The document outlines best practices for coconut nursery management, emphasizing the importance of selecting quality mother palms for effective seed propagation. It details the ideal characteristics of mother palms, the proper timing and methods for seed nut planting, and recommendations for nursery area preparations and maintenance. The summary concludes with guidelines for selecting healthy seedlings and includes estimates of operational costs.

1. COCONUT - NURSERY
MANAGEMENT
EXP 401 Experiential Learning-I (0+5)
(Commercial Nursery Technology of Horticultural
Crops)
By.,
P.JAYASANKARAN
2015037019
B.Sc Agri

2. Mother Palm Selection
 For production of quality planting materials it is
essential to have good quality mother palms of the
desired varieties.
 In the absence of commercially viable vegetative
propagation techniques only seed propagation is
possible. Therefore mother palm selection is a key
factor in planting material production of coconut.

3. The important features of superior
mother palms
 A good regular bearing mother palm produces on an
average one leaf and an inflorescence in its axil every
month.
 Straight stout trunk with even growth and closely
spaced leaf scars.
 Spherical or semi spherical crown.

4.  The age of the palm chosen be middle age i.e., from
25 to 40 years. Avoid palms that are above 60 years.
 High rate of leaf (more than 30 fully opened leaves)
and spathe production (12 inflorescences)
 Free from pest and diseases.

5. Ideal Mother Palm
Healthy Coconut Palm
Spherical Crown

6. Regular Bearer
High Rate Leaves Straight Stout Trunk

7. Selection of Seed Nuts
 Harvest seed nuts during the months of February -
August in Tamil Nadu, to get maximum germination
and good quality seedlings.
 Tall varieties are sown one or two months after
collection whereas dwarfs should be sown
immediately after harvest (within 10 to 15 days).

8. Selected Healthy Nuts Ideal Seed Nut
Healthy Coconut Fruits

9. Immature, pest and Disease Affected Coconut Fruits

10. Nursery Area
 Select nursery area in a well drained plot with coarse
texture soil near water source for irrigation.
 Nursery can be raised in the open space with artificial
shade or in the adult coconut garden.
Nursery under Partial Shade in Coconut Plantation

11. Nursery Bed Preparation
1.5 m Width with Convenient Length Levelled Beds
Well Prepared Nursery Beds

12. Seed Nut Planting
 Plant seed nuts in a long and narrow bed at a spacing
of 30 x 30 cm either horizontally or vertically in deep
trenches with 20-25 cm depth.
 Five rows of nuts may be planted in each bed
accommodating 50 nuts per row.

13. Planting Seed Nuts
Bed Preparation
Planting Seed Nuts Properly Placing Seed Nuts Horizontally

14. Top Portion of Nuts Visible
Seedling Growth from Top
Portion of Nuts
Seedling Growth from Visible
Portion of Nuts

15. Intercultural Operations in Nursery
 Irrigate the nursery beds once in three days.
 Keep the nursery free of weeds.
 The seed nuts start germination 6 – 8 weeks after
planting.
 Remove those nuts which do not germinate 5 months
after sowing.
 Regularly survey for pest and diseases.

16. Seedling Emergence
2 Months Old Seedlings 4 Months Old Seedlings

17. 9 Months Old Seedlings
10 Month Old Seedling
Seed to Seedling

18. Selection of Seedlings
 Select seedlings 9 to 12 months after planting.
Healthy Root System
Ideal Well Growth Seedling

19. Discarded Seedling
Deformed Seed Nut
Disease Affected Seedling Stunted Root Growth Seedling

20. Seedling Harvesting
 Remove the seedlings from the nursery by lifting
with spade. Do not pull out the seedlings by pulling
leaves or stem.
 Select quality seedlings with a minimum of 6 leaves

22. Polybag planting method
 500 gauge , 50×60 cm black polythene bags, with 5-10
drainage holes.
 Filled with 2-1-1 ratio of red soil+sand+FYM

23. SN Operation Price/seedling(Rs)
1 Nuts 10
2 Media filling and sowing 3
3 Bed preparation 2
4 Labour for maintenance 5
5 PP chemicals and nutrients 3
6 Others 1
Total 24
Cost estimates

24. Reference
 agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/horti_pcrops_coco
nut_nursery.html
 coconutboard.gov.in/docs/nursery.pdf

25. THANK YOU!!!