National Durian Vol. 15

According to the book, Malaysian Soil Taxonomy written by Dr S. Paramananthan and edited by Dr Chee Kheng Hoy, the composition of soil in various parts of Malaysia is different and varied. The characteristics of soil have a correlation with the quality of durians produced from the trees that are grown on it. However, there is no one ideal soil for durian cultivation. The orchard belonging to the Ho brothers in Simpang Renggam, Johor however seem to have a profound impact on the cultivation of durians. This 5-acres orchard is managed by the third brother, Ho Yih Yong, fifth brother, Ho Yih Fu and youngest brother, Ho Yih Gui. Most of the durian trees in the orchard are 35 to 40 years old, which is very old. Interestingly, these trees…

If a farmer’s orchard comprises mainly of red mudstone, he should leverage the advantages of the soil to increase the quality of durian trees. Based on Lai Mei Sheng’s research on soil quality, he believes that farmers should work on improving its adverse characteristics such as strong leaching, low mineral nutrients, high acidity, aluminum and manganese toxicity, poor fertiliser retention and the excessive fine-grained. He suggests to increase the application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers. “Among them, nitrogen fertiliser should be in granular form and the application of organic fertilisers should be increased to reduce acidity,” he advised. Weeds should also be grown for orchards with a slope greater than 25° to reduce water and nutrient loss. As for slopes lesser than 25°, terraces with varying widths can be…

He has been cultivating the Musang King and Blackthorn durian varieties since 2015. Logically speaking, the fruits could already be harvested in 2021. However, there seem to be a problem! This rare phenomenon prompted our team to further investigate by paying Tan Boon Choo a visit at his orchard. His orchard is not far from the city and the moment we step foot on it, we discovered the root cause of his problem – its soil quality. Basically, ordinary soil can be used to cultivate durians. However, Tan Boon Choo’s orchard was full of rocks and the soil was very hard. When we stepped onto his orchard, we noticed that the surface of the soil was covered with small rocks and under the rocks was very sticky, glue - like…

In addition, some weeds have the function of retain minerals in the soil. “The roots of some weeds can produce nutrients such as nitrogen which are crucial for crops. There are many kinds of weeds that have the ability to fix nitrogen into a form usable by plants, mainly legumes. Therefore, most Chinese farmers tend to plant legumes when they plough their land. This allows the soil to rest and self-nourish. At the same time, it strengthens the inter-dependence of soil and fertiliser, killing two birds with one stone,” Lai Mei Sheng said. There are also some farmers who worry if there are overgrowth of weeds during the fruit ripening period, it will increase the soil moisture content and reduce the quality of durians when it rains. Lai Mei Sheng…

Yeo Poh Heng has learnt through the tough way that mealybugs are indeed devastating. Yeo Poh Heng and Lue Boon Chai manage a large durian orchard which covers an area of about 20 acres. This durian orchard is located in Machap, Johor and has been infested by the mealybugs. Yeo Poh Heng pointed out that the problems they face due to mealybugs are out of the ordinary. Most of these bugs feed on the MDUR 88 durian variety. The infested fruits would mutate and as a result, the thorns of these durians don’t look like any other normal durians. “There is no difference in terms of the shape of the infested MDUR 88 durians. They are still round and oval. However, it is evident that their thorns have grown apart…

Yeo Poh Heng has carefully observed the current fruit-bearing stage and believes that mid-July will be the peak of harvest. In other words, the harvest starts in February, peaks in July and goes downhill after that. However, durians can still be harvested until the end of the year. It seems that they can rely solely on durians alone for profit throughout the year. CONTINUE TO FERTILISE It is understandable that farmers are generally busy picking up durians during the harvest season and they tend to focus on that only. Often, they have neglected the tasks they should also be doing on a daily basis such as fertilisation, pest control etc. As a result, their durian trees do not receive proper care during the fruit-bearing period and become weak. This affects…