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@yoAgronomist

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Divah Phiri

@PhiriDivah

Apr 9, 2021

1/4 Farmers in the Lowveld, this is your chance to reap the benefits of horticulture. Because of the perfect winter temperatures, crops such as butternut, fine beans, tomatoes, watermelon, and peppers can be grown in open fields. Such crops cannot be grown in open fields in the

2/4 Highveld during the winter due to low temperatures and frost. You have an edge over the competition because of your perfect winter conditions. It hurts us that you aren't capitalizing on the competitive advantage that your favorable climate provides. We wish we had the same

3/4 mild climate because it would make horticulture much easier especially in winter. If you know what you can do with what you have, you have the ability to become Zimbabwe's horticulture hub. It is not too late to change your horticulture career direction. This is your chance

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Divah Phiri

@PhiriDivah

Mar 16, 2021

1/13 Tomato trellising and Pruning. The wet overcast conditions and low light intensity of the 2020-2021 rainy season has highlighted problems with trellising and pruning tomatoes. Loss of yield in tomatoes because of incorrect trellising was widespread, especially with the big

2/13 fast growing, high yielding long lasting varieties like Trinity, Star 9037 but determinate varieties like Star 9009,9011 were also affected. The objectives of trellising and pruning are manifold. Trellising significantly cuts down on harvesting loss, hail damage and sunburn

3/13 even with low growing ultra quicks like star 9008 and Zandra which are often not trellised. Apart from these objectives it's main objective must be maximizing of PAR(Photosynthetically Active Radiation) on the leaves and stems of the crops. The penetration of crop chemicals

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Divah Phiri

@PhiriDivah

Sep 8, 2020

1/4The horticultural farming landscape is dynamic. During my visit in Midlands and Matebeleland Provinces, I saw that a lot of people are getting an interest in horticulture. The major limiting factor in Matebeleland is water, most boreholes are drying out quickly. We are hoping

2/4 for good rains this year, so that it can improve the water table. The farmers in Nyamandlovu are doing quite well because they have enough water. The pictures above is an example of adopting to good agronomic practices. Mr Dhlaminiof Nyamandlovu grew 5 million plants of Onion

@Charterseeds

3/4 Irati @Charterseeds and Mr Setfree Nkomo of Warringham just planted 18600 plants of tomato Trinity open field. These crops were attributed by high level of concentration. In addition field visits are of utmost importance, they motivate farmers and gives them the zeal to push

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Divah Phiri

@PhiriDivah

Aug 23, 2020

1/6 Charter Seeds/Starke Ayres Sweetcorn, ready for the future. The Starke Ayres sweetcorn breeding program was started in the early 1990's.It has grown from very humble beginnings to the success it is today! The world class varieties produced from the program

2/6 quickly became popular with both local and international producers. The sweetcorn success story continues to the present day and is a long way from finished. Growers generally favour a strong plant with good disease resistance and a high yield potential. Supermarkets and

3/6 Consumers are more focused on quality, taste and shelf life. Commercial varieties that currently excel in the Starke Ayres line up include the following star 7714,7719 are later maturing, typical summer fresh market varieties. Both perform well in difficult summer growing

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Divah Phiri

@PhiriDivah

Aug 5, 2020

1/13The Importance of Good Soil Tilth To The Horticulturist. By creating morden day hybrid vegetable varieties with enormous yield potential.Plant breeders have completely changed the nature of soil science in horticulture. Morden horticultural varieties are bred for many reason

2/13 but are all capable of exceptionally high yields. If the grower gets it right, with the right varieties he can achieve marketable yields of epic proportions. Commensurate with record breaking yields is a very high rate of plant metabolism for much longer periods than in the

3/13 past. This means a much higher rate of nutrient uptake must be maintained for a considerable part of the plant's life span. Soil factors like intensity(immediate available nutrient) and capacity (nutrient available for a period of time - usually the useful life of the crop)

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Divah Phiri

@PhiriDivah

Jul 30, 2020

1/8 Soil requirements for tomatoes. A very high level of soil fertility is required for the profitable production of a successful tomato crop. The quality and quantity of tomato fruits are of crucial importance and are greatly influenced by the fertility and nutrient levels of

2/8 the soil. Tomatoes will grow moderately well over a wide range of soil types. However certain criteria have to be satisfied in terms of the soil structure and content to make it commercially viable. These factors include: Nutrient composition, Compaction, Effective soil depth

3/8 pH, Crop rotation, Herbicide residues, Water holding capacity. All these factors can have major influences on the resulting yield. The soil must permit adequate root growth to support the plant and supply water, oxygen and mineral nutrients and must be free of toxic elements.

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