PLANTING MAIZE

We shall be looking at maize
we have two main colours of commercial maize in Nigeria, we have the yellow maize and the white maize
Depending on your location in Nigeria both Maize are very commercially viable.
As for me, i prefer the yellow maize because in my location in the south west, the demand for the yellow maize is higher.
 Most consumers here believe its sweeter, For me i cant really say so, But in business the customer is the king so i plant the yellow maize .

The plough attached to a tractor used in ploughing

Some people may ask what specie i plant, First of all any good hybrid seed will do well using the best farming practice ,But i plant Sammaz 39
That dosent mean that its the best but thats the better one always Available to me
some farmers even prefer some trusted local breed due to its adaptation to their environment but i dont go for that Because sometimes it may back fire.
In farming the first step to a successful Harvest is land clearing depending on the practice u can either go the local way of grass cutting,depending on how heavy the grasses are, if its too bushy, after grass cutting u pack the cut grass to a corner and burn,thereafter u spray systemic Herbicides before planting or you go the modern method which will entail using tractor to plough the farm ,then u spray the systemic herbicide to places the plough did not get to and the u cut stubborn tree stumps before u plant
which ever u choose with due diligent u will get results .
However most time the results from ploughed farms are higher than the un ploughed farms ,but as a youth u mus start from some where and grow .

This is the picture of a bushy land before ploughing

                                      This a tractor ploughing the farm before planting

                                      This the land after tractor ploughing before planting.
After the Tractor has ploughed the soil the above pic is what u have ,then the next thing to do is to spray systemic Herbicide .
Atleast 5 days after the spraying of the systemic Herbicide before planting of your Maize seed.
                                     

                                       This is the planting process usually done using Ropes
The ropes are usually laid as a guide to maintain a straight line and avoid Zig zag planting. This helps to monitor the crops as it gives u an overview of the plants and incase any disappears u can easily spot on the exact spot where it happens , since the crops are on a straight line.

This is 10 days after planting you can see the result,whenever u apply due diligence  this is how your result will look like. You can see that with a glance u can inspect thru the farm and if their is any concern you can easily spot it.

This is three weeks after planting u can see that the maize is already growing very and u can see the advantages of the line planting as it aids the neatness of the farm.

zoom in closely at the maize plants you will notice a whit substance by the side thats NPK 15:15:15 fertilizer it usually applied using i teaspoon level as measurement but when are used to the application a pinch will equal the teaspoon size.

normally 1 hectare of maize takes 2 and halve bags during the application but some even apply more depending on the population density of the farm.

Another view of the fertilizer  application.

Because of the under growth selective herbicide will be used on the maize to keep it clean .

looking at the picture above thats two weeks after NpK Fertilizer application and treatment with a selective Herbicide.u can see how neat the farm is and how green the leaves of the maize is ,showing that the fertilizer is very active.

AT THIS LEVEL ONCE ANY OF THE MAIZE PLANT BRING FLOWER IT WILL THEN BE TIME TO ADD UREA FERTILIZER NORMALLY ITS DONE AT 8WKS BUT SOMETIMES SOME MAIZE MAY TASSEL OR BRING OUT FLOWER AT 7WKS IT WILL BE GOOD TO ADD FERTILIZER IMMEDIATELY THAT HAPPENS .
ALREADY THIS MAIZE IS 7WKS WITH SOME SHOWING SIGNS OF EARLY FLOWER ,ONCE ITS VERY VISIBLE UREA WILL BE APPLIED.

As you can see the maize plant,some have started to bring out flower as seen in the pics above this means that time for UREA fertilizer is due.
But dont wait for all to flower once the plant is 8weeks old or a few starts flowering then add the Urea fertilizer

The Result of hard work is success at this time a farmer will be pricing thing to buy as he looks at the farm and thank GOD. yes the above picture is two weeks after Urea fertilizer application in the farm,a contact Herbicide has also been applied u can see the effects from picture two above .
Its now a count down to Harvest / sales

THE WOMEN TRYING TO SHADE FRESH MAIZE AS THEY BUY, USUALLY THEY ARRANGE IT AT 7 TO 200 EXCEPT FOR THE VERY SMALL COBS.
THE GOOD THING IS THAT THE WOMEN HARVEST THE MAIZE THEIR SELVES YOU THE FARMER WILL MONITOR TO MAKE SURE IT SUITS YOU

YOU CAN SEE THE HARVESTED FARM AT THE BACKGROUND WHILE THEY ARE SHADING THE HARVESTED MAIZE FROM THE FARM