Project Jackfruit.

Looking into planting of Jack fruit trees. As there are 2 matured trees at our little farm, propagating should not be a problem. We started by collecting the seeds and germinating it on raised beds. I find that it germinate better with the seeds soaked for a couple of hours and planted in about 3 cm deep. The soil help to moist the seed, preventing it from drying up. Should the seeds dried up, it no longer can germinate.

I transfer it as soon as it germinate (once it reached more than 3 cm). The roots are deep and fragile. We carefully dig it up without damaging the roots. The survival rate is usually good. I guess we have more than 50 seedlings now.

Grafting the the seedling is difficult as there are latex once the stem is cut. Tried grafting on 3 trees, but had not been successful yet. I read that Cleft grafting and modify side veneer is more appropriate for Jack fruits trees. Cleft grafting give a very strong union and can withstand strong wind. Need to work on my grafting technique as I'm not getting it right yet. More on my learning of grafting on another post.

Some of the seedling should be right for grafting. It is suggested to be "pencil" thick, so I guess maybe 1.5 cm. Facing lots of obstacle in grafting due to my in-experience and learning through read ups and you-tube on the internet. Also the fear factor of damaging the root-stock.

The newer seedlings. Hopefully we could germinate many seedling, graft it then transfer to the rubber plantation, Parcel 1, 2, 3 and 6. Planning to plant it at the ridge and road sides. Jack fruit having tapper and deep roots should be able to withstand the strong wind. 

Sugar Cane

We are doing some trials with sugar cane. As I read that it grows well close to water. Have a friend growing this sugar cane on top of the hill in Palm oil plantation, for own consumption. It is growing well and lots of mature cane dying off as he can't consume that much. Took some back. Am testing these close to our pool as we do have quite a long stretch of sandy / rocky area at parcel 6, 3 and 2.

Was suppose to plant these cutting horizontally. The 1st batch did not grow. Second batch we tried planting it vertical and slanting. These grew. The slanting ones have more shoots.

Spoke with a couple of my contacts and the only market that I found till now is to the Sugar Cane juice sellers. Shall try to find more market in the mean time.

Plantation Fire

We had a plantation fire on September. Had never even dream of this happening to us, but it did.
We were suppose to go into Parcel 2 to do some weed management. Started to have a bad feeling since morning. As we reached Parcel 2, our access road was blocked by the bulldozer, that is clearing some of our land and our neighbor's. As our pump and water tanks are arranged in the pick-up truck, we couldn't proceed to do our work. We waited till about 10.00 a.m. yet the bulldozer driver did not arrived. We figure that they may be off for the day. We cleared the entrance to Parcel 3with parangs, then proceed back to Parcel 1. We took an early lunch break as it was already 11.30 a.m.

Was figuring since we were already at our plantation which is 29 km from town, might as well do some work before we head back to town. Decided to break up into two teams in Parcel 3, send 1 team to clear off some bushes on the slope and 1 team to fill up the water tank so that we can use the water to do weed management. I was with the team filling water. After we did 1 run and as we were going down hill to fill water at the stream, we saw some heavy smoke close to the area where the other team was suppose to clear. As we were approaching, one of our helpers requested us to bring some water to the fire area. We immediately rushed down to the stream and set up to pump water.

Unfortunately the water pump could not start. Took me about 15 minutes to trouble shoot and rectify. The fault was due to the loosed plug head connector. This may had got loosed as we sped down the hill and also the carburetor of the water pump had over flow. Got the pump started and rush back to the fire area. One of our neighbor had came to help. We immediately set up our pump and got to work. Initially all of us are stunned and did not know what to do.  After a short while, we accessed the situation and decided to start with the left and we were banking on the access road on the right as well as top of the hill, which we hope shall act as a barrier to stop the spreading. The fire was spreading fast and wide, due to the wind, which was changing direction a couple of times.

The fire was fueled by the dried up weeds and bushes. We could not get very close. We then adjusted our high pressure to pump at a very high pressure so that we can spray at a distance. We manage to control the fire and decided to move to the right, the access road. As the fire was about to subside, the wind changed direct again and the initial spot was back on fire again. We rush back and put out the fire. This time we dosed the the area and also try to fully clear off the flame as the fire was under control on the right due to the road acting as a fire barrier.

Finally we finish off the left and move back to the right to clear off the remaining flame. The fire had subsided as it had ran out of fuel to burn. We also tried to put out the flame, burning underground, due to the buried wood.

As the day was getting dark, we had to call it a day. Left 2 of our helpers over night on site to monitor the flame.

The aftermath of the plantation fire.

Went in to check a 3 days latter. Seems to have subsided. A rough estimate counts about 460 trees affected.
 Went to inspect the tress closely and find that the tress did not burn up, but experienced flash burn and the leaves burnt up. I think the trunks are still okay and hope that they can rejuvenate.






Shall have another inspection on the burnt area soon, as I had just came back from my vacation. Stay tune for more updates.

A Short Break In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh & Mui Ne

Ocean's Republic.

Took another break in Vietnam, one of my favorite destination. I like this place mainly because of the food & people. Spent 10 days there. Our initial plan was to spent some time at the beaches, but was cut short and moved back to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) as the Typhoon Geami approached. We were at Mui Ne beach, Phant Thiet during the time when it strike, so had to cut off our trip to Nha Trang, and move back to Ho Chi Minh. Our neighbor, staying at the same guesthouse Mui Ne Hill 2 was diverted back from Nha Trang to Mui Ne after half a day's journey.
Mui Ne, Phan Thiet area is fun and is good for a

Mui Ne Hills.

short visit. The only dislike is the slow bus journey. It takes slightly more than 6 hours to reach Mui Ne from Ho Chi Minh. Due to the long journey, we spend 3 days there. Some of the eating places we visited were Ocean's Republic, Red & Blue & Hoang Vu.

Hives of activities at the fishing village.

The fishing village was full of activities in the morning. Fisherman bringing in their catches of the day.

White Sand Dune.

We visited the White Sand Dune, it was very hot in the afternoon. Had some fun time there doing sand sliding. As this is the first time, we ended up having sands all over. The sans here is extremely fine.

Kite Surfing.

Kite surfing is getting popular in Mui Ne. A couple of coaching school had spruce up on the beach. It looks fun watching these guys kite surf.











Spent a couple of days back in Ho Chi Minh. Most of the time we went searching for good food, from fine dinning to street food. Manage to find a VND 6,000 Tiger draft. La Villa French Restaurant tops the list. We had a marvelous dinner. the food was fantastic, especially the dessert. We again visited Fanny Ice Cream which we feel that it taste better in Ho Chi Minh than in Hanoi. This being the last vacation for me this year and it's back to work from now (in a few days' time).