Avocado, Persea americana, Buah Lemak, 牛油果, Aquiring More Varieties.

 A Quest On Project Avocado.

Planted in poly bags in my mini nursery.

Made some new friends from my blog, Project Avocado. Sharing a common passion of Avocado, we combine all effort and manage to track down a Super Avocado variety. Not much details were available. It's describe as " This one-kilo Avocado is now being propagated by Teresa Orchard and Nursery in Teresa, Rizal. Fine-textured mealy flesh. Tree is very fruitful. Grafted seedlings available in November 2011 in limited numbers". Another posting on November 2012 "Grafted Super Avocado Now Available". Several inquiries were made, some no replies and some limited replies.

Edward, managed to contact a friend in Manila, Philippines to help out. Micheal help us to buy, on our behalf. Arrangements were made and as soon as we get a confirmation, I flew into Manila to collect. I offered to collect the #Avocado as I think it's much easier and nearer to fly in from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, also I had transported my Jackfruit before. We ordered 10 plants, as a group purchase. Am taking 4, the remaining six shall be distribute between other members, arranged by Edward.

As I had never been to Manila, so I book a 5 days return trip via Cebu Pacific Airways. Reserving 1 day for collection, in Teresa and the remaining 4 days to tour in Manila. 

Went to the Sarian Farm at Teresa Rizal. Micheal was kind enough and arranged for the transport and ordering from Sarian. We had an early start at 6.30 am and being a Sunday (early), the traffic was relatively light. Unfortunately we ran a flat. The driver took care of that in a jiffy and we were on our way. Reached Sarian farm at about 8.30 am. We took care of our business and had a tour of the farm. They have many varieties of fruit trees. As we were touring, I took the opportunity of adding a Israeli Pomegranate. The lady was saying that it's a big fruit variety, 2 ~ 3 fruit a kilo. 

Variegated Orange.

 

Japanese Orange.

We then make our way back to Micheal's place. The traffic now has increased and were rather slow. The driver then suggested we detour to the highway. That save us some time. Traveling in Manila traffic is really slow.

 Clearing the plants of the soil was a breeze and much simpler that I anticipated. As it was raining previously and it was recently re-potted to a bigger poly-bag filled with rice husk. Also facilities at Micheal's place made it easy. Most of the leaves were cut off to reduce dehydration. The plants were keep in a plastic bag and taken back to my hotel room.

Initially I had to leave them on the shower compartment. Then I went off to buy a bucket. Plants were put into the bucket and starting the aeration. Jit Sin our packing consultant highlighted the water level was too high. Had it reduced. Then it occurred to me that it may be better to cover up the opening with a plastic bag, with the aerator running, it should create a high humidity zone for the roots kind of similar to aeroponics. 

Caring for the plants for the next few days as I am leaving on the 18th Dec. Water were changed 3 time a day, and with a little shower to wet the leafs & stems each time. The plants were kept in the washroom, no air condition, this is a much better environment for the plant. As the room was equipped with an automatic power shut off whenever I leave the room the power gets shut off. Manage to locate the power point that doesn't do that, that's the fridge's power point. With this I manage to get the air pump running even when I'm out.

Box made to house the plants.

Source for styrofoam and made 2 boxes for the transport, calculate and made some purchases for materials. Spent 1 night forming the box. Finally am satisfied that the box should be strong enough. I feel that styrofoam box has advantages over cardboard boxes as the temperature is more constant and would not stain event with some water / moisture leakage. Most importantly very light weight.

I waited till the last minute to pack the plants into the boxes. It was quite fast as I've got everything ready and that I had done this before.

Traveling / transit time total to 12 hours. This is when I got check into a hotel again. Took all the plants out and aerated them again until morning, with a water change & shower in between.

In the morning, half of the "loot" were delivered, and I took my 1/2 back to my little farm. Had all of them planted into a poly bag filled with composted soil. About 5.5 kg of soil per bag for per plant. Had 1 bag of soil as spare to top up later, due to the settling. I bag up the plant with a used plastic bag to prevent dehydration even though it's under a 90% shaded netting. Old news print were put to cover the soil, to prevent moisture lost and rain droplets. Shall wean them off over the next week.

Stay tune for the aftercare.

Special Thanks to
Edward; Project Initiator.
Michael; Local Co-ordinator.
Jit Sin; Packing / Caring Consultant.
Me; System integrator.
And all the other members of this group purchase for the success of this project. This really shows that we can do more as a group. Thank you. I also learned some new things, while working with the group and am sure to learn more in days to come. Thank you.

Had made great friends with this project. I feel that this Avocado shall be our bond for generation to come. May all of us receive happiness, joy and good health from our avocado trees. Thank you.

 “Few among men are they who cross to the further shore. The others merely run up and down the bank on this side.”
― Gautama Buddha