition for immediate prevention.

Harvest tubers when the leaves turn yellow and beginning to die.

PINEAPPLE CULTURAL MANAGEMENT

The production of pineapple can be done anytime of the year. Pineapple become the star in the fruit stand most people loved to eat either fresh or in can.

A variety called Queen pineapple has spring leaves. The fruit is sunshine-yellow during the ripening stage. Compared to other varieties, it has low acidity but with high sugar content and very sweet. The fruits are of small size less than a kilo.

Pineapple is easy to grow because it is a tropical fruit. It can be grown in any type of soil. It can survive even during dry  or rainy seasons. It can bear fruits more if it has a good drainage.

It can grow at sea level. But experience showed that it is best suited in a medium elevation of 2,000 feet above sea level or with good distribution of rain throughout the year. Best preferred in sandy loam soil and fertile soil with manageable acidity.

Prepare a thorough land preparation. This is to minimize the cost of weed eradication you have to initiate to free the plants from the harassment of weeds. Leaving the trees to grow together with plants unmolested will affect the productivity of the plants.

There are 3 planting materials you can choose: suckers, crowns and slips. Pineapple producers preferred slips because of its low mortality rate.

Before fertilization, have a soil analysis. This is to determine the correct kind of fertilizer to use and the quantity needed for application.  It will depend on fertility, acidity and poorness of the soil. If the result of the analysis showed an average fertility then the distribution of granule fertilizer will be:

– 600 kgs. or less.hectare – (N)

-200 kgs. or less/hectare- (P)

-300 kgs. or less/hectare -(K)

To additionally make the soil fertile, the use of organic fertilizers (compost, animal manure) is of great help for the increase production of fruits.  There are also chemical fertilizer (foliar) you can select. This is your other option if it suit you.

Apply fertilizer on the seventh(7) months of growth. Once the plants crowded each other closer, you can choose foliar fertilizer for easy application. Bear in mind, pineapple plants is a shallow-rooted plants and has many competition for soil nutrients.  Hand weeding is most expensive method to eradicate weeds. The best choose is to use chemicals to remove all kinds of weeds that can affect the growth of plants in the early stage of its development.

A pineapple can bear flowers even if not yet time for fruiting. The use of modern technology of applying fruit inducer can make pineapple production to be whole year round and in all seasons. It can be bought in agricultural supply.

Induce pineapple to bear flowers when the plant reaches 8-12 months of growth. It was proven a 90% rate of flowering.By the use of flower inducer, pineapple will start flowering after inducement.

The perfectness of the fruits depend on the balance in the application of fertilizer. Sunlight is important nearer to the harvest. Control pests and diseases that will affect to the quality of the fruits. With enough sunlight before harvesting is an assurance of the sweetness of the fruits. The acidity of the fruit is the result of harvesting it during rainy season. It is also the result of shading the fruits from sunlight in a higher elevation field.

Most common pests to become a problem in pineapple production are rats. They will eat ripe fruits damaging high productivity. All you have to do is constantly control them by using rodenticides to minimize its population in the field.

Using pesticides can control all sucking insects, a carrier of pest wilt. The destruction will start when the pests resides in the base of the leaves, fruits and roots. They will rapidly multiply during dry months. Spray them every month if the increase population is visible.

Check the roots of the plants. Worms and grubs will attack the roots. Use a granular form of insecticides as your pest control. Include ants in your list as another threat to the root system.

Use nematicide control of any nematodes you can find in the plants. This parasites will cause a stunted growth and unhealthy plants. Other producers used crop rotation as the most cheapest form of control.

If the crowns of the pineapple is affected by butt rot or heart rot before planting, then treat it first with fungicides. Remove all decompose vegetation in your field so that disease cannot harbor them especially if land preparation is done poorly.

During marketing of the fruits, proper handling from the field is important so that when the fruits is sold to market, it should be of highest quality. Bruises to the fruits will bring the price to go down.