1.5 Growing Selected Crop

• Selecting a crop to grow: maize as the Kenyan staple, with beans and sukuma wiki as alternatives
• Ecological requirements of maize
• Land preparation for the selected crop
• Seed selection, treatment and planting
• Spacing, depth and plant population
• Manure and fertiliser for maize
• Weeding and field care during growth
• Pests and diseases of maize in the field
• Harvesting, drying and storage
• The maize calendar, with beans and sukuma as alternative enterprises

• grow a selected crop applying appropriate management practices
• justify each management practice for the selected crop
• appreciate that a crop is grown as a sequence of decisions, not a single planting day

“How do management practices influence crop productivity?”

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1. Choosing the crop: maize as the worked example
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Grow one crop through a full cycle. This sub-strand works maize, Kenya staple, and names beans and sukuma as alternatives.
2. What maize needs: rain, zone and soil
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Match maize variety to altitude and rain. Soil from 1.2 still applies: drained loam, pH 6-7, no drowning hills.
3. Preparing land for maize
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Maize wants a medium seedbed in the A horizon, finished before the opening rains. Conservation holes are a valid finish on risk land.
4. Maize seed: certified, treated, able to germinate
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Buy zone-matched certified seed. Do not plant mouldy store grain. Hybrids are not for replanting. Treat and handle as labelled.
5. Planting maize: spacing, depth and timing
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Plant on opening rains. A common pattern is 75 cm by 25 cm, one plant per hill, 3-5 cm deep. Mark rows. Thin extras.
6. Feeding maize: manure, basal and top dressing
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Manure in the hill, basal DAP or NPK at planting beside the seed, CAN or urea at knee height on moist soil.
7. Weeding and field care of maize
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   First weeding at 2-3 weeks, second at 5-6 weeks with top dressing and earthing up. Early weeding is the yield.
8. Pests and diseases while maize grows
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Scout weekly. Fall armyworm in the funnel, stalk borer in the stem, streak virus, cob rots. School plots start with scouting and sanitation.
9. Harvesting and storing maize
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Harvest when grain is hard and husks dry. Dry further. Store clean, off the floor, away from weevils. Wet plastic heaps rot.
10. The maize calendar, justified, with beans and sukuma
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Put every practice on a season line. Justify each. Present the school crop diary. Keep beans and sukuma as alternative calendars.