These decisions concern the selection of the planting stock, the density of the planting, the use of mixed plantings, the season of planting, preparation of the site prior to planting, and even the method of planting.
Leaf-cutting ants (Atta) are serious pests, especially in Brazil, where they may ravage extensive plantings of cultivated plants overnight.
Plant breeders know that mixed plantings (a mixture of different strains) are more productive than single stands (plantings of one strain only), although farmers avoid them for reasons such as increased harvesting costs.
Founded in 1817, the 19-hectare (47-acre) municipal garden cultivates about 15,000 species of plants; it has important collections of alpine plants and orchids, an arboretum, and special plantings for pedagogic purposes.
Mosaic can be avoided by using virus-free seeds and plants, growing resistant varieties, separating new from old plantings, rotating annuals, and observing stringent sanitation and pest-control measures.
All those Victorian plantings mean that there are dormant seeds, both of plants that prospered and of those that didn't, all over the island, biding their time.
Arboriculture includes propagating, transplanting, pruning, applying fertilizer, spraying to control insects and diseases, cabling and bracing, treating cavities, identifying plants, diagnosing and treating tree damage and ailments, arranging plantings for their ornamental values, and removing trees.
When more than one planting of a crop is made, the second and later plantings should be timed to provide a continuous harvest for the period desired.
It has been grown in southern Ireland, mainly as an ornamental plant, since 1798 and was later introduced to parts of Europe; commercial plantings were started in St. Helena, the Azores, Australia, southern Africa, and Japan.
Eventually the pirated seeds accounted for over a third of Brazil's soyabean plantings, and in 2005 the government relented and granted approval for the use of GM seeds.
"AS A man sows, so shall he reap," is a biblical lesson that really means something in the agricultural chemical and seed business, where profits critically depend on timely plantings and rich harvests.
