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| Home > Spice Farming > Fenugreek
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| | Fenugreek Spice Farming
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 Climate and soil
Fenugreek is a Rabi crop, it require cool climate during vegetative growth while warm dry climate during maturity. It is tolerant to frost. It can be cultivated in all most all types of soils but well drained loamy soil suits well. For better growth and development of fenugreek, soil pH should be 6.0 to 7.0.
Land preparation:
Land should be ploughed 2-3 times, followed by planking, to bring the soil to fine tilth. Soil clods should be broken and stubbles of previous crop should be removed.
Irrigation:
4-6 irrigations depending on soil type and climate should be given to fenugreek crop. Pre-sowing irrigation should also be given, if moisture level of the soil is not optimum for seed germination. First irrigation should be given at the time of thinning and subsequent irrigation at an interval of 20-25 days.
Diseases:
Powdery mildew: This disease appears usually in later stage of crop and becomes serious when pod formation takes place. In this disease, white powdery patches appear on the lower and upper surface of leaves and other parts of plant. Crop should be dusted with 300 mesh Sulphur dust @ 25 kg/ha to control this disease as soon as the symptoms are noticed. Spraying of wettable Sulphur or Dinocap (Kerathan or Thiowet) can also be used to control the disease @ 20-25 g per 10 liter of water at the initial stage of this disease. If needed two more sprays should be given at an interval of 15 days after first spray.
Downy Mildew: This disease occurs during February and March. Yellow patches on the upper surface of leaves appear in the infected plants and white cottony mycelium on the lower surface of leaves. This disease can be controlled by spraying of 0.2% solution of Difoltan or any other copper fungicide.
 Harvesting:
Crop becomes ready for harvest in about 120-150 days. At the time of ripening/maturity, leaves and pods become yellowish and leaves start falling. Timely harvesting is very important for this crop as late harvest leads to seed losses due to pod bursting, whereas in early harvest, the grains remain immature and small. Harvesting should be done early in the morning. After harvest, plants should be dried in threshing yard and threshed by trampling under the feet of bullocks. Seeds should be separated and cleaned by winnowing.
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