Putting up shelters

24. In certain regions shelter has to be put up over the nursery.

This protects the young seedlings from a disease called blast.

These shelters are made with posts and bamboo sticks.

To make the shelters more solid, put two posts together.

The posts should be 2.5 metres high. The bamboo sticks are tied to the posts with lianas.

Finally, put palm fronds over the bamboo sticks.

In Benin, shade for the young oil palms is provided by planting castor-oil plants in the nursery.

It you make a shelter, you need not mulch, but you must hoe very often.

Get rid of all the weeds, and always keep the soil loose.

Three months after transplanting, if the seedlings have grown well, apply monthly to each plant 15 to 20 grammes of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and potassium chloride.

Spread the fertilizer mixture in a ring 10 centimetres from the seedling and water.

Hoe to work the fertilizer into the ground.

The seedlings stay in the nursery for about 1 year. You must plan, therefore, to make the nursery about 1 year before you want to plant your palm grove.

A nursery after transplating of seedings