PERFORM

NURSERY
OPERATION
At the end of this module, you MUST be
able to:
1. Prepare nursery tools, farm implements
and simple equipment
2. Maintain nursery facilities
3. Handle seeds/planting material
4. Prepare growing media
5.Conduct propagation activities
NAME OF FARM TOOLS AND ITS USES
SEED BOX

Used for germination test

GRAB HOE

Used for breaking hard

topsoil and pulverizing
soil
SPADE
Used for trash or soil digging
canals or ditches and mixing soil
media

SHOVEL

Used in removing trash, digging loose soil,

moving soil from one palce o another and
mixing soil media
 RAKE

Used for leveling the top soil.

SPADING FORK
Used for loosening the soil, digging out the
root crops and turning over the materials
in a compost heap.

KNIFE
Used in cutting planting materials.
SPRINKLERS
Used in watering seedlings and
young plants

WATER PAILS

Used for hauling

water, manure and
fertilizers

KNAPSACK SPRAYER

Used for foliar application

WHEEL BARROW

Used for hauling manure,

fertilizers, planting materials and
other implements

SEEDLING TRAY

Used in propagation of
vegetables and flowers and
other seeds
 Hand rake or hand cultivator

Used for cultivating the garden

and removing weeds.

Hand trowel

Used for loosening the

soil around the plants
and putting small
amount of fertilizer
around the soils.
 The main consideration should focus on
selecting the crops that are most suitable
for production and of course the demands
of the market – there is no point in producing
something unless someone wants to buy it.
 SEED SELECTION
Selection of seed and rootstock is the critical step in GAP
in obtaining the quality, high yield and uniformity of the
product that the market demands.

What to consider when selecting seeds

•Use pure certified seed for obtaining the quality

and uniformity of product that the market
demands.
•Small-scale farmers should form growers
groups to access credit to purchase seed sand
other inputs or make necessary arrangements to
produce their own certified seed under seed
production schemes.

•Remember that traceability of the product can

only be assured when the source of seed used is
known and controlled by the company that
purchases the farmers’ crop.
2. Protection of Nursery
-Particular attention must be paid to protecting the
nursery against insect pests, soil diseases and
nematodes (disinfected/sterilized substrate), whitefly
and other vectors of viruses (aphids and thrips).

3. GAP during Transplanting

The seedlings are ready for planting out when they have
reached the 5–6 real leaf stage.
The seedlings should be sorted at planting.
They should be placed in the ground in such a way that
the first real leaf is about 5–10 cm above the surface on
condition that the soil is loose and not liable to water
logging.
• The soil is firmed around the seedling, with
moderate pressure applied around the stem
but without wounding or crushing it.
• Moderate watering is required after planting.
• It is preferable to avoid excess water in the first
days after transplantation to avoid the
development of soil diseases (especially bacterial
wilt) and to enhance root growth.
• It is preferable to plant out the seedlings at the
end of the afternoon or when the sky is overcast
in order to reduce stress.
• Before planting, ensure the full turgescence of
the seedlings by watering the nursery sufficiently.
• The ideal planting density depends on
numerous factors such as the type of crop,
development of the variety, the pruning method
planned, the yields sought, temperature and
light.
 PLANTING MATERIALS
Planting material refers to the type of material used to establish
a field or replace a banana plant. The type of planting material
generally falls into one of two groups:
1. Conventional planting material
The main types of conventional planting
material are suckers and bits (also called corm
pieces).

2. Tissue-culture plantlets
Tissue-culture plantlets are used almost
exclusively in commercial production systems,
but are increasingly used by farmers making the
transition from subsistence farming to income
generation
 Types of Planting materials
1. Seeds- - all grains crops, vegetable crops, forages grasses and
legumes, and fiber crops.

2. Vegetative Planting materials

•Stem cuttings(sugarcane, sweet potato, cassava, forages grasses)

•Tubers - Vegetables which grow underground on the root of a
plant. Tubers are usually high in starch. (White potato, yam)
•Bulbs(multiplier onion, garlic)
•Corms(taro, yautia)
•Rhizomes(ramie, ginger)
Planting materials for perennial crops
1. Seeds
• Fruit crops
• Plantation crops –propagated by seeds and rootstock from seeds
2. Vegetative planting materials
• Runners –growing stem that arise from leaf from leaf axils that root roots
Slips –leafy shoots originating from axillary
buds born at the base of the fruit

Suckers –adventitious root that arise from underground stem.

Corms -- underground solid stem that contains
nodes and internodes

3. Root cuttings – one of the most reliable and

economic ways. Large fleshy roots, the thicker the
better.

Examples of plants that can be propagated

from root cuttings include raspberry,
blackberry, rose, trumpet vine, phlox,
crabapple, fig, lilac, and sumac.
 4. Leaf bud cuttings
•Leaf-bud cuttings are used for many
trailing vines and when space or cutting
material is limited.
•Each node on a stem can be treated as a
cutting.

5. Stem cuttings

6. Asexual materials

7. Plantlets
 Basis for selection of species/varieties to be planted
Market demand Yield quantity and quality

Suitability of the area for growing Tolerance to pest and diseases

Tolerance to environment stresses

SELECTION OF FRUITS AND SEEDS IN THE FARM

1. High and uniform maturity and medium to big

seeds/fruits in fruit and plantation crops
2. Pest and deceases free
SELECTION AT NURSERY OR SEEDLING STAGE

1. Early germination
2. Vigorous seedling
3. Pest and deceases free
 BASIS FOR SELECTING VARIETY
ANNUAL CROPS

1. Yield and quantity

2. Resistance of pests and deceases
3. Farmers preference
4. Tolerance to adverse stress conditions
FRUIT CROPS

1. Fresh fruit –eating quality, sweetness, texture, color, size(fruit and

seed)
2. Juice processing –level of acidity, juice color
3. Regularity of fruit bearing
4. Rapid attainment of peak production
5. Resistant to aerial and soil-borne deceases –use of resistant
rootstock
6. Economic yield
Characteristics of planting materials:
1. Adaptability to the area where it will
be planted
2. High yielding ability
3. Purity
4. Quality of products for market
5. Disease and Insect resistance
 Classes of Seeds
1. Breeder seeds—Purest, controlled by originator
or sponsoring plant institution or plant breeder.
2. Foundation seeds—multiplied from breeder
seeds; it is controlled by the private or public
foundation seed stock organization has the tag
of Red.
3. Registered seeds—progeny of either breeder or
foundation seed. It is the source of certified
seeds and in under the control f a registered
seed producer; has the tag of green.
4. Certified seeds—available in large quantities are sold
commercially to farmers; has the tag of blue

Qualities of good seed

High germination Proper size and development

Uniformity Free from diseases

Free from mixture of other crop seeds

Free from weeds seeds
Seed stratification

This is done by hard-seeded crops such as okra and legumes

crops. It can be done by chemical and physical
Seed Dormancy
What is Seed Dormancy?
Seed dormancy is defined as a state in which seeds are prevented
from germinating even under environmental conditions normally
favorable for germination.  These conditions are a complex
combination of water, light, temperature, gasses, mechanical
restrictions, seed coats, and hormone structures.

Techniques in breaking seed dormancy

1. Stratification - Stratification is a means of simulating the

chilling and warming that seeds would endure if left outdoors in
their native climate, for the winter. (Ex. Soaking in water, hot
water treatment, acid treatment)
2. Scarification - Scarification means scratching or
cracking the hard outer coat of a seed to help it
germinate.
Animals can also scarify seed by eating the hard seeds and
digesting them. This is how strawberries can make their way
around your yard.
Gardeners can scarify seed by gently rubbing the seed with
something coarse, like sandpaper or a file, or by making
nicks in the shell with a knife. You have to be careful when
doing this. You only want to crack the shell, not damage the
seed inside or your fingers. Work gently. Some seed coatings
are so hard to crack, many gardeners can’t scarify them
without crumbling the whole seed.
 DISADVANTAGES WITH PROPAGATION BY SEEDS

Trees—longer time to bear fruits

Cross-pollinated—do not usually retain the characteristics of
parent
Variability in term of –productiveness, fruit quality, growth habit,
regularity of fruit bearing

Seed viability
Recalcitrant seeds—moisture content below 20% in rambutan and
rubber seeds results to loss in viability

(Subsequently known as unorthodox seeds) are seeds

that do not survive drying and freezing during ex-situ
conservation and vice versa.
In contrast, recalcitrant or drying-sensitive seeds are “readily killed
by drying, most especially if their moisture content falls below the
critical value ranging from 12-30%. Unlike orthodox seeds they
generally cannot withstand temperatures lower than 20 C, partly
because of the high moisture content which renders the seed prone
to chilling or freezing injury. Some can maintain viability at slightly
lower temperatures but vigor of the seedling may be affected.
Orthodox seeds

Orthodox or drying-tolerant seeds are “exemplified by

most annual and biennial crops and agroforestry
species which are relatively small-seeded. As in cereals
and grain legumes, these seeds can tolerate drying to
as low as 5% moisture content under common
conditions and low storage temperatures. Their life
span is, in fact, prolonged with low seed moisture and
temperature.”
 GERMINATION OF SEED

• Water up to 20-25% of seed dry weight is imbibed or

absorb

• Upon hydration—seed increases in volume and seed

coat become more permeable for diffusion of

oxygen and carbon dioxide

 SEED PURITY TEST
• Percentage of pure seed in the sample tested

Contaminants are the following

1. seeds of the other crops
2. Weed seeds
3. Inert matter
SEED ANALYSIS

A procedure for gathering pertinent information about the seed, its

capacity for establishing a stand of seedlings.
 Germination

Germination in plants is the process by

which a dormant seed begins to

sprout and grow into a seedling under

the right growing

 Type of germination
1. Epigeal germination
-in this, the cotyledons are raised out of the soil
and generally become green and photosynthetic.

In dicots, they are push

up by rapid extension
of hypocotyls before
growth of the epicotyls.
e.g. bean, tamarind,
sunflower, etc
 Hypogeal germination

• In this type of germination, the cotyledons

remain underground. Hypocotyls' growth is
restricted. The epicotyls grows to raise the
first leaves out of the soil.
• E.g. mango, ground nut, etc.

• Monocotyledons like rice, maize. Wheat etc.

 Viviparous germination

• This is a special type of germination occurring in

mangrove. These plans generally grow in salty lakes,

sea coast and deltas.

• The seeds germinates while still attached to the

parent plants.
STANDARD GERMINATION TEST
1. Rug doll method or rolled-towel test
Place the seeds inside a dam piece of
cloth.
Space the seeds along one side of the
cloth covers them.
 The cloth is then rolled an place on
trays.
A piece of stick is placed in the
middle of the damp cloth to allow
circulation of air.
 After three days, count the seeds that
have germinated.
2. Seed box method

Seeds are sown in previously sterilized

soil.
Plant a number of seeds in a seedbox
and water them.
Count the seed germinated and compute
for the percentage of germination
3. Petri dish method
Seeds are placed in absorbent material in a dish.

Number of seeds germinated

% Germination = X 100
Number of seeds sown
 4. Tetrazolium test

• Is the calometric test which the biochemical reaction

causes the test solution to change color under certain
conditions.
• Certain enzymes become active when viable seed
imbibe water and start respiration
 PREPARE GROWING MEDIA
Growing medium

The material that your plant grow in.

Three main function

Supply roots with nutrients

Allow for maximum root growth

Physically support the plant

In preparing growing media ratio of 1:1:1 of the
following growing media
• garden soil
• Saw dust
Coco coir

Rice hull/carbonized rice hull

Compost
River sand
Animal manure
End……