Mustard (Sarson)

1. Land Preparation Two ploughings and planking to a fine seedbed — mustard seed is tiny and will not emerge from cloddy soil. Level the field; mustard dislikes standing water. 2. Sowing Time & Method Mid-September to end October.

Both Sowing Sep–Oct Harvest Feb–Mar 12–20 maund per acre

Land Preparation

Two ploughings and planking to a fine seedbed — mustard seed is tiny and will not emerge from cloddy soil. Level the field; mustard dislikes standing water.

Sowing Time & Method

Mid-September to end October. Earlier sowing gives a bigger plant before winter and escapes the worst aphid pressure later. Rows 12–18 inches apart, under an inch deep.

Seed Rate & Treatment

1.5–2 kg per acre. That is far less than it looks like it should be — sowing thicker wastes seed and produces thin, lodging plants.

Fertilizer

One bag DAP and one bag urea, urea split between sowing and first irrigation. Mustard responds well to sulphur — a bag of SOP or gypsum noticeably raises oil content.

Irrigation

Two irrigations: at rosette stage and at flowering/pod filling. Water at flowering matters most for oil content.

Weed Control

Weed Damage Control Product
Bathu (Lambsquarters) Comes up with the first irrigation, outgrows the young mustard and takes the nitrogen the crop needs for branching. Hoeing at 25–30 days
Canary Grass (Dumbi Sitti) Tillers thickly among the young plants and takes the nitrogen and water all winter, so the crop branches poorly and the pods set thin. Hoeing at 25–30 days; sow clean seed and pull any escapes before they shed
Shahtra (Fumitory) Smothers the crop at the rosette stage in December–January and takes the moisture and nitrogen before the plants stand up. Hoeing at 25–30 days
Field Bindweed (Lehli) Twines up the stems and pulls the plants over as the pods fill, so the pods shed before they can be cut. Do not hoe or run a cultivator through a Lehli patch — every root piece the blade cuts grows a new plant, so one pass spreads it down the whole row. In the standing crop cut or pull the top growth by hand each time it comes back, so the roots starve and it never seeds.

One hoeing at 25–30 days, before the canopy closes, is usually enough. Keep the hoe out of any patch where Lehli is running — one pass through those roots leaves more Lehli next year, not less.

Where Lehli has taken hold, the only chemical answer is on EMPTY ground: spray Repcil (glyphosate) on the green regrowth of bare stubble or fallow, before sowing or after harvest, with no crop standing — take the rate from the pack. It must never go on a standing crop.

Insect Pests

Aphid is the main pest and can cover the flowering shoot completely in a warm spell. Painted bug attacks seedlings and again at maturity. Scout from December.

Diseases

Alternaria leaf blight in humid weather and white rust, which shows as white blisters on the leaf underside. Both prefer a dense, over-fertilised crop.