An improved low-input method for establishing calliandra hedgerows on small-scale farms in western Kenya

Direct seeding methods for nitrogen (N)-fixing tree-legumes by small-scale farmers were developed and studied in humid and sub-humid areas of western Kenya. We focused on the first six months of establishment of calliandra (Calliandra calothyrsus Meissner) multipurpose hedgerows. Direct seeding became effective, reliable, and significantly better than for zero-control treatments when improving A) water uptake by scratching the hard seeds with a sandal against a hard, rough surface, B) phosphorus (P) nutrition by mixing 150 g/m of kitchen wood-ash (1.3% P) into a 10 cm deep, 20 wide cm soil band 5 cm below the seeds, and C) root nodulation by transferring 100 g/m Rhizobium-colonised soil, or 0.5 crushed, incubated nodule, from a calliandra hedge. The field germination was 90% after two weeks, and the hedges were green and about 2 m tall in the dry season six months later.