Types of Staking in Agriculture
Staking plays a crucial role in ensuring the optimal performance of crops. It is necessary that adequate staking should be provided to crops such as tomatoes, yams, peas, and cucumbers to prevent leaves and fruit from being infested by pests and diseases and increase the market value of crops.
The materials used for the staking must be properly driven into the soil or treated with anti-termite to avoid being destroyed by insects or blown down by the wind.
In areas with strong or rocky soil, a dibber or mallet can used to bore the hole or drive the staking material down the soil.
The type of staking adopted can influence the yield of crops, therefore, it is advisable to adopt the most profitable method for staking. Some types of staking in agriculture are:
No Staking Methods
This involves growing crops without providing support. Climbing crops that require staking are allowed to grow and run on the ground.
This type of staking is mostly done in areas where sticks or poles are scarce or where yam or tomatoes are cultivated in large quantities.
This method of staking is mostly practiced in North Nigeria and other subsahara Africa where yam is cultivated in large hectares and scarcity of sticks.
The plants cultivated under this method are poorly exposed to sunlight and have to compete with weeds for space and air.
Advantages of No Staking Methods
The merits of this type of staking are:
- it is affordable to practice.
- it requires less labour
- it doesn’t require capital to practice.
Disadvantages of no Staking Methods
The demerits of this method are:
- it may lead to poor growth of crops,
- it leads to poor yield of crops (i.e. smaller fruits, tubers, and dirty leaves)
- Pests and diseases can easily spread under this method
- it makes pruning difficult,
- poor photosynthetic processes,
- it leads to poor farm sanitation and hygiene.
- the methods obstruct the movement of farmers and farm machinery on the farm.
Vertical Staking or Erect Method
In this type of staking, each crop is provided with a vertical pole, and the vine of the crop climbs around the wood or pole.
This type of staking is done to enable plants to receive adequate sunlight to produce their food. The yield of crops in this type of staking is usually high. Fruit and leaves look fresh and succulent as they are lifted above the ground level.
This type of staking is usually practiced to maximize growth, increase the quality of fruits or yield, and reduce the attack of pests and diseases.
The verticle methods of staking are most practiced in the southern part of Nigeria and other countries where sticks and bamboo trees are available.
The vertical methods of staking are divided into two types, they are.
- Cage Method of Staking: This type of staking method is mostly used for tomatoes and cucumber staking. It involves constructing a circular ring of metal or wooden shape to control the vine of climbing crops. The metal or wooden rings should be about 1 -1.5m high. The ring method is considered the best method of staking tomatoes and cucumbers because it provides firm support to the crop, and fruits can be easily picked. The metal or wooden material used in constructing. The rings should be painted or treated with soligium to prevent termite infestation.
- Individual or Single Staking: this staking method involves providing a single stick or pole to one crop per time. This type of staking is mostly suitable for yam staking and is mostly practiced in areas with an abundance of sticks and poles. It gives a high yield compared to other types of staking in agriculture. The disadvantage of this method is that it is time, energy, and resource-consuming.
- Double Staking Method: This type of staking in agriculture involves tying two smaller sticks to a verticle pole and the vine is trained to follow the smaller pole, to elevate the crops from the ground. It is mostly used for staking crops cultivated on the ridge. the verticle pole is erected on the furrow while the two smaller sticks are bent from the left and right to join the bigger pole. This type of staking gives high yields compared to pyramidal methods and provides effective shade that helps to smooth weed. The disadvantage of this method is that it is time, energy, and resource-consuming.
- Pyramidal or Triangular Method: This type of verticle staking involves providing one vertical pole with more than two small sticks tied around the vertical pole to form a triangle or tripod and vines of the crops are controlled to follow the stick. Pyramidal methods of staking are mostly suitable for crops such as yam, pea, and cucumber. The materials used in this type of staking should be strong, and withstand strong wind and the weight of the crops. The smaller stick or pole should be adequately tied to the major pole to avoid being damaged by wind. This method is very efficient in large yam and pea farms and it requires less labour to carry out. The major disadvantage of this method is that the yams cultivated under this usually have very low yield but give better with peas.
Trellis’s Method of Staking
This method is also called a trellis net or woven net. It is the newest method of staking climbing crops in 21st-century agriculture.
The primary aim of this method is to reduce the pressure on cutting down economic trees for crop staking.
It involves erecting a metal or wooden pole horizontally, the horizontal pole is crossed with the bar where twine is tied on top of the crossbar to the ground.
The twine or the rope tied across the bar to the ground provides the support and guide for the upward growth of the vine. In most cases, the twine or rope is crisscrossed to form a net, providing a strong structure to guide and support climbing plants.
The crossbar on the top of the horizontal pole provides strong support and strength to the plants and allows them to continue growing upward without washing down rain, winds, and the heavy nature of the fruits.
Advantages of the Trellis Method
The following are the advantages of the trellis method,
- it is cheap to practice
- it requires less capital compared to the vertical or erect methods of staking
- less number of poles is required as the twine or rope serves as the staking materials
- it requires less labour
- it is difficult for rain, and winds, to blow down the plants in the trellis method compared to the vertical method
- it discourages deforestation
- fruits and leaves are very easy to pick.
Disadvantages of the Trellis Methods
The disadvantages of this method are:
- if the stick is not properly driving into the ground, otherwise, it may be blown down by the wind which will lead to a waste of time and effort.
- The twine or rope used should be strong or it may wear out and break, causing damage to crops.
In conclusion
Staking determines the growth, yield, and market value of stake crops. Various crops perform well under different staking methods. For instance, yam performs well under single or double staking methods, while tomatoes and cucumber perform well under the cage or trellis staking methods. on the other hand, peas give higher yields under the pyramidal or triangular types of staking in agriculture.