Session XVI - Fertilizers, watering and containers

Total Time: 4 hours

Goals:

- To give information about fertilizers, watering and containers.
- Have trainees actually practice making paper containers and transplanting seedlings.
- Trainees finish soil preparation and possibly sow seed beds in vivero.
- Give out weekly evaluation forms.
- To review group process and have trainees give each other feedback.

Overview

This session once again will be a refresher for some participants but uniquely different ways and types of fertilizers used will hold interest. Containers used in Latin America differ significantly from North America. Practice in making containers and transplanting into containers -will he a new experience for most trainees. Trainees will continue work on vivero and give each other feedback on working together. Weekly evaluation forms will also be given out so that trainees can fill them out and bring them to their individual interviews (Session 18).

Exercises:

(1) Lecture on fertilizers, watering and containers.
(2) Making containers and transplanting seedlings into these containers.
(3) Soil preparation and sowing of seeds in vivero.

Materials:

Flip charts, marker pens, tape, weekly evaluation forms, newspaper (for pot making), staplers, staples, potting soil, seedlings for transplanting into containers, seeds for vivero.

Exercise I - Lecture on Fertilizers, Watering and Containers

Total Time:

30 Minutes

Overview

At the beginning of this exercise technical trainer will take a few minutes to pass out weekly evaluation forms. He will then invite those for whom this lecture is a refresher to add pertinent information based on their experiences.

Procedures

Time	Activities
5 minutes	1. Technical trainer passes out weekly evaluation forms. He asks that participants have them filled out by next day in time for interviews and states that these are an important part of the feedback needed by trainers.
25 minutes	2. Technical trainer now gives the following lecture using an outline posted on newsprint.

Fertilizers (Fertilizante)

Work from soil sample. Trainer describes ways in which to take soil sample and quantity needed for each host country soil lab processing.

1. Inorganic (inorganico)

a. NPK
N = Nitrogen (nitrogeno)
P₂O₅ = Phosphoric Acid (acido fosforico asimable) X.44 = P
K₂O = Potash (potasa soluable en agua) X.83 = K
Ratios 10 - 20 - 10

b. Urea

c. Ethers

1. ammonium sulfate
2. ammonium nitrate

2. Organic (Organico)

a. compost: good if done right
b. green manure

1. alfalfa (alfalfa)
2. peas (arvejas)
3. beans (frijoles)
4. cloves (trebol)

c. manures

1. usually low in phosphorus
2. best to mix in soil

3. Application

a. organic mix into soil
b. inorganic - mix into soil or sprinkle on:

1. 1^st application
2. 2^nd application after 6 weeks
3. do not fertilize during hardening off period (± final month before outplanting).

Watering

1. After sowing, "carefully" water heavily.
2. Generally, watering heavily every few days is better than watering lightly everyday.
3. "Look" at soil moisture.
4. In the last month, taper off watering to harden plants.

Containers

Types

1. Paper*
2. Plastic bays
3. Clay pots
4. Better system

a. Direct seed into container

1. Advantages

a. root system remains intact,
b. has good soil.

2. Disadvantages

a. bulky to handle,
b. poor root development,
c. costly.

*Paper pots including labor is ½ the price of using plastic containers

Small Research Projects

1.1	Sameness: Try to keep all factors, that might influence the experiment the same. Examples of questions to ask about the experiment
Seed Experiment		a. Are the seeds that are being used from the same source?
Growth Experiment		b. Is the soil the same throughout the experimental site?
Planting Growing Experiment		c. Were all trees planted on the same day using the same methods, tools etc.?
1.2	Randomness: As a means of limiting the effects of unknown differences, experiment should be rayed out randomly.
		a. Rice-Beans scatter on a grid,
		b. Number from a hat,
		c. Telephone book - last digits of numbers,
		d. Random number generator.
1.3	What is it you are going to measure? How? When? With what?
1.4	Testing Hypothesis
1.5	Layout: A block design
		a. Randomized blocks,
		b. Buffer strips,
		c. Replicates (generally 3 - 5 replications ),
		d. Number.

Example: Species Trial

Problem: it is decided to test 7 different species to see it any grow and/or survive better than Pinus radiate.

Measurements to cake: (by year)

1. Survival: Note if trees are dead or alive.
2. Height Growth: Note height of each tree.

Exercise II - Making Containers

Total Time:

1 hour

Overview

This exercise gives trainees practical hands on experience in making paper containers and transplanting into them. If training is done at host country Ministry of Agriculture nursery, they will have a potting shed with all of the equipment needed. If not, a small potting shed can be created for the exercise.

Procedures

Time	Activities
20 minutes	1. Trainer or potting shed "jefe" demonstrates the making of newspaper cylinder. Trainer now makes 10 cylinders each.
40 minutes	2. Trainees take cylinders to potting shed where they are shown how to pack potting soil tightly and to transplant seedling into pots.
	3. Trainer gives brief lecture on the advantages of paper pots.

Trainer's Note: It possible, you can get the nursery "jefe" to give all instructions in Spanish and oversee the trainees in this exercise. You will then only need to translate information that you may feel trainees are not understanding. This gives trainees the experience of working with a host country person.

Directions for making paper cylinder containers.

1. Take a standard size sheet of newspaper fold in half, then told in half again.
2. Roll folded paper around fingers to give cylindrical shape .
3. Staple top and bottom.
4. Roll over fingers to make cylinder.
5. Pack bottoms tightly with potting soil using tamping stick.
6. Transplant seedling packing soil tightly around roots, pack up to collar of seedling.

Exercise III - Soil Preparation & Seedling Sowing

Total Time: 2½ hours

Overview

This exercise is meant to he the last formal time period allotted for work on the trainees' vivero. However, if the weather and their own croup process does not allow for the final seedbed sowing, it is possible to finish on the next day.

Procedures

Time	Activities
5 minutes	1. Trainer starts with observation made by staff members as to how vivero groups Observations are listed on newsprint. have done while working together. Asks trainees to verify these observations.
30 minutes	2. Trainer asks vivero groups to come together and give each other feedback about:
		- how they work together,
		- how they feel about the amount of work others have done/not done,
		- how they feel about the leadership in the group,
		- how they feel they have worked with other vivero groups,
		- how they feel about themselves as a group now,
10 minutes	3. Trainer asks group to call out adjectives that describe themselves and writes them on newsprint. Talks about the importance of feedback in the group process.
1 hour 45 minutes	4. Groups are now given instructions to finish vivero. Trainer asks who is keeping records but makes no comment on the answer. Trainers once again leave the vivero area, leaving seeds with trainees.