MACACULT
MACA CULTIVATION
Maca cultivation - Botanical-online.com
www.botanical-online.com/english/maca_cultivation.htmMaca (Lepidium meyenii) is a biennial herbaceous plant, between 10-20 (up 30) inches in height. During the first year of planting, maca growing season remains for 8-9 months. During this period, it develops its underground part, consisting of a hypocotyl or underground reserve organ and its roots.
Maca (Lepidium meyenii) | Andean vegetable | Root and leaf ...
https://www.cultivariable.com/andean-roots-tubers/how-to-grow-maca/
Maca (Lepidium meyenii) is a root crop (technically more of a stem crop) that was developed in the Andes. ... Maca may be the highest elevation food crop in the world; it is grown as high as 4,300m (14,108 feet) in the Puna (NRC 1989).
How to Grow Maca Root From Seeds | eBay
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Maca grows in a rather specific climate in South America, and while it can be difficult to mimic that outside of growing the root in a controlled setting, the soil in ...
Maca (Lepidium meyenii) Cultivation in the Andes
www.rain-tree.com/gallery/maca-cultivation.htm
Raintree's maca is organically cultivated in the Andes Mountains in Peru. The central growing region formaca is in the Junin district of Peru. The best overland ...
How Maca is Cultivated - imperial gold maca
www.imperialgoldmaca.com/maca_cultivation.htm
The cultivation is intensive in manpower, to make works like care and weed of overgrowths. The maca is sowed in monoculture or in strips of lands with bitter ...
Growing Maca - How to Grow and Cultivate Maca Root? - Maca Guru
www.macaguru.com/tips/growing-maca
Growing maca root. For maca root to grow into a turnip like root it will take approximately 8 months. A single plant of maca produces around 14 g of seeds.
Maca: Cultural Considerations | Planting Guidelines | Where to Buy ...
www.onecommunityglobal.org/maca/
This page is an open source resource guide for maca. It is for growing and maintaining the most bio-diverse, delicious, and broadly applicable maca selection ...
Growing Maca - Peruvian Ginseng - Grow Your Own Magazine
www.growfruitandveg.co.uk › Forum › On the Plot › Vegging Out
Sep 22, 2006 - 8 posts - 5 authors
Maca is a hardy perennial plant cultivated high in the Andean Mountain at altitudes from 11,000-14,500 feet. The area where
For maca root to grow into a turnip like root (also called hypocotyls) it will take approximately 8 months.
The hypocotyls can have from purple to cream and yellow color. A single plant of maca produces around 14 g of seeds.
Seeds are rather small, measuring 2 mm in length.
Usually two plantings for two in a row years are cultivated and then the soil is allowed to lay unplanted for up to four years.
This is because maca seems to exhaust the soil by extracting most nutrients.
Maca sowing instructions
Before planting, prepare the soil and then fertilize with sheep compost (if possible)
Sow surface and just push the seeds by hand into the soil
Make sure you keep soil moist and cool
You can harvest your roots after about 6-8 months
Good to know: maca is very frost tolerant and it can survive in rather cold (windy) climates. The place in Peru where maca is grown has an average minimum temperature of -1.5 Celsius and an average maximum of 12 Celsius. When planting seeds, it is good to know that the natural soil in the maca production area is acidic, having a pH of 5 or less.
The soil in which it grows contains huge amounts of minerals which make the Maca high in nutritional value. Low temperatures and water availability during the growing season are very important in the development of the root. Lepidium Meyenii is typically grown as an annual crop completing its life cycle within a year, if conditions permit. Sowing takes place from September to October.
Maca seed collection
Some of the freshly harvested plants are used for seed production later on. For this purpose, the whole plants are stored in pits and covered with soil for almost two months to allow root re-growth. When ready, the roots are dug out and transplanted in empty sheep stables where plenty of natural fertilizer is available in the soil, for about four months. Then, plants are lifted, dried and the seeds are thrashed.
Maca harvesting
The hypocotyls are harvested from May to July when they are at their maximum size. Harvested maca is washed, and allowed to dry.
The whole plants are dried during the day under the sun for 10-15 days. Some farmers are drying their maca roots together with leaves, believing roots will be sweeter. During the night plants are covered to avoid rain and frost damage. Leaves are removed only after drying process is over. Then the roots are separated by size and quality and taken to the market or stored dry and protected from the rain. Selected roots are then replanted for seeds collection.
Maca sowing facts
Lepidium Meyenii is typically grown as an annual crop completing its life cycle within a year, if conditions permit. However, in the Junín area maca is grown as a biennial by holding the hypocotyls underground during the dry season. Maca reproduces predominantly by self-pollination. Sowing takes place from September to October. Before planting, the soil is well prepared and then fertilized with sheep compost. If later on weeds are present, they are removed by hand.
www.imperialgoldmaca.com/maca_cultivation.htm
Preparation Of The Land Is Very Important:
Is carried out in the months of March and April. It begins with cleaning the over grown areas and removing stones in order to turn over the ground. It is fertilized with sheep or camelidaes manure. In the preparation of the land field, it is possible to make plows of disks, yokes of oxen (animal traction) r the use of chaquitaclla (tool used in Peru).
Sowing Time:
Is performed in the months of September to November. It is mixed first, the botany seed with ground or guano to get a better distribution when you broadcast the seed. The covering of the seed is carried out with branches or by raking superficially for the land field to get the appropriate depth of sown field. Another way is the passing of a flock of sheep.
The cultivation is intensive in manpower, to make works like care and weed of overgrowths. The maca is sowed in monoculture or in strips of lands with bitter potatoes; this association is generally made for the peasants to protect the cultivation of the potato of the attack of insects, since it is believed that the maca possesses products repellent volatile of insects, being used like an ecological control.
The lands field cultivated with maca should rest at least 3 to 5 years, because there is a generalized idea between the peasants that the maca depletes the nutrients of the ground, and since it has been proved by researches done by the peasants, the conclusion is that maca is a plant that extracts the nutrients of the ground strongly.
Weeding:
Once emerge the plants, it will be tried to eliminate carefully the mixtures, as many times as necessary. (generally 2 times).Avoiding Overgrowing:
The density of the culture will be given proportionally to the degree of humidity and fertility of the ground, evidence of the rains in the period of germination in the first stage of growth, having to remove some plants if the cultivation has gotten grow very dense.
Elimination Of The Foliage:
When the foliage begins its yellowish it is maturation sign, many farmers opt to shepherd the sheep in these areas, disappearing all the foliage. Naturally, this practice allows to accelerate the process of maturation of the roots.
Harvesting:
After a lapse of 8 to 10 months from the sowing, one proceeds to this work carrying out it carefully since the roots should not wither and it is necessary to try to gather all of them.
Drying The Roots:
Later on to the harvest, the roots are exposed to the sunbeam continuously and approximately for one month and if it is in shade (in a garden shed),it is necessary to triplicate or even to quintuple the lapse, avoiding the exposure to the freezes, because if it happened the product would degenerate, taking the corklike appearance and not being able to be cooked. To obtain one kilo of dry product, it is required from 4 to 5 kilos of fresh maca, being determined the very best drying when biting the maca strongly, there is not any imprint of the teeth in the maca.Conservation:
Once drying, its conservation in the granaries or barns result to be practical. They could be stored by several years without any deterioration. It is convenient to prevent the attack of weevils in the warehouse, happening it generally when they are stored in sheltered areas.
How Much Yield:
The yield for cultivated hectare is about 5 Tm of fresh product approximately, or about 1.5 Tm of dry product.
Obtaining The Botanical Seed:
For the propagation with sexual seed, it is necessary to carry out the following activities.
Selection Of The Best Roots:
After the harvest, the bigger and developed roots are selected, roots of a good
constitution and maturity.
Construction Of The Well And Planting:
It is necessary to dig out about 50 or 60 cm of depth where rallies are placed orderly in lines, then they are covered with humid ground or manure, after 3O to 45 days it is observed that the offspring have sprouted.
Transplanting:
The small plants with their respective roots are sowed in the land field well prepared from 40 to 50 cm of distance between plants, then they require to be watered quickly every week until they flower and give us the seed. This occurs in the 6th or 7th month.Gathering Of The Seed:After the seed has matured, it is time to pick it up and then to dry off the leaves
and shafts, later the seed is thrashed and blew to obtain seeds of good quality and very clean.