Tomato Nursery: Growing High-Quality Seedlings for Profitable Farming

1. Introduction: Tomato is an important vegetable crop grown worldwide. It has demand throughout the year. It is consumed on a large scale. It is excellent source of Vitamin C. It is also a good source of Vitamin A and B. tomato is grown throughout India except few parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Successful tomato nursery has the following prerequisites like appropriate site, cultivar, procurement of seed and other inputs. Growing seedlings in nursery is a highly skilled job. In developing countries farmers raise their own seedlings on their farm, on the contrary in developed countries seedlings are bought from professional nurseries.

2. Scope for Nursery Enterprise: Nursery is a place where plants are cultivated and grown until they reach a transplantable size. The nursery is a commercial venture. Wholesale nurseries sell plants to other nurseries and growers while retail nurseries sell planting material to individuals, farmers, etc. Increasing consciousness of farmers about cultivation of healthy planting material and best varieties have made nursery a viable enterprise. Tomato seed is small in size. It needs to be grown very carefully. There are very precise techniques for sowing, seed treatment, irrigation, nutritional requirement, plant protection, hardening of seedlings in a nursery.

3. Scope for Nursery Enterprise: A nursery should produce planting material sufficient to suffice the demand of the farmers. In India the trend to purchase seedlings directly from professional nurseries is increasing. The number of professional nurseries is increasing fast in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Besides this the concept of group farming has taken up momentum and has now become a success story.

4. Management of Inputs: The raising of plants in nursery comprises many inputs such as land, seed, fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, labour, machinery, equipments, etc. These inputs are expensive. Best management can produce maximum number of seedlings from the given resources so as to earn maximum profit out of the venture. Some of the important parameters to be considered while raising the nursery are as follows. 1. Location 2. Natural resources. 3. Rainfall pattern.

5. Tomato Nursery

6. Nursery should be ventured for crops with, • Expensive seed material. • Low availability of seed material. • Growth and germination increased with proper care. • Capital intensive technological advancements to raise seedlings. • Highly skilled task requiring proper attention at different stages of growth and development.

7. Advantages of Nursery: Uniform growth of plants. Production of quality planting materials. Young plants can be given proper care. Efficient input management. Plants free of diseases and pests. Timely availability of plant as per season and need. Round the year production of seedlings.