Seedlings of pencil thickness and of 10 to 15 cm length normally are preferred. Short seedling may establish well under optimum conditions in heavy soils. In light soils longer seedlings are preferred for planting. Normally, the seedlings are ready for planting at the end of 7th week and in the first picking 30 to 40% of the total seedlings will be available. The seed bed is top-dressed after each pulling to make the remaining seedlings also grow to transplantable size.
Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology
1
