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| Curly Kale Container Farming |
1. Start with disease-free seedlings
Nothing ruins a race like a foul start. All that I will
tell you next about curly kale farming in Kenya will not be important if you
start your farm with poor seedlings. To ensure that you get disease-free
seedlings, buy only from professional propagators that have raised the
seedlings in trays using coco-peat or peat moss – never take the risk by buying
seedlings raised in soil (zile za kungoa kwa mchanga).
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| Professionally Propagated Sukuma Matumbo seedlings at Richfarm Nurseries |
2. Plant in the right environment
Soil
Curly kales grow best on soils that are not soggy – too much soil moisture will
inhibit the roots' ability to take up nutrients. So if you are in the rainy
highlands of Kenya like Nyandarua and Kericho, ensure that you plant your Sukuma
matumbo on raised beds. Also, ensure the soils are rich in organic matter and
nitrogen: these are leafy vegetables hence nitrogen will be needed in high quantities.
Do not worry if you want to do it organically since you can get plenty of
nitrogen from chicken, goat or cow manure. Don’t forget to check your soil
acidity; that’s what we call soil pH. It should be between 6.0 and 7.0.
Sunlight
If you are in the Kenyan highlands, you are good to go since the temperatures
are in check throughout the year. You also get free partial shade from the
clouds that hang over you for the better part of the year. Sukuma matumbo
farming is also possible in the hotter lowlands of Kenya, but you will need to
plant them in a place with partial shade for best results – you can use a shade
net or plant the vegetables under other crops such as fruit trees.
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| Kale farming under a Net house: The net provides the partial shade needed |
Important point: they should not be under
dark tree shades all day long; allow them to get a bit of direct sunlight.
Spacing
We want nice, big, and healthy leaves so we shall provide ample spacing. I
recommend 45cm from plant to plant and 60cm between the rows. This spacing
provides adequate ground for the roots to get the necessary nutrients and also
the free flow of air which we know is very important for any crop.
3. Irrigation
Curly kales
grow best in soils that are high in moisture: please remember we have already
said the soils should not be soggy. That means you will definitely need to
irrigate your crops during the hot and dry seasons. Overhead irrigation system
or what we call sprinkler is the best.
The need for sufficient water for
irrigation should not be a hindrance if you want to grow your sukuma matumbo in
Lodwar, Garisa or Kilifi. A good mulch with dry grass will help you conserve
the soil moisture so well that you will only need to irrigate once in a week.
However, if your soils are too sandy, you will need to go an extra mile in
terms of irrigation.
4. Applying Fertilizer
We are glad
that in Kenya, manure is now cheaper and more readily available as compared to chemical
fertilizers. We are always inclined towards organic growing of vegetables so we
shall start by recommending the use of compost or animal manure. Incorporate
well decomposed manure into the first upper 15-20 cm of your planting soil: do
not let it be buried too deep since curly kales are not deep rooted.
If you must use chemical fertilizers, start
with a balanced NPK like NPK 17:17:17. I know some people insist on starting
with DAP but if you have started with good healthy seedlings as I told you in
the beginning, DAP is not necessary at the transplanting stage because the
seedlings will already have gotten that in the nursery and formed well
developed roots. Also, the Phosphorous in triple 17 will still boost further
root formation.
After 4-6 weeks, top-dress your kales
with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer – a vegetative foliar will be great. At this
stage, we haven’t started harvesting so for us doing organic, we can use compost
tea, fish emulsion, or rabbit urine. I
prefer the tea… This is essential to promote leafy growth.
For those who don’t mind chemicals,
this is the best time to apply CAN or an NPK that has higher N than P and K.
5. Weed Control
Sukuma matumbo,
and all other kale varieties for that matter, hates weeds. Weeds take up a lot
of nitrogen from the soil and that is the most important nutrient for our crop.
We cannot over-emphasize the importance of this practice. Mulching also helps
in reducing weed growth so consider that if you do not want a lot of weeding
work… I’m sure you don’t.
6. Pest and Disease Management
If you have followed
my advice from 1 to 5 above, pests and diseases will not be much of a problem
for you. I’ll tell you why… This is the secret: healthy plants repel pests
and are less susceptible to diseases.
However, to
be on the safe side, watch out for aphids and black worms. These are the most
common enemies. To control them, use insecticidal soap, neem oil, rabbit urine or
seaweed products sprayed directly on the leaves.
Alternatively,
plant your sukuma matumbo alongside garlic, onions, or herbs like mint. This
helps repel pests.
Diseases: Sukuma
matumbo variety of kale is generally hardy and you are less likely going to
deal with any diseases. However, during the warm and dump season, it can suffer
downy mildew, powdery mildew, or black spots. Neem leaf extracts can help you
to deal with that. For our friends on the other side, I recommend the use of
copper-based fungicides if you are attacked by these diseases.
7. Pruning and Harvesting
This is a
practice curly kale farmers in Kenya often forget. You must regularly remove the
old and yellowing leaves. If you don’t, they will keep competing for nutrients
with the other leaves yet you will not use them eventually. I also suggest that
once your crop starts producing nice big leaves, all the small lower leaves
should be removed.
When you start
harvesting, start from the bottom of the plant once they reach the desired size.
Avoid the temptation of going for the central growing leaves which might look
very attractive. Keep harvesting all the mature leaves: do not let them
over-grow while still on the plant.
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| Start by harvesting the lower leaves |
Bonus point for curly kale farming in Kenya
Once you have
tasted the sweetness of sukuma matumbo, I am sure you will want to do it again.
However, before you plant your next crop of sukuma matumbo, I recommend that
you crop-rotate by planting something else like beans, peas or even maize. That
will reduce the chances of your next crop getting affected by common diseases.
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