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| Home > Spice Farming > Turmeric
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| | Turmeric Spice Farming
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 Crop Management
Turmeric can be grown in diverse tropical conditions from sea level to 1500 m above MSL at temperature ranging from 20 - 30 degree Celcius and with a rainfall of 1500 mm or more per year.
Land Preparation
The land is prepared with the receipt of early monsoon in May. The soil is brought to fine tilth by giving about four deep ploughings. Weeds, stubbles, roots etc. are removed. Beds of size 1-1.5 m width, 15 cm height and of convenient length are prepared with spacing of 50 cm between beds. Small pits are made with hand hoe in the beds in rows with a spacing of 25 x 30 cm and covered with soil or dry powdered cattle manure. Planting is done by forming ridges and furrows. The optimum spacing in furrows and ridges is 45-60 cm between rows and 25 cm between plants.
Manure
Cattle manure or compost at the rate of 40 tonnes per hectare is applied by broadcasting and ploughing at the time of preparation of land or as basal dressing by spreading over the beds to cover the seed pits after planting.
Mulching
The crop is to be mulched immediately planting with green leaves at the rate of 12-15 tonnes per hectare. It may be repeated for second time after 50 days with the same quantity of green leaves after weeding and application of fertilzers.
Drying : The cooked fingers are dried in the sun by spreading in 5-7 cm thick layers on bamboo mats or drying floor. A thinner layer is not desirable as the colour of the dried product may be adversely affected. During night time, the material should be heaped or covered. It may take 10-15 days for the rhizomes to become completely dry.
Colouring : The colour of the turmeric always attracts the buyers. In order to impart attractive yellow colour, turmeric suspension in water is added to the polishing drum in the last 10 minutes. When the rhizomes are uniformly coated with suspension, they may be dried in the sun.
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