Criteria for establishment of Fruit nursery

1. FRUIT NURSERY
& ITS ESTABLISHMENT CRITERIA
Dr. Parshant BakshiDr. Parshant Bakshi
Associate Professor
Division of Fruit Science
SKUAST-JAMMU

2. NURSERYNURSERY
The nursery is the place where young plants are raised
and taken care of until they reach the right size
for outplanting.
OBJECTIVES OF THE NURSERYOBJECTIVES OF THE NURSERY
•To raise healthy and disease free stocks.
•To distribute plant material in masses who have little
knowledge about the techniques of raising plants.
•To introduce exotic species.
•Planting of nursery grown is the surest method of
artificially regenerating poor and barren sites.
•Replacement of casualties.

3. CLASSIFICATIONCLASSIFICATION
On the basis of size and purpose and nature of business
the nursery can be classified as follows:
1.1.Temporary NurseryTemporary Nursery
This is also known as seed nursery. The main objective of
this type of nursery is afforestation/plantation over a limited area
and after that the nursery is wound up. It should always be close to
the planting site. It is established to cater one’s personal need.
2. Permanent Nursery2. Permanent Nursery
A permanent nursery is established for large scale
multiplication of elite types of plant material on long term basis. It
should be well equipped with fencing, inspection paths, irrigation
system, store, pot yard, packing area, raised platform for loading
and unloading of plants, in addition to an office to keep the record.

4. •Classification based on irrigation facilities
•Dry nursery
This type of nursery is primarily meant for the multiplication
of those plants which are drought hardy and do not need artificial
watering. In general, this type of nursery is not very successful.
These are wholly dependent on the rainfall.
•Wet nursery
In wet type of nursery, there is a permanent provision of
irrigation water for plant propagation. All types of plant material
can be raised in a wet nursery. Wet and permanent nurseries are
always a commercial venture.

5. SITE SELECTION
The following are the factors in selecting an ideal nursery site:
•Water should be available throughout the year
•Area should be large enough to accommodate the required
seedlings and facilities
•Area could be flat or slightly inclined to allow sufficient drainage
•Area must be accessible or close to the road
•Area must have good soil condition, i.e. dry sandy loam or loam,
topsoil of about 30 cm, with 5.5 to 6.5 pH and high quantity of
organic matter

6. Site Preparation
After a suitable nursery site is selected, remove stones, rocks,
stumps and roots, and all undesirable vegetation. If it is sloping,
construct bench terraces following the contour. Use soil covered with
grasses or dry stones as terrace walls. Hollow blocks may be used in
exceptional.
•Area must have good exposure to sunlight
•Area must be protected from strong winds with temporary
windbreakers
• using local materials. For permanent windbreakers, establish
a green belt (trees that can withstand strong winds) around the
nursery.

7. IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF NURSERY
A modern nursery should have the following parts:
Permanent structures
An ideal nursery should have an office, sale counter, packing
shed, store house, implement shed, bullock shed and residential
quarters etc. Building and similar structures should be constructed in
one corner of the nursery and near to the main gate to facilitate
supervision and reduce working and transport distances. The office
should also be accessible by cars/trucks. Office is meant for keeping
the nursery records and for sitting of the manager/owner who
supervises all the activities. However both the store and office can be
in the same building, store can be utilized for keeping packing
material such as baskets, labels, nails, ropes, equipments, fertilizers
and planting material etc.

8. Progeny block
A nursery man should have progeny trees of all the promising
plants and varieties that can be grown in that particular area. In
progeny block, true-to-type mother plants are maintained in the
nursery. According to the choice of the customers, suitable plant types
with existing superior varieties should be collected and maintained in
the progeny block.
Seed beds
Seed beds can be accommodated in a comparatively smaller
area. They should be nearer to a source of water supply and to the
office so that they can be kept under proper vigilance. The beds
should be raised enough to avoid water stagnation due to rain and
excess watering. Seed beds should be located in an open situation for
better germination of seeds and to avoid infestation of ‘damping off’
disease.

9. Nursery beds
Seedlings from the seed beds are lifted and transplanted in the
nursery beds. Nursery beds should be slightly raised, with 3m length
and 1 meter width. It is better if nursery beds are divided into two
sections. For example, one section can be a mango seedbed area, a
second section can be set apart for rooting of cuttings, another for
citrus plants etc. This order should be changed next season to have a
rotation and thereby keeping the fertility of the soil intact. A nursery
bed should be prepared by repeated ploughing and adding appropriate
amount of organic manures and fertilizers. There must be adequate
facility of proper drainage. The nursery beds should be laid out in
such a way that there is an access to all the beds through roads or
paths so that workmen may not have to walk over bunds or in water
channels. Nursery beds should be located in an open area near to a
water source.

10. Pot yard
The pot yard is generally used for tender plants, which
require shade as compared to hardy plants. Therefore, pot yards
should be in shade and near to water source for frequent watering.
Trenches can be provided for keeping the potted plants closely
packed together.
Packing yard and working shed
The packing yard is used for packing the plants before sale or
dispatch to out stations. The yard can be combined with working
shed. In packing yard, there should be plenty of space to enable a
number of workers for sorting out and packing the plants with ease.

11. Water management in nursery
The timely availability of good quality water in sufficient
amount is an integral part of nursery production. In nursery,
several plants of different stages of their growth are raised,
therefore timely supply of quality water is essential. Thus, proper
arrangement should be made to meet the water requirement of a
nursery. For this purpose, provisions for water storage tank, motor
or diesel engine operated tubewell should be made. Water
application methods in the nursery may be broadly classified
into following two groups:
1. Conventional methods: In this method water applied is
distributed by means of open surface, for example:
Flood irrigation
Check basin irrigation and
Furrow irrigation

12. 1.Modern methods of irrigation:
•Micro-sprinkler irrigationMicro-sprinkler irrigation
Sprinklers are suitable for dense growing seedlings. It may be
used in field or controlled environment i.e. polyhouse or in poly
tunnels.
•Drip irrigation
Drip irrigation is best suited for containers grown crops. Fruit
crops, which are being propagated by layering, grafting and budding,
can also be irrigated by drip irrigation.
•Capillary irrigation
Capillary irrigation is the most suitable method for nursery
propagation of densely grown crops. Capillary irrigation can be used
for both outdoor and indoor plants. A simple capillary irrigation
system consists of a 5 cm deep bed of sand, the depth mainly depends
on the root depth of crop to be grown. The dimension can be
conveniently based on the size of bed, hydraulic conductivity of soil
and root depth of crop.

13. Propagation of guava under shade net with
sprinkler irrigation system

14. Propagation of mango under shade net with
sprinkler irrigation system

15. Compost pit
Nursery production of horticultural and forestry plants
require huge amount of organic manures, like F.Y.M, compost, leaf
mould etc. for different purposes. Therefore, arrangements should
be made at nursery level to produce enough quantity of compost
etc. for own purpose. One compost pit of permissible size should be
located at any corner of nursery layout. At the same time several
waste products of nursery can also be utilized for the same and
extra effort to dispose off waste material is not required.
Trained gardeners and skilled labourer
The orchardists, who want to take up nursery production
work, should be well conversant with different propagation
techniques and other nursery operations. They should have with
them trained budder/grafter, who could perform these operations
with good success.

16. Nursery Lay-outNursery Lay-out

17. Propagation structures
Nursery is a place where raising of plants is carried out
throughout year but in few months of the year, open conditions are
not found suitable to raise plants successfully. The hot desiccating
winds in May-June and cold freezing waves of December-January
may harm the plants and their subsequent growth. Hence, there
should be provision of modern propagation structures like, green
house, net house and mist chamber etc. these structures provide
optimum controlled (light, temperature, moisture and humidity) for
seed germination, rooting of cuttings and for hardening of young
seedlings before transplanting them in the field.
A brief description of different propagation structures and
equipments has been given below:

18. Greenhouses
Greenhouse is a general term for the framed or inflated
structure covered with transparent/translucent material large
enough to grow crops under partial or fully controlled
environmental conditions such as temperature, solar radiation,
rainfall, humidity etc. to get optimum growth and productivity
round the year.
Classification of greenhouses
1.Low cost green houses
This type of green house involves very less initial cost
because they are naturally ventilated. Naturally ventilation refers
to providing sufficient open area in green house structure so that
ambient air by itself enters into the greenhouse after displacing an
equal amount of greenhouse air.

19. 2. Medium cost greenhouses
The initial cost for the such type of greenhouses is more
than the low cost greenhouses, since partial control of the
environmental factors is necessary.
3. High cost greenhouses
Such type of greenhouses involves very high cost of
establishment because the conditions inside the greenhouse are
to be fully controlled. These are most efficient with respect to
plant propagation particularly under extreme climatic conditions.
However, preference should be given to low cost greenhouses.

20. Mist propagation unit
Mist propagation units are used for propagation of
“difficult to root” cuttings. A fine mist is sprayed intermittently
over the cuttings at regular intervals during day and night. It is
controlled by a time clock.
Net house
Net house is widely used as propagation structure in
tropical areas, where artificial heating is not required and artificial
cooling is expensive. In these areas, a net house may be
constructed with roofs covered with glass or plastic film and its
sides are covered with wired net. The roof of net house may be
covered with gunny cloth or even with live plant creeper to cut off
the solar radiant energy and to keep the house cool. Net house can
be constructed as per the need of the propagator and therefore its
size varies with the requirement of the nurserymen.

21. Mist propagation unit

22. Use of Mist for strawberry runner production under shade net

23. Propagation of guava under shade net conditions

24. Plastic tunnels
It consists of a perforated tunnel made for strawberry
protection. The three feet wide wire hoops, which support the
polyethylene, made from 0.2-inch diameter wire and are erected at
30-inch intervals. A white translucent polyethylene sheet 6 feet wide
is then stretched over the hoops and is then held in position by
fastening two lines of polyethylene bailer twin to alternate hoops on
either side of the tunnel.

25. Perforated tunnel made for strawberry production.

26. IMPORTANT NURSERY OPERATIONS
Field/Bed preparation and eradication of competing vegetation
Deep ploughing twice would help to loosen the soil and
clear the weeds and other vegetation. All types of stones and roots
etc. should be taken out as they obstruct the growth of seedlings.
Burning of dry grass and shrubby material tends to reduce the
insect and weed problem and left over minerals rich improves the
fertility of seed beds.
Layout of beds and levelling
The width of the seed bed should be kept such that weeding
and hoeing can be accomplished without entering the seed bed. It
should be 1.2 to 1.5 m. The length of the seed bed may be kept upto
12.5 m. Usually, three types of seed beds are used:

27. Raised beds
These are made in high rainfall areas. Raised beds are 10-15
cm above ground level with the support of bricks, stones or
bamboos, which prevents edges of beds from crumbling during
rains.
Sunken beds
Sunken beds are made in dry areas. The objective of sunken
bed is to avoid flow of water outside the bed. These beds are
usually 15 cm deeper than the normal ground level.
Level beds
Level beds are made in normal rainfall areas. The surface of
the nursery bed should be flat or should have a slight camber. In
order to enable good drainage in the beds, surface dressing should
be done.

28. Mango Seedlings on level beds in nursery

29. Citrus seedling grown on level bed in the nursery

30. Guava seedling grown in open conditions on level beds in nursery

31. Mixing of FYM
Farm yard manure (FYM) crushed into fine powder should
be thoroughly mixed with the top soil of the bed before sowing the
seeds or planting the other planting material (cuttings, suckers,
rhizomes etc.) if the soils are sandy, addition of clay/pond soil
always becomes essential.
Raising plants in the nursery
To raise plants in the nursery seems to be easy but to
maintain them in good state is very tedious. Therefore, one should
have complete idea about sowing time, sowing depth of the seed etc.
to raise the seedlings effectively. Similarly, knowledge about
transplanting of seedlings, their handling and further management in
the nursery is equally important for raising quality planting material.

32. Sowing of seeds in the nursery
In asexually propagated plants, the seeds are first sown in
the seed beds and after attainment of sufficient growth of the
seedlings, they are transplanted in the permanent site. Similarly,
rootstocks of fruit plants are first raised in the nursery and at
optimum growth of seedlings of rootstock, they are subjected to
budding, grafting etc.
For preparation of seed beds, the soil should be prepared
thoroughly by repeated ploughings. During land preparation,
suitable chemicals should be added to protect the seeds and
seedlings from the attack of insect-pests, diseases and weeds. The
soil should be levelled and the beds should be of desired size and
sufficiently spaced in order to facilitate nurserymen to care all the
seedlings from either sides of the bed.

33. Sowing time
The time of sowing seeds of different plants largely depend
on the nature of plant and varieties. Seeds of temperate fruits are
generally available during June to October and their sowing should
be done after the dormancy period is over. The seeds of tropical
and sub-tropical fruits are sown during monsoon (June-July) or in
the beginning of spring (February-march). Generally mango, kagzi
lime and jackfruit seeds are sown during June-July, while that of
guava, ber and aonla during February – March. Under north Indian
conditions, the seeds of different citrus types are available during
winter months and their germination is usually low due to
prevailing low temperature. Seeds of some fruits (citrus, mango,
loquat, litchi, jackfruit, etc) lose viability quickly, so these should
be sown immediately after their extraction from the fruit.

34. Sowing in beds
The seeds are usually sown at a depth 3-4 times of their size.
Sowing may be done a little deeper in light soils than in heavy soils.
After sowing seeds must be covered with a thin layer of sand or soil
and then a light irrigation is given.
Sowing in polybags/pots
Seed sowing in polybags/pots is now becoming commercial,
because this entails minimum disturbance to the root system, avoids
the problem of digging, ease in transportation and gives higher final
survival. Generally, the polybags of 22.5 x 12.5 cm size is used. Size
of the polybags may vary according to the size of the seedlings to be
raised. Make sure that drainage holes are provided at the bottom of
the bags. Earthen pots generally 5” sizes are used for raising the
rootstocks. Polybags/pots filling mixture should contain thoroughly
mixed well drained soil, FYM and clay/pond soil in 1:1:1 ratio. One
to two seeds should be sown in each bag/pot at 0.5 to 1.0 cm depth.
Gap filling in bag/pot should be carried out within two weeks of
initial sowing.

35. In situ sowing
In situ sowing refer to the sowing of seeds in situation or
directly in the field and budding/grafting operating etc. are carried
out there itself. In some fruit crops, the tap root system is very
vigorous and during the process of transplanting, root system is
disturbed, which ultimately affects their establishment in the field.
For example, walnut, pecan nut, jackfruit and ber have long tap
root system. Therefore, for these fruits, in situ sowing of seeds is
recommended. Similarly, for high density planting in Amarpali
mango, in situ orchard establishment is recommended.
Lifting of plants from the nursery
Before removal from the nursery, plants should be
thoroughly watered to loosen the soil and to avoid desiccation
during transport until planting. During transplanting, maximum
possible soil should be retained with the seedlings. Usually, there
is high mortality of seedlings after transplanting.

36. •If the plants do not have well developed roots.
•If the seedlings are not lifted with optimum earth ball before
transplanting.
•If the roots of the seedlings are soft and succulent.
•If the plants are not watered adequately.
•If the plants are not pressed firmly to avoid air space.
•If the plants are not given proper shade initially.
•If the plants are not protected from scorching sun and wind
•If the environmental conditions existing in nursery bed are
different to those in the field.
•If the seedlings are not watered immediately after transplanting.
The major reasons for failure of seedlings in
transplanting are:

37. TOOLS, EQUIPMENTS AND ACCESSORIES
USED IN NURSERY OPERATIONS
1.Khurpi
It is used for weeding and lifting of seedlings from the nursery.
2. Sickle
It is used for cutting grass, fodder and harvesting crop.
3. Shovel
It helps in lifting seedlings without much injury to roots.
4. Hand Hoe
It is used for preparing basins, beds and seed beds.
5. Rake
Ideal tool for levelling land and collecting weed.

38. 6. Watering can
It is used for irrigating potted plants and seed beds.
7. Pruning knife
It is used for pruning branches and suckers. It can be used for
grafting purposes. The edges of the knife remain sharp for a longer
period if it is made from high carbon steel.
8. Budding knife
It is used in budding operation. Curved point help in making
vertical cut on the stock plant. The other end helps in opening the
bark flaps. It can be used for making cutting, pruning young shoots
and tender branches.
9. Grafting knife
It is used in grafting operation, also used for pruning
and making cuttings.

39. 10. Secateur
It is used for pruning branches of lead pencil thickness. It is
good for making cuttings and removing dead flowers and branches.
11. Pruning saw
It is used for cutting thick branches. It is more effective for
removing dead and thick branches which are over 6cm in diameter.
12. Lopper
It is used for pruning branches thicker than a lead pencil. It is
useful tool for making hard-wood cuttings.
13. Hedge shear
It is used for trimming hedges and edges.
14. Sprinkler
Useful for irrigation. Water comes out as spray. There is
economy of water as well and it also covers larger area in shorter time.
15. Clipper
It is used for clipping soft grass of lawn and edges where lawn
mover not covers.

40. 16. Fork
It is used for lifting manures and plant. Useful garden tool in
nursery preparation. It is also useful for shifting compost and garden
rubbish.
17. Sprayer
It is useful for spraying insecticides, fungicides or herbicides. It
is also used for foliar application of fertilizers.
18. Sword
It is used for cutting grass or weeds from garden and lawns. It
covers a large area in small time.
19. Ladder
In propagation work, ladder is required for operations like
cutting of bud wood, training of vigorous plants and top working of old
and declining parts.
20. Baskets.
A gardener should have plenty of baskets. These baskets are
mainly used for carrying the seedlings for packing and transportation
to the distant places.

41. 21. Labels
A commercial propagator should have different types of labels.
These are used for proper labelling of plants before sale.
22. Planting supports.
Bamboo of different sizes is required the plants during their
initial stages of growth. In place of bamboo, iron rods can also be used.
23. Protective material
The wound caused by pruning or cutting of scion, bud wood
may act as a source of secondary infection by pathogens and insects.
Bordeaux paste is the best material for this purpose. However, biltox
can also be used as an effective protective material.
24. Pesticides and fertilizers.
A propagator should have all chemicals to control insect-pests
and disease infection in the nursery. Similarly, for adequate nutrition of
the plants, manures and fertilizers should be available at all time.

45. TTHHAANNKK YYOOUU