After selecting an appropriate site for cultivation, & choosing the recommended seed variety. It’s time to review other planting requirements of maize, such as seed rate, fertilizer rate, planting depth and weeding cycle.
Preparing the land in readiness for the planting season is part of the Maize Farming process.
Ensure you prepare the land before the onset of the rains or immediately after the onset of the rains.
You can use a Tractor, hand hoe, or animal (donkey, oxen etc.) plough to prepare the land.
Preparing the land of choice earlier before planting will ensure that the weeds dry and decompose before the seeds are sown.
Planting requirements
For the planting process, the following is recommended:
- Plant at a spacing of 90cm by 30cm.
- Plant one seed per hill and ensure it is not thin.
- It is possible to prime the seed if the planting is done when the soil is moist to fasten germination.
- If you decide to plant while ploughing, ensure your plant is in every third furrow. In this way, one furrow is planted on and the other two are used as covering.
Planting depth
- Ensure you plant between 5cm and 7cm, 5cm in heavy soils and 7cm in light soils.
- The seeds should be slightly deeper if the planting is done before the rain onset to avoid seed spoilage because of false rain showers and seed removal by birds and rodents.
Seed rate
- Planting the optimal number of seeds in your land is important. It will ensure efficiency and reduce the wastage of maize seeds.
- The average seed rate is 10kg/acre, this corresponds to 25kg/Ha.
- However, note that this rate will differ slightly depending on the seed size and also the seed variety.
Fertilizer rate
- It is important to apply fertilizer when planting the seeds to supplement the nutrients required by the seed for development.
- The rate of application matters as inadequate amounts may cause poor growth. While an excessive application may end up being unproductive.
- Nitrogen and phosphorus are the most deficient nutrients in crop production.
- While phosphorus cannot be naturally replaced, legumes can fix nitrogen and provide all the needed nitrogen for proper maize growth.
- Apply 40 Kgs of N and 20 Kgs of P2O5 per hectare (2 bags of 20:20:0 during planting and top dress with 1 bag of CAN after first weeding).
- Please note that the rates may be different depending on the soil in question. We recommended getting a soil analysis of your land to get more specific recommendations.
Weeding cycle
- The first weeding should be between the first week and the second week after emergence.
- The second weeding should be between the third and fourth week after emergence.
- It is prudent to remove the weeds before they produce seeds, this is to reduce weed soil seed bank.
