Sowing seed.

One of the changes I suggested for village nurseries, and what I did in our own central nursery as to introduce direct seeding into the pots.

It is usual to sow seed into a seed bed, then prick out the seedlings into the pot. But this has a big disadvantage in Tanzania. Most areas suffer from adequate supplies of water, and when seedlings are pricked out, they needed to be 'watered in' and in the first few days require regular watering. [Dampening off is not such a problem but does occur]

Direct sowing allows at least some flexibility, I research what the likely seed viability is and sow accordingly - eg. if viability is 30%, I sow 3 seeds per pot. Sometimes it may be necessary to thin them out - that can be done when weeding, but also if conditions and luck are with you, the seedling can be pricked out into pots that have not germinated; give them a chance!

The pots are cut from rolls of flat polythene tubing (black if possible). Instead of cutting one at a time, whittle down a stick so the circumference (or perimeter, if it is rectangular) equates to around 100mm. Wrap the polythene tubing around it - tightly - about ten times, then cut across it. You will have ten pot +- 100mm ready to be filled. The bottom 1/4 needs to be tightly packed with soil/mix, so it does not fall out the bottom; but you are not making bricks, and seedlings will not grow in bricks!

I drew this diagram to help, but the labelling is too small.

Note that there is no bottom to the pot. Nearly fill the pot with soil/mix and make a depression with your thumb. The seed(s) is placed in the depression and covered with sawdust less than 1 cm.

Cover the sawdust with marram (volcanic ash) or pebbles.

The sawdust holds moisture and does not get too hot. The marram hold the sawdust in place while watering or if windy; it also helps to retain the moisture.

I used to go to portable sawmills to collect sawdust and there were always young men eager to fill the truck for 500/- or so. They became used to me and often asked me what I did with the sawdust.

'I use it in my tree nursery." I told them.

Well soon sawdust became in short supply - people equated my need for it with fertilizer! Applying to their crops. Actually, while it rots down, it robs nitrogen, but release it later. Urea would have been better for them.

I guess any of my vehicles could carry half a cubic metre of marram - that would last perhaps a month or six weeks. There was a huge deposit of it at Engarora and lorries used to buy it there. Again the young men would fill my truck and banter with me about paying more, helping them financially or giving them a job. Have no doubt though, their work war hard and dangerous; and rough as they were, they earned their money!

Roots will soon grow into the soil below the pots, so they must be cut regularly - this is a chore. But has to be done.

I sat my pots on polythene sheeting. As good is a frame of chicken wire (off the ground and the air prune).

I wanted to carry out my operation in the same way I expected the village nurseries to operate, so I hand watered using a 15 litre watering can. Every night taking about an hour. Sometime I watered in the morning as well.

I found I could look village people in the eye and say that nursery work is hard, but rewarding work!