Rescuing Our Soursop, Annona Muricata.

Our 1st batch of Soursop was planted back in April.

Propagating & Planting Soursop, Annona Muricata

Due to the raining, access road to that particular section was cut off. We had to wait for the bulldozer to come by and clear off the small land slide.

 Even with the bulldozer clearing that section, the surface is still soft & muddy. I went down to inspect the Soursop and found that they had been over ran with weeds as it's already about 5 months since we planted.

We managed to organize a recuse mission. As it had just rained the previous night, we have to park our truck about 0.8 km away and trek down to that section. Trekking down is easy, but bringing all our stuff is a bit of a handful.We then have to cross a small river before we reach that section.

We use parang (machetes) to slash off the weed and to locate the planted soursop. It wasn't too difficult as we had marked the plants with a small pole, covered with the discarded polybags. Those with fallen markers are the difficult to ones to locate. Thank goodness that I guess we only lost maybe less than 5 plants. There are also a couple of agarwood trees that we planted on the slope side. On the river side there are a couple of Berangan banana trees.

It took us about half a day to complete our task.

Trekking back is challenging as it's up hill.

We came back a couple of days later to do weed management with herbicide.

Going off for my break and shall check back next month. Stay tune for update.

Bulletproof 4x4 Toyota Hilux Turbo LN106 .

The date had arrived, that our bulletproof 4x4 hilux, 1992, had broken down. Was sending our harvest down to the city on the 16th morning. The engine sound a bit different in the morning. Our haulage for this trip was only about 850 kg. While tackling the Crocker range it was pretty low in power. We had to keep it on 1st gear most of the time. It was really low on power.

After delivering all our harvest, comprising of pumpkins, banana and papayas, I pop up the hoot and found that there is plenty of engine oil leaking from the Samco silicon hose. This original rubber hose was recently replaced as there was a slight leakage. Was initially thinking that the hose had harden.

First though was that the turbo had leak. The turbo was recently replaced (internal turbine assembly only, reusing the housing) back in November. Well nothing much we can do at that moment, just top up the engine oil and drove back slowly.

Went to the only turbo specialist at our area, as soon as they opened after the Chinese New Year, 18th February. After preliminary inspection, we found that engine oil is spewing out from the dip stick tube, with the dip stick removed. Was told to check and repair the engine first.

Went to visit the mechanic. They suspect that the pistons ring, most probably broken, causing a blow by. Need to do an overhaul. Once they dismantled, then they shall also check on the turbo. A call was made to the spare part shop to confirm spare parts availability. The engine is a 2LT diesel engine.

Arrangement was made to send in the truck on 20th February as I shall be away from the farm. Estimated time for the overhaul is about 10 days as the mechanic anticipate that there shall be a delay at the machine shop, as they shall be on leave on the last days of Chinese New Year.

Shall be back at the farm on March, to check out our 4x4 Hilux. Stay tune.