A simple, inexpensive and practical method for raising healthy plant seedlings

During the winter in Nepal’s middle mountains, the soil temperature generally remains at 5-10^oC above the ambient air temperature. This principle was used to design a simple, inexpensive, and effective nursery technology for raising vegetable and horticulture seedlings in colder regions. The polypit technology allows seedlings to be raised by protecting them from the freezing temperatures that occur mostly at night.

Polypits are about 1m deep pits dug into the ground and covered with semitransparent polythene sheets, preferably UV stabilised and supported on bamboo frames. A 30 cm high mud wall is built across the slope on the upper side of the pit. The polythene sheet is sealed on the upper side of the pit, leaving three sides unsealed but held down with stones that can be lifted to access the pit. The base and sides of the polypit are left as they are with no form of plastering.

light green: districts in 2007

WOCAT database reference: QT NEP19

Location: Panchkhal VDC of the Jhikhu Khola watershed, Kabhrepalanchok district, Nepal

Technology area: <1 km²

SWC measure: Structural

Land use: Annual cropping

Climate: Humid subtropical

Related approach: Not described

Compiled by: Madhav Dhakal, ICIMOD

Date: November 2006

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• Polypit nursery