When the plants are 4 to 5 months old they should be about 20
centimeters tall and ready for transplanting. About one-half of the
foliage should now be cut off; a trench should be dug at the end
of the nursery bed about 20 centimeters or more deep; then a thin,
sharp spade or bolo (cutlass) should be passed through the soil,
underneath and around the plant, neatly severing all straggling roots,
and leaving the plant in the center of a ball of earth. The plants
should be set out in the field at the same depth at which they grew
in the nursery, great care being taken not to break the ball. If the
soil is so loose that it falls away from the roots in the removal
from the nursery, great care should be exercised in not allowing the
roots to dry out and in setting out the plant so that the roots fall
in a natural position. In the course of the planting the soil should
be firmly packed about the roots.
The sowing of the seed in a given locality should be so timed that the
plants are ready for transplanting at the beginning of the rainy season
in order to avoid the expense of artificial watering. If transplanted
during the dry season the plants necessarily would have to be watered
by hand from time to time until they are established.
Plants for shade.--As a temporary shade and cover crop of rapid growth
while the coffee trees are small, perhaps no plant can compete with
the cadios (Cajanus indicus). The plants may be cut down to serve as
mulch whenever they grow too high, and may be expected to grow from
the stubble twice before the plants die, provided they are not cut
off too close to the ground.
In Java, where robusta coffee is more extensively planted than anywhere
else, permanent shade is considered advisable. Malaganit (Leucaena
glauca), a leguminous shrub which grows everywhere in the Philippines,
seems to be preferred there to other plants for shade. It is planted
alternately with the coffee plants and, as is the case with all plants
utilized for shade, thinned out later according to need. Madre de cacao
(Gliricidia maculata) and dapdap (Erythrina indica and E. subumbrans)
are other leguminous trees readily obtainable in most localities and
are adapted for shade.
Madre de cacao should be planted at the same distance as the
malaganit while the dapdap should be planted one plant to every two
coffee trees. All these plants are readily propagated by cutting
off limbs or branches 1 to 1.2 meters long and inserting them 20 to
30 centimeters deep in the ground during the rainy season. (This is
most conveniently done by the aid of a crowbar.) In a limited way
fruit trees, such as the soursop, custardapple, breadfruit, and jak
may also be used as shade, and these should be planted from 6 to 12
meters apart according to size. The necessary shading between these
trees while they are small may be provided by planting malaganit, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account