Interested in knowing the yield/acre of Sukuma wiki/Kale?
If that describes your interest, in this post, you'll learn the Possible yield from
Sukuma wiki and how to achieve it.
You’ll
find all you need to know about kale yields, and what so that you grow kale for
a profit.
Ready?
Sit back,
relax and prepare to dig deep into this comprehensive article on yield
increasing strategies of Sukuma wiki/kale.
From the
Desk of Haron Mogeni, Professional Horticultural Officer, and Horticulture
copywriter.
I have
grown Sukuma wiki from the year 2009 to 2019.
This year
(2020) I decided to give it a break…
To try
growing HASS avocado seedlings.
So far,
things are working perfectly for me, nevertheless I miss kale farming.
I miss the
weekly 20,000/= to 30,000/= cash flow from my 1 acre of kale.
Though I
loved growing kale, I had to stop doing it since I moved counties and had to do
a lot of travel.
The regular
drive and commute of (600-800 km/week) could not allow me to give my Sukuma
wiki farm the attention it deserves.
That said…
Let’s get
to what brought you here.
“How many kilos can I harvest from 1 acre of Sukuma Wiki?”
Now
suppose you…
sell a
kilo of Sukuma-wiki at Kenya shillings 30/= at the farm gate, Sukuma wiki has a
potential of earning you a GROSS INCOME of Kenya shillings 240,000/= to
720,000/=
The above yield projections sound Too Good to be True?
They are
not.
Just ask
James Kamotho.
The daily
Nation ran his story of how he earns millions of shillings from Kale farming.
Here below
is a screenshot of the story.
If you’d like to read it, follow the link.
I am so
confident of the yields I have stated above, because I’ve been able to achieve
them while I was a farm manager at Kamiti prison farm.
During my
1-year stint there, I grew—with the help of others, Sukuma wiki valued in
millions.
The farm
was approximately 4 acres, but it was sufficient provide Sukuma wiki every day for
over 3000 inmates ENTIRE YEAR!
Believe it
or not, the potential yield of Sukuma wiki per acre is far much higher than that
of green maize, beans, cabbage or sweet potato.
TWO Myths the Academia Have on Sukuma wiki Growing in Kenya.
The myths
are on the:
- Recommended spacing of Sukuma wiki
- Time it takes to grow kale
How to Get Insane Harvests from Your Sukuma Wiki/Kale Farm
Step 1: Choose The Right
Kale Variety you grow
plays a big role in the Yield per acre of Sukuma Wiki.
Here’s how to choose the right
variety…
There are three popular varieties of Sukuma
wiki/kale in Kenya.
- The “A thousand headed Sukuma wiki variety”
- Collards Southern Georgia
- Collards Mfalme F1.
I have
grown ALL the three varieties and can state without blinking, “Collards
southern Georgia is the best variety for Kenya.
Before I
explain why I endorse Collards southern Georgia, let me tell you my experience
with the other two varieties.
Collards Mfalme F1
The beef I
have with this variety is “The cost of the seed.”
About two
years ago, I bought 10 grams of the seed for Ksh 150.
Considering
that you will need, “1 kilo of seed for every acre every acre of Sukuma wiki.”
The cost
of the seed is exorbitant!
If you
were to grow this variety, you’ll spend a whooping Kenya shillings 15.000/= for
a kilo of seed.
That’s not
all. I got a bad impression of the variety because of its poor germination
percentage.
If
something is that expensive don’t you think it should be rather so good?
The
germination percentage of the seed sucked so I never seriously thought of doing
this variety in large scale.
The “A Thousand Headed Variety”
Popular
opinion, considers a thousand headed Sukuma wiki as the highest yielding
variety.
When grown
in the highland areas, that have regular rainfall and cool weather, you can
harvest tons and tons of kale leaves from this variety.
Nevertheless,
this variety has a major handicap.
It
struggles SO MUCH during the harsh weather (when there’s peak demand for kale.)
If it
could be a little tougher, I would have recommended this variety.
Another
problem, it takes a long time to respond to irrigation, and when it gets too hot.
That
handicap is pretty awful since a Sukuma wiki farmer gets the most profit when
it is hot and dry.
The other
handicap has to do with the color of the leaves of this kale variety.
Its leaves
are pale yellowish green in color. This is a disadvantage since people
associate yellowing with low quality.
The Collards Southern Georgia Sukuma Wiki/Kale Variety.
The
collards southern variety yields slightly less yield per acre compared to the “A Thousand Headed Variety” and the Mfalme
F1 variety.
However, when you consider a combination of
other factors of Collards Southern
Georgia Sukuma Wiki, it trumps all the others kale varieties.
For
example, Collards southern Georgia variety produces pleasant dark green leaves.
Its leaves
are tough yet tender when cooked—which is an important quality when
transporting it over long distances.
The kale
variety is also resistant to hot weather and it’s an all zone performer unlike
the others.
Should you
maintain your farm well, you can harvest cash from this variety for over 1
year!
From that
experience of growing the Collards Southern Georgia variety, I strongly
recommend it to any prospective or even experienced farmer.
Step 2: Use the correct spacing to maximize yield Sukuma wiki/Kale per acre.
This is
where I have a problem with many academia.
They often
recommend that you space Sukuma wiki at 60 cm X 60 cm.
The
problem of adopting this spacing is that you get a plant population of 11,200
plants for 1 acre.
That plant
population is too low to get high yields from Sukuma wiki.
Let me
tell you why…
When you
transplant Sukuma wiki at that spacing, as the growing season progresses, some
plants die.
They may
die due to pest attack, rotting or injury as you do your farming operations.
When that
happens you’ll end up having even more wider spacing within the plants.
I know you
are asking can I replant the spaces with new kale plants?
You could
do it, but it’s not worth it.
The older
plants tend to suppress the younger plants to the extent they won’t give any
economic advantage.
On the
other hand, if you adopt a spacing of 15 cm X 40 cm, you get a plant population
of 59,000 plants.
The close
spacing has several yield boosting advantages.
1. You
get more plants per acre than the spacing of 60 cmX60 cm.
2.
Should
any plants die during the growth period, you’ll still have an economical
pplant
population left behind—you won’t have big spaces in-between plants.
3.
The
close spacing helps the plants to form a thick canopy that suppresses weeds and
prevent excessive evaporation thus increasing your yield threefold.
Step 3: Ensure that Organic matter in your Sukuma wiki farm is high to Increase Your Yield per acre of Sukuma wiki.
Sukuma
wiki loves well a drained soil, rich in organic matter.
Proper
drainage is absolutely vital because excessive water leads to:
1.
Yellowing
of leaves
2.
Development
of phosphorus deficiencies
3.
Thriving
of the black rot disease that can exterminate a Sukuma wiki farm in days!
Besides
increasing your yield per acre of Sukuma wiki, soil rich in high organic matter
well-rotted farmyard manure, compost and other plant vegetative matter, will
make your kale tender, sweet when cooked, and resistant to how weather.
You’ll see
the outcome in the way people will be rushing to place orders.
Once they
taste your kale, they will never want to go anywhere else.
Sukuma
wiki responds well to fertilizers and foliar feeds thus increase yields
significantly.
However,
the extended use of such fertilizers is detrimental to your kale farm.
Continuous
use of fertilizers will make your kale bitter and highly perishable—especially
when used in the dry weather.
If
possible, use organic matter such as manure and compost in kale production
while supplementing them with inorganic fertilizers.
Never make
inorganic fertilizers the foundation of your kale production especially in the
dry season as that is the recipe of producing bitter kale.
Step 4: Don’t commit this abomination if you want your Sukuma wiki to Produce High yields consistently
During the
dry season kale is often is short supply.
What is
available is usually bitter and tough when cooked.
For that
reason, potential customers wander to and fro looking good sources of sweet
kale—and they are ready to buy it at a higher price.
Farmers
therefore are tempted to overharvest their kale farm in a bid to make an extra
coin.
Never do
that. Don’t do it even if you are offered money.
If you do
it, your earnings will be short lived.
Why?
You’ll
over-stress the plants.
The plants
are already overstressed due to the heat and drought. When you add
overharvesting, the plant will be true stressed to regenerate new growth
faster.
The
recommended harvest rate is 3-5 leaves per plant starting with the bigger
bottom leaves.
If the
plant exhibits luxurious growth, (during the rainy season) you can harvest more
than 5 leaves.
When it’s
too dry you may have to harvest 3 leaves per plant.
One last
precaution about harvesting…
Never
harvest the young tender leaves that are near the top.
Start with
the mature lower leaves. If you harvest the young top leaves, you’ll be
harvesting tomorrows harvest today while leaving todays harvest to go to waste.
Step 5: Don’t harvest the same portion daily otherwise you’ll get poor yields of Sukuma wiki.
If possible,
harvest the entire farm once, irrigate it and let it stay for a whole week
before you harvest again.
The
advantage of doing this is, “You allow the plants time to recover from the
stress of harvest.”
If the
farm needs weeding, pest control and other activities, you can do that after
the harvest.
Should you
be unable to harvest the whole farm, divide it into 7 blocks.
Harvest
each block each day of the week. Once you harvest a block, don’t harvest it
again until one week is over.
Step 6: Irrigate your kale farm regularly. Sukuma wiki loves a Lot of water
To
maximize your Sukuma wiki yields, ensure that you irrigate your farm regularly.
Without regular irrigation, the vegetables will grow slowly and will be bitter.
The yields
that I have mentioned at the beginning of this story will be a pipe dream.
The most
preferable time to irrigate is in the evening.
Irrigating
at this time is advantages as evaporation is lower, thus you save on water.
The best
type of irrigation system for Kale is overhead irrigation.
Though it
uses a lot of water, overhead irrigation creates a micro-climate for kale
during the hot weather.
The good
news about it is that Kale will respond in kind by growing luxuriously.
Conclusion:
Kale can be a profit maker crop. All you need is to have the right information, attitude and you'll make it big in kale farming.
What are your thoughts on this?
Share them below.
This post originally appeared on https://pangonionlinemarketing.com
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