Growing orange from seed in Kishan agro farm.

Orange farming (Citrus Plant): 

Since the beginning of time, people in Nepal have grown oranges for their own consumption. However, as farmers become more aware of the potential cash crop, they are beginning to grow orange. There are numerous opportunities for commercial orange cultivation in mountainous areas, yet Nepal only has a few farms that cultivate oranges.   

 Orange (Citrus plant) is grown under both subtropical and tropical conditions. Dry and arid conditions, coupled with distinct summer and winter having low rainfall are most favorable for the growth of the sweet orange. Rainfall seems to be unimportant if irrigation is provided but atmospheric humidity exerts a great influence. The orange farming can be grown on a wide range of soils from clay to very light sands, with ph ranging from 6.0 to 8.0. The tree is particularly sensitive to high concentrations of salts and can not stand water logging. 

Orange trees are grown at altitudes between 600 and 1,400 meters in Nepal. Orange tree are beautiful plant which not only gives good look for our garden it also gives fruits. In Nepal 80 percent of the total population depends on agriculture for their livelihood, which means orange farming can be better option for a farmer to grow as a cash crop. The country's mid-hill region is a key location for the commercial production of oranges. so this is the major cause behind the attracted towards this farming. Orange farming can help for employment, income, living standard and growth in socio-economic status of farmers. So this are the main importance of orange farming.

We KISHAN AGRO FARM NAGARKOT is farming orange professionally since 50 yrs, now we have decided to work as nursery, distribute plants,  and help farmers to convert to scientific farming. We have been germinating orange from seed, grafting and planting. so we have decided to share our knowledge thru this page.

When it comes to planting our own orange tree or other citrus trees, the major things to keep in mind are how to grow, how to plant, where to plant, and how to care for your budding fruits and that is why we are here. 

How to grow ?

Gathering and Selection of orange.

For germinating plant from seed we need fresh orange collected directly form garden. Mature and good quality of oranges are selected for this process. Damaged by insects, bird and hill storms are not qualified for this process. So only Mature and good quality are selected.  

Gathering orange for seeds

Removing seeds

Slice an orange in half to reveal the seeds. Use a spoon to pick out the seeds. We need to be care full with seed so that outer layer of seed don't get damaged.

Preparing nursery bed

Now its time to prepare our nursery bed. We plough the site and removed all weeds, roots, stone and stumps. we mixed 1 part of compost with 2 parts of soil. Nursery beds are prepared 1-1.2 m wide, 3-4 cm tall. gap between each beds are 5-6 cm. length are not so important, but commonly 5 - 10 m. 

Water movement becomes uniform and drainage of excess water is very effective in nursery bed. so we can take higher percentage of seed germination. we are preparing in  green house, so temperature control also plays important roll in germinating seeds in late winter, which is most dry season of the year. 

alternatively people cover there nursery bed with polythene sheet to maintain humidity. but in both green house and nursery bed cover with polythene sheet can germinate seeds.

Time to put seeds in Nursery bed

Before seeds dry or before seeds dye, we had to put seeds in soil. Seeds are very carefully planted all seeds and cover with thin layer of soil. thin layer of soil helps to grow fast. seeds may decompose and there is less chance of seed germination and time consuming if  covered with thick layer of soil, as of my experience.  

Mulching is done after planting seeds in nursery bed. Mulching helps to keep soil moisture ( the total amount of water, including the water vapor, in an unsaturated soil.) 

After all the process we have done in previous month, result has come positive. After removing mulch we have seen our seeds have changed to plant.

Seeds are grown in the green house. Where temperature is under control and humidity is maintained.

Watering seeds also plays very important roll. Over watering is very unsuitable for even well grown tree of orange. Thus watering also plays very important roll for germination of seeds. Soil should not be totally dry, but it must be moist.

Our nursery bed gets dry very quickly. It is very risky to water frequently, which may cause over watering. again if we don't water, soil gets completely dry. so this was a main problem. So, mulching is the best solution for this problem. Mulching helps to keep our nursery bed moist. which helps seed to grow fast.