Preparation of seeds for the cultivation of kale To get a good crop, of course must be a good selection of seeds as well. There are some famous kangkung seeds such as Sutera and Bangkok varieties. The silk seed is the seed that was introduced from Hawaii's kangkung by the Ministry of Agriculture in the 1980s. However, a lot of current circulation is kangkung output Bisi and Arrow Red and Kangkung from East Java like Sidoarjo. Kinda difficult to browse the varieties of kale in the market. Good ground kale seeds are seeds that grow more than 95 percent and erect at least until the age of 8 weeks. Because kangung land that grows creep is not so interested in the market. Try not to use seeds that have been stored for more than one year. Because the productivity will decrease. Processing of land and basic fertilization In the cultivation of ground water kangkung must be processed by hoeing for loose and then make a bed with a width of 1 meter and length adjust to the plot of land. Distance between beds 30-40 cm, its function as a drainage channel and road for maintenance and harvesting. For organic watercress cultivation, prepare the basic fertilizer of organic fertilizer type, can use manure that has been mature or compost. Manure is more practical because it does not need to prepare it intensively, just silence it to dry before use. While the preparation of compost fertilizer is relatively longer. When using manure, better choose chicken manure than goat or cow dung. Because chicken manure more quickly decomposes, so it fits with kangkung plants that cycle fast harvest. Spread the fertilizer on the bed, about 10 tons per hectare. Then let stand for 2-3 days.
Planting on the cultivation of water kale can be stocked directly or ditugal. In the meantime, the way it is grown and then moved is not very economical for the cultivation of water spinach. How to be spread directly done by spreading the seeds on the bed. This method is quite fast and suitable to be done in place of less people or expensive labor costs. The weakness of this method is wasteful on the use of seeds, because it can spend 5-10 kilograms of seed per hectare. This method requires skilled workers to make the stocks evenly distributed. It's just hard to get the ideal plant population density. Where the ideal density for kale plants is 50,000 trees per hectare. The second way is, with ditugal. Ease in this way we can adjust the spacing to achieve the ideal plant population density. The distance between the holes is 10 x 5 cm, each hole is filled 2-3 seeds of seed. It's just that in this way it takes more manpower because the work will be longer. Assignment does not need to be too deep, because the cultivation of water kale does not require rooting too strong.
Maintenance and continued fertilization In the cultivation of water kangkung not required intensive fertilizer. Kangkung land is a plant that is resistant to the condition of soil fertility is. In fact, early fertilization is enough to provide nutrients in plants until ready to harvest. However, this depends on the fertility conditions of each soil. Land previously planted with legumes is relatively unlikely to require additional fertilizer enough with the basic organic fertilizers that have been given at the beginning. It's just that if the plant looks less fertile marked with a faded green color needs to be done additional fertilization. Water kangkung are very responsive to nitrogen. If necessary, organic fertilizers may be rich in nitrogen such as mature chicken debris mixed with husk or nitrogen-rich compost. The next maintenance to watch out for is watering. Water kangkung require a lot of water to grow. But if the rainfall is too high, the resulting leaves will be ugly. In the dry season need regular watering, every morning and evening. If the plants look withered and yellow during the day, do also watering with enough intensity. The lack of intensity of watering during the scorching daylight can make plants die. The next thing is weeding, although kangkung is a fast cycle crop sometimes when young plants can not compete with grass. Especially when the initial seed distribution, growth from seed to plant relatively long so that the potential overtaking weeds is quite high. In the event of such a thing, the weeds must be quickly removed by being revoked. Common pests that attack water spinach include grasshopper, grayak worm (Spodotera Litura) and aphids from (type Myzus Persicae and Aphyds Gossypii). The symptoms of grayak caterpillar attack are hollow-bolong leaves and edges and jagged bites. While aphids make plants dwarf and curved dau. Because aphids absorb the liquid from the plant. Meanwhile, the disease that usually attacks is white rust disease (Albigo Ipomoeae Panduratae). When the disease is present will appear white patches on the leaves then will be more widespread. In organic watercress cultivation, pest management should be done in an integrated manner. To reduce the risk of pests and diseases, it is necessary to rotate the plant, adjust the spacing and do the proper watering. Or if forced to use biological pesticides such as neem leaves, gadung, and citronella fragrance.
Harvesting and marketing Cultivation of ground kangkung from scratch to harvest takes 30-45 days. Harvesting can be done in two ways cut and revoked. Especially for organic kangkung, harvest should be done with revoked. Because the taste of the organic kale market, the modern markets, prefer the complete kangkung plant with its roots. Harvesting by means of reproduction will produce the crops as much as 23 tons per hectare. Before being packed and shipped to the market, it should be removed from the ground. Washing is done with running water or clean water to avoid harmful contaminants. Place the spinach in a humid place and do not get stung by direct sunlight. In contrast to conventional cultivation, organic ground kangkung cultivation will produce clean organic products from the contaminants of harmful chemicals. Therefore, the product tends to have a higher price. Should not be sold directly to the collectors who are usually ready to take directly from the land. If the marketing strategy we run, not impossible gain is also greater.