Technique of Growing Indian Spinach on the ground

Technique of Growing Indian Spinach on the ground by Pritham Denzil D'Souza aka MetalFarmer

Traditionally Indian Spinach also known as Basale soppu in tulu and Valchhi bajji in konkani is grown on a trellis. While respecting our traditional farming practices, we also must learn to innovate and improvise, and if works out, share data for free that will benefit farmers all over. Growing Spinach on the ground was done merely as a challenge to growing them using support or a trellis.

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

STEP BY STEP PICTORIAL GUIDE TO GROWING SPINACH ON THE GROUND

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• as you can notice in the pic above, a trench with a minimum width of 1 meter and max length is made
• weeds, stones and other unwanted materials are removed
• 1 load of freshly decomposed farm yard manure is added and the soil is mixed well

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• bunds are made to the entire row length as seen above
• the bunds act as make shift pits where the spinach stick will be transplanted

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• from the older spinach plant, long and healthy spinach vines are selected for transplanting as seen above
• the long spinach vines are then cut in half to get 2 spinach sticks of approx equal length
  

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• from the base of the spinach stick, all the leaves are plucked out leaving only a few leaves at the top
• this is also done for polarity
  

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• 2 pairs of spinach sticks are then transplanted in every bund pit as shows and covered with soil. so every bund pit will have 4 transplanted sticks

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• in around 50 days, the vines grow luxuriently and a number of lateral shoots also emerge and the spinach is now ready to harvest

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• here harvesting is done cutting off the long spinach vines and tying around 10 sticks to make a bundle.
• more number of cuttings, will produce more number of lateral shoots.

From Growing Indian Spinach on the ground at Padval Farms, Mangalore, India

• daily irrigation is a must as the spinach sticks need all the moisture they can get
• covering the transplanted spinach sticks with coconut palms and banana leaves is also done to prevent excess damage due to high temp.
• banana leaves, arecanut palms and coconut palms are also placed on the ground to prevent the growing spinach vines in coming to contact with the soil
  
• manuring is done again after 30 days from first transplanting
• only decomposed farm yard manure is suitable as fresh un decomposed manure will destroy the developing roots and kill the vines

all images and data by Pritham Denzil D'Souza 'Metalfarmer'