Limited land sizes or lack of it all together has been the greatest hindrance to people keen on venturing in fruit trees growing. But you need not worry if you live in a rented plot in town or in a small plot.
George Wang’ombe Ndirangu, says you can plant some trees and be assured of an unlimited supply of fruits throughout the year.
Wang’ombe operates a fruit tree nursery at Gatitu shopping centre in the outskirts of Nyeri town where he has stocked various tree seedlings.
But of greatest interest in the nursery is the grafted Dwarf Washington Navel orange tree which can be planted even in a container (pot or paper) and grow to maturity.
“This tree can grow in a pot or paper to its maximum height making it suitable for anyone who wishes to plant it regardless of whether they live in towns where there is no land or at the farm,” he says.
This makes the variety suitable for those keen on practising urban fruits farming where space is limited.
The potted plant, he says, is space-efficient and easily moved making it also ideal for people in civil service or employed in the private sectors and prone to transfers every couple of months or years.
Other than the provision of fruits, the orange cultivar is also suitable for ornamental purposes with the orange skin colour of fruits, green leaves and white flowers decorating the home or farm throughout the year.
When we visited his Jikaze Trees and Fruit Nursery, Wang’ombe had fruits bearing potted trees of the orange variety around the quarter-acre tree nursery plot that attracted customers from far.
Amazingly, the plants were flowering, had flowers turning into fruits, small fruits and even some ready for consumption at the same time giving a farmer unlimited oranges supply throughout the year.
One such tree was standing at two feet, one year and six months after planting, but we counted over ten mature fruits.
The plant has no season and therefore bears fruits throughout the year.
The tree is easy to grow while the fruit is sweet, mostly seedless and require very low maintenance.
Washington Navel Trees prefer full sun, fertile, well-drained soil conditions and a moderate amount of watering.
The tree starts producing fruits only nine months after planting while just two feet tall and is able to carry over 30 mature fruits.
“This orange is grafted with tangerine as the rootstock and Washington Navel as the scion. We came up with this tree five years ago,” he says.
The tree, Wang’ombe says, is always in high demand since its approval by Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) and he is capable of selling up to 1,000 seedlings on a good month.
The oranges are also big in size with only three to four of them needed to make a kilo.
At nine months when it starts producing, the tree can produce eight to 10 kilos and increases in production it continues to grow tall.
“It can grow to a height of up to seven feet bearing 30 to 40 kilos per production,” he asserts.
The farmer has over 1,000 tree seedlings of the grafter orange variety which he sells at Sh 50, Sh500 and Sh1,000 depending on the size of the seedlings.
Wang’ombe says he discovered the tree by accident after grafting tangerine and the Washington Navel orange.
He grafted 56 oranges only to realize that their growth and production was totally different from other orange fruit tree varieties in the nursery which were grafted using lemon as the rootstock.
Tangerine, he says, is more ideal for use as rootstock as it is capable of absorbing more water in the soil compared to the orange tree and therefore feeds the scion well making it produce big, juicy and healthy fruits.
To record better results in your farm, Wang’ombe advises farmers to mix two buckets of topsoil with two buckets of well decomposed farmyard or compost manure put it back in the hole then plant the tree. The spacing should be eight by eight feet.
The same ratio of soil to manure should also apply in potted plants.
“After one month, a farmer should add Triple 17 fertilizer to hasten growth,” he adds.
Other than the dwarf orange variety, he also has pomegranate, Kiwi, tree tomato, strawberry, Hass avocado , macadamia and passion fruit seedlings among others.
He has offered employment to 17 people in the nursery. At his farm, Wang’ombe has planted 50 trees with an ultimate target of raising the number to 500.
Thank you for this informative article.
Can you kindly share contacts of Mr Wan’gombe.
Thank you Maina. Yes we will share Mr Wang’ombe’s number on your email later on.
Your contact please mine 0727525308
0722214261
kindly furnish me with Mr Wangombe’s mobile number
His number is:0711304696
Kindly share Mr Wangombe’s phone number
Please call Wang’ombe on 0711304696
0711304696