Avocado, Field Grafting Part 3

Previously from  Field Grafting Part 2

Field grafting is different game all together, everything is just not within reach. At times even the ground you are standing on is uneven / slippery. I have learned to do grafting on smaller plants on a sitting position, which is more comfortable and safe.

Avocado Tree 2 had taken off.

Avocado Tree 3 still rejecting

Tree 1 & 2 had taken off, tree 3 & 4 are still rejecting. Had tried to do some 'add on' but not successful.

Add on to Avocado tree 3, didn't seems to be doing well.

 

Tree 1, now plenty leafs.

Moving on to other tree. Am now trying out inverted T grafts. I read that it is suppose to have better chances that the T graft.

The latest field grafting Avocado, before.

Avocado field grafted.

 

Avocado inverted T graft.

I also did some "approach graft" on the Hass Avocado to our local Borneo Avocado roots, as I find that the Hass may not take on to our humidity that well especially during the raining season.

Hass Avocado, approach graft to local Borneo root.

 

Hass Avocado seedling left, Borneo Avocado seedling right.

Have to do some more research on Hass, how does it takes on to our Malaysian climate. Hass being the most commercially recognized variety, if we can produce it locally in sufficient amount, we can then have more people enjoying the health benefits of Avocado at a lower cost.

Parcel 1, October 2013

Parcel 1, our model farm.
Our vision for Parcel 1 is getting clearer by the months. Our rubber trees are measuring up to 420 mm in diameter. Very close to our targeted measurement. Of course not all trees grow at the same rate. There are some that are still very skinny and some are planted on a latter date. Overall the rubber trees are doing great.

One of the bigger tree, 420 mm.

Our vision for Parcel 1 is an integrated farm, having rubber trees as the main crop. Then we shall have supplementary crop of fruit trees. These are further supplemented with livestock, chicken and bees (much later).

Here we had planted more than 30 avocado trees, 80 soursop trees and more than 70 agarwood till date. On a smaller scale, we have some papaya, about 10 durian trees, 2 jackfruit, 4 mango and a breadfruit. We still have some bananas which we are phasing out and some pineapples. My plan for the papaya did not worked out as the time difference between planting was not right. Also at a long period, we didn't have any helpers at site. Anyway, as a fall back, we can always feed it to our chickens.

Chicken we have about 70 around, big & small.
Apiculture had not been started yet. It shall most probably be the last phase of development. I guess we can put in easily a couple of tens of beehives. There are so many plants here, rubber, palm oil, fruits, wild plants, unlimited resources of nectar.

Agarwood, planted on the inter rows.

Agarwood, planted on the inter rows.

Blame it on our government, even the chicken are racist. The blacks & the whites do not stay together.

Mango flowers.

Rooster.

Mango, already fruiting. Trying to identify what variety this is. Maybe can use this as a mother tree.

Our isolation new coop.

Newly planted soursop.

Another bigger tree.

Some of the trees during March.

Our hut with agarwood by the side.

Our avocado tree.

Our 1st avocado tree in between the rubber trees.

Another 75 Agarwood for planting in Parcel 1. Hopefully our retirement shall be well taken care of with the resins produced.

Summarise
Main crop : Rubber trees
supplemented by fruit trees, Avocado, Soursop & Jackfruit
Livestock : Free Range Village Chicken & Bees (yet to be started)
Retirement Fund : Agarwood / Gaharu

Short Farm Working Tour

 Working Tour.

Just finished a short working tour and shall make my way home tomorrow morning to keep my family company. Even though it's a short tour, I injured my right hand, sprained my right wrist and had plenty ant bites (even at my buttock). It's too challenging as I had been idle for quite a while, now my whole body is aching. Most of the time, it's mind willing, but body unable. Almost all my target fell short as I was too tired half way through. Must be getting old.

Thanks to my partner, whom had kept things going during my absence. There were too many challenges for us to handle. We had some pretty dry, then pretty wet days, which hinder our access. Left with only 1 helper. Luckily my partner managed to recruit some part timers to tie us through. Had to fine tune our strategy to fit.

The most well kept is Parcel 1 due to it's location. Managed to control the weeds here and even did partial fertilization. We are reverting back to organic fertilizer this time, hope to supplement back some Trace Elements (TE) and Calcium Carbonate.

Had 2 fallen trees, due to termites infestation. We had these treated a few months back, but seems that the woody part had been eaten and with strong wind. Had these replace with Jackfruit trees.

Wild bees are abundant here, still harboring the plan to go into Bees Farming once the rubber tress can be tapped. We brought in lots of rejects papayas to feed the chicken and it attract lots of bees. They also loves over ripen bananas. Shall research more to find out if these are suitable for Bees Farming. I notice there are 2 types and I'm sure the big black ones are not suitable.

The initial Avocado (seeds, not grafted) are doing well. We'll see when can these flowers or I might graft onto these later. Did a check on the grafted Avocados, most of them are doing well, 1 missing, 1 died. Checked on the Soursop that were planted next to the access road. A couple died and some were covered up by land slides. Managed to replaced some of these.

Our Free Range Kampung Chicken is about 60 chicken strong now. We are targeting it to reach 200 before we decide if we want to take it to a bigger scale. These are some of the 2 days old chicks.

Parcel 5, our little farm, had culled some papaya trees. Our market does not accept the yellow flesh and doesn't like the round fruit types. As we still have lots of seedlings, we manage to replace some. It'll take a while before we can replace all. Seeds selection and multiple planting can minimize this. I had failed to emulate the papaya farm into our rubber plantation as the rubber trees canopy is getting large and blocking off the sunlight. We can only do it on new planting / land when the rubber trees are small. Harvesting is also a problem in hilly conditions / difficult access as papaya can be harvested twice weekly. Still Papaya has certain advantage over Banana as a cash crops in Rubber Plantation.

Managed to recover quite a numbers of seedlings / plant-lets. We have about 50 Soursops, 200 Agarwood, 150 Jackfruits, 100 Avocados and 50 Mangoes, a couple of Limes and a Durian. Some of the Jackfruits plant-lets are too large for rootstock. No sure if it can wait as I bought 4 Honey Jackfuits, which I had just planted for scion. Maybe have to plant these first, then do a field grafting. Managed to graft about 50 Avocados plant-lets. Hope that the successful rate is acceptable.

The pruning scissor gave way and I injured my right hand. Had been using this scissor for a couple of months. May had used it to cut too thick a scion. This is the dis-advantage of using forged / cast iron type. Bought a new one of MS steel to replace. MS steel shall bend, but not snap. The old scissor spring (straight wound) always falls off, and the hold (shut) broke off not long after used. The new one compare much better (maybe it's new & sharp).

 One afternoon, dark clouds looming and it rained heavily not long after. Well, had a productive week and I did all that I could, given the circumstances as I'm still worry about my wife. Have a few hours of rest and shall start my journey home, first light tomorrow. Stay tuned.

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. 

Rubber Trees, Parcel 1

Great news, some of our rubber trees in Parcel 1 are starting to flower. This is a good sign as it shows the trees are starting to mature. Had not check how many trees are starting to bear flowers, but am sure the rest shall follow sooner or later. Shall keep track on how long before the seeds starts to develop and drop.

This shall be a source of income as I had already found market to supply seeds to rubber tree nursery.

Visited our biggest tree in Parcel 1, this is one of the tree planted by our partner. It measures 680 mm diameter at 300 mm above ground. Wishing that all our trees reach this measurement. This tree had not show signs of flowering yet, as these were planted from seeds.

Our phase 1 trees have reached up to 280 mm diameter. Our target is to have the trunk reaching 400 ~ 450 mm before we start to tap. Still holding to our targeted tapping date end of year 2013.

We are maintaining the Parcel 1 with care. Keeping it clean from weeds and fertilizing regularly with compound and organic fertilizer. We are also making plan to phase out the banana trees. Shall be using EM to boost up the growth.



We are replacing the banana trees with papaya as there are smaller and shorter compared to banana. Hence not competing for sunlight.

We still have some small area of land in Parcel 1, mostly fringe and high gradient slope, that had not been planted. Started to clear these area, hopeful we can get it ready before the rainy season. Planning to diversify from rubber trees for these small areas as the market price for rubber is rather low at the moment.
A check on today on Lembaga Getah Sabah
Latex : RM 6.75
Sheet Grade I: RM 3.75
Sheet Grade II:RM 3.35 
Cuplump Grade I: RM 3.30 
Cuplump Grade II: RM 2.90 
Scrap : RM 1.35
For: 23 August 2012
With such low price, profitability shall definitely be affected. World economy slow down contributed to the decline of rubber prices. Outlook is still good on the long term. Anticipating market to pickup in year 2013.

We are looking at fruit trees like Avocado, Jackfruits, Lime, Papaya and others. Also researching on Agarwood for the high gradient slope. We had also initiated our Project Free Range Village Chicken. Shall also be looking at Bees keeping once flowering of the rubber had been fully established. Hopefully with these diversification, we should be more profitable.

Parcel 1, 2 & 3 Weed Management

May, June and July were very hectic. We had finally finished off the weed management for Parcel 1, 2 & 3. Thanks to our new high pressure pump, we manage to do it at a shorter time. It was a very challenging run as we missed the previous weed management back in March. The weeds had grown too long and access were difficult. We started off with Parcel 3, smallest, then Parcel 2 and lastly the biggest Parcel 3. Am really glad that we have cleared this. We still need to finish off the fertilization program.

What we had done is that we used the high pressure pump to do a initial run, then followed by a manual run with knack pack  sprayer. This is to do up the missed and out of reached area (due to limited length of hose). We had also switch to another brand of herbicide and hope that it shall have better results. We had added a used tire to absorb the vibration of the pump, a very helpful suggestion made by our partner. We are more familiar with the pump operation now.

 

Testing this now.

The pump being higher pressure (adjustable), it can penetrate the long grass batter. 

Looking forward to the next weed management run, which starts in September.

Were using these.

Mother Nature, The Bad Weather Continue with 4X4 Off Road

The Weather must be playing a joke on us. It continued to rain, heavily. The rain had soften up the soil. Experiencing lots of topple over of plants in our Rubber plantation, Parcel 1, 2, 3 and 6. The rain also cause pressure on over access roads within our plantation. Soil erosion, water running off the road, causing heavy erosion. 
After doing our weed management for Parcel 1, 2 & 3, were doing our round on 14th July, this was a very memorial day. Our adventure started early in the morning. Our plan was brought forward (from 16th July as the weather forecast was favorable for 16th) to today as our helpers had ran out of food supplies. Our chore was simple, send in food supplies to our helper in Parcel 1, collect our equipment, spraying pumps and bush cutters, proceed to Parcel 6 and clear some weeds along the terrace.

The Slope taken on a sunny day.

Access to Parcel 1 is pretty straight forward  as road are in the process of being upgraded. The bad section is about the last few kilometers to our plantation. Our helper had locked up the store and went off to work in Parcel 3. Our Hilux got stuck at the middle of the up hill slope. The steep gradient at the lower right of the picture. We couldn't make a u turn and had to reverse all the way down the muddy & slippery slope. Jamming the brake is of no use as the tires are slipping like if you were on butter. Note we are already using knobby off road tires. Slide in to the side drain, on the hill side to control our decent. Finally made it to the bottom.
After collecting our equipment, we travel though the back road to Parcel 6. These roads are connecting road, between Palm Oil estate, ex logging track and some not too bad tracks public tracks. We had to transverse very slowly as it had been a while since I've used this road. Again we slide to the side, hitting the banks of the slope during a couple of descend. This time it's not too bad as there are banks on both sides. We managed to reach Parcel 6 in the early afternoon. Parked the truck by the road side and proceed with our work. By mid day as we were working deeper into our plantation, drove the Hilux down to our shed as the ground had dried up. Continued with our work.
Then came a sudden down pour at about 2.30 pm. We didn't have time to drive our Hilux back to the main track, which is just about 500 meters. We got stuck at the slope with high incline. We made lots of tries under the heavy rain. Then we heard some lorry noise and ran out to the main road, seeking help. They 5 ton lorry carrying palm seed is also stuck and had slip to the bank, blocking half the road. Found out from the driver that another 4X4 5 ton truck is on the way. Unfortunately, it also got stuck next to the 1st truck, making it impassable. They called for help and a heavily modified Hilux was send. Manage to pull out the 4x4 5 ton truck but not the 1st truck. They then decided to form a train, the 4x4 tuck, pulling the Hilux, then pulling the 1st 5 ton truck. Managed to free the 1st truck after many tries. The 2 truck left as they were heavily loaded and wouldn't want to go risk going down the slope again. With the power heavily modified Hilux equipped with huge knobby mud tires & winch, all of us figured that it should be an easy job as our truck was just lightly loaded.

Unfortunately our access road was too narrow, muddy, slippery and angled wrongly, slanting toward the cliff side. The Hilux gave up after 4 tries as it was slipping toward the cliff side and the driver feels it's too dangerous. He too has difficulty getting back to the main track as his truck keep slipping.

Had no choice but to abandon our truck. Trek out about 2 kilometers to the tared road to wait for our partner to take us home. While waiting, we chance upon another Toyota Land Cruiser (HZJ79), deems as the 4X4 work horse. It house a 4,200 cc diesel engine. Again we went in hoping to free our truck. The driver deem it to be too dangerous as it's still raining too muddy, slippery and angled towards the cliff. Suggested to wait till the ground dries up before attempting.

Abandoning out truck for the second time. We went home, totally wet, tired and feeling dejected. Our hope is to wait for the ground to dry up in a day or so. Then try again.

 Next day, which is a Sunday, manage to get a friend to help. A heavily modified Hilux, latest model, with a winch. The rain had stopped at dawn, ground had dried slightly, but still slippery. We waited till mid day. The Hilux manage to dislodge us from the slope with it's winch. Problem came when the Hilux was trying to reverse out. It nearly fell off the cliff side 3 times. Use our truck as an anchor to winch itself back onto the track as there were no large tree in the correct position. Each time, pulling us along as the track is still very slippery.

Agfer aligning the Hilux, we used spades and cangkor, to level slightly the track, hoping that it would not make the vehicle slip off the cliff side. We then chance upon another Toyota Hilux on the main track and requested his help to pull out the heavily modified Hilux. The Hilux made it out on it's own this time after leveling the track. It also used the bank side as a guide.

All of us made it out, back to the tared road. It is my first heavy duty 4X4 off road adventure. It was Man & Machine verses Nature & Weather. What a day! Experience gained in using winch and recovery of stranded vehicle. This is what real adventure is like, not like those planned trips with lots of backup vehicles and equipment.

The section where the 2 trucks were stuck.

The section where we were stuck.

We went back the next day to complete our work. As it was raining the whole night till dawn, we dare not risk driving down the incline even on the main track. This time we parked at the top and trek down the main track to Parcel 6. Had finished off trimming the weeds on Parcel 6. Shall need to drop by again next week to administer herbicide. Hopefully the weather shall improve by then.

The section where our rescuer almost fell off the track to the cliff side on the right.