Interactive Crop Calendar
Set your planting month and cycle length — get a 24-month schedule of every recurring field operation.
Timing is the whole of agronomy. This calendar lays out the recurring operations against the growth stages of your own planting.
Crop calendar builder
24 months of field operations anchored to your planting date.
How to read it#
| Cell shade | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Dark | Critical — do it, or the crop suffers |
| Medium | Routine — scheduled work |
| Light | Occasional or monitoring only |
| Empty | Not applicable at that stage |
The operations and when they matter#
| Operation | When | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|
| Land preparation & planting | Month 0 | Time it so establishment is not cut short by drought or frost |
| Weed control / mulching | Months 0–4, then as needed | Critical in the first 100 days; re-mulch 2–3× a year |
| Desuckering | Month 3 onward, every 4–6 weeks | 1 + 1 rule without exception |
| Fertiliser | 4–6 splits from month 1 | Back-load potassium to flowering |
| Irrigation | Year-round if available; critical from flowering −6 weeks | Never let the top 20 cm dry at flowering |
| Leaf removal | Continuous from month 4 | Only dead or badly diseased leaves |
| Propping | 1–2 weeks after bunch emergence | Before the stem leans |
| Pest & disease monitoring | Weekly in season | Threshold-driven, not calendar-driven |
| Harvest | Maturity-based | 75–100 days after flowering |
| Post-harvest desucker & feed | Immediately after harvest | The ratoon crop starts now |
Seasonal adjustments#
| Climate | Adjust the calendar by |
|---|---|
| Wet / dry with a long dry season | Plant at the start of the rains; add irrigation cover for the dry months; move mulch topping to just before the dry season |
| Cool subtropics | Stretch every interval by 25–50%; add winter frost/wind protection; delay the fertiliser programme in cold months |
| Humid year-round | Intensify disease monitoring; increase spray frequency; keep the canopy open |
| Highland | Longer cycles, lighter pest pressure, staggered planting to smooth harvest |
Next steps#
- Exact dates for your planting: Harvest date estimator.
- The operations in detail: Crop care.
- The rhythm of the plant: Growth stages.