Banana

• Dip the banana setts in medium hot water for half an hour before planting. This will help in the prevention of root rot and root borer attack.
• Treat the banana setts in diluted Panchagavya @ 1.5 litres in 50 litres of water. Dip the banana setts in this solution for half an hour before planting.

Sugarcane

• Dip the sugarcane setts in an extract of Keezhanelli (Phyllanthus niruri), Poovarasu (Thespesia populnea) and Pongam (Pongamia pinnata) (Dry and boil 1 kg of leaves of each type with enough water and filter after 2 days and use) and cover it with a wet gunny bag for a day and plant on the next day. This will control the seed borne diseases.

Cotton

• Seeds for rainfed and summer sowing should be hardened using 1% Prosopis and Pungam leaf extract (10 ml of each extract in 980 ml of water) to resist water stress.
  
• Treat seeds with termite hill soil to get resistance for drought and grow luxuriantly. Prior to this treatment seeds should be soaked in water for 6 hours. Mix equal quantities of termite hill soil and water and mix it with seeds and dry for 1 hour before sowing. Seeds should be shade dried for half an hour before sowing.
  
• Treat the seeds with Trichoderma viride @ 4 gms/kg of seeds. Mix Trichoderma in 100 ml of cooled rice gruel and mix it with seeds and then sow the seeds within 24 hours. Seeds should be shade dried for half an hour before sowing.

Cardamom

• Soak one kilogram of seeds in a mixture of Panchagavya (100 ml), Pseudomonas (100 gms) and water (5 litres) for 30 minutes. Then mix the seeds with ash and shade dry before sowing.

Cumin

• Smear the seeds with castor oil @ 2 litres / 25 kg of seeds before sowing for the prevention of wilt disease.
• Mix the seeds with salt water (250 gms of salt in 5 litres of water for 10 kg of seeds) before sowing. This treatment is also believed to increase the yield.

Flower Crops and Trees

• Soak the seeds of Sunflower and Tamarind in a mixture of wheat flour, rice flour, black gram, ground sesame and milk (50 gms of each diluted in 1 litre of fresh buffalo milk) overnight. Shade dry and fumigate with turmeric for one minute before sowing. For fumigation take the seeds in a sieve or a wire mesh. Take hot coal in a metal plate and sprinkle the turmeric powder over it. Stand close to the hot coal plate and fumigate the seeds by holding the sieve against the fumes for one minute. This will enhance the germination percentage and growth rate.
• Soak the seeds of Balsam in a mixture of wheat flour, rice flour, black gram flour, turmeric and milk (50 gms of each diluted in 1 litre of fresh buffalo milk) overnight and shade dry before sowing. This will enhance the germination percentage and growth rate.

Updated on : Nov 2014