Kataru's love and pursuit of Farming

Farming is not easy, not pretty, not wildly profitable. And I had no prior experience; then, why did I even get into it? I believe I felt a connection. Plus the challenge excited me - To be a successful farmer nowadays, one has to be equal parts entrepreneur and agronomist. As I dug into it, I also found farming to be fulfilling. That's how I branched into agriculture, as the Sanskrit aphorism "Vriksho Rakshati Rakshitaha" (Trees, when protected, protect you) took on a new meaning for me.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Taking a break after a day's work!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Spraying CAN-17 (Calcium Ammonium Nitrate) for the peaches

It's more for adding Nitrogen to the soil although it contains calcium carbonate.

CAN 17 fertilizer contains 8% calcium and 17% nitrogen. The nitrogen is one-third ammonic form and two-thirds nitrate form. This has two advantages:

Fast acting nitrate form (nitrate-nitrogen) is available immediately to trees.
Long lasting ammonic form (ammonium-nitrogen) is held in reserve for later use.

The calcium in CAN 17 is water soluble and readily available to plants. Calcium assists in formation of new cells. If I am not mistaken, calcium also increases fruit quality (bright color, sweetness and shelf life).

Another cool use of CAN:

Its dissolution in water is endothermic, so it's widely used in instant cold packs.

Not-so-cool use of CAN:

It's used in explosive making. In fact, it is found in 80% of explosives in North America.