Aril tip burn, or sometimes referred to as burnt seed, is a condition whereby a part of the durian flesh turned brown in colour.
This can resemble the aftermath of a worm attack. But it is not, and more benign than an infestation.
The simple evidence is that people often still consume parts of a pulp with aril tip burn where they appear fine. But no one would eat an infested pulp.
Aril tip burn is caused by a problem with too much or too little nutrition.
A lot of factors go into what caused the issue in the first place and is not necessarily the fault of a farmer’s neglect. However, it would be the farmer’s job to investigate what went wrong and rectify the problem before the bulk of the harvest gets affected.
Sometimes it can be triggered by extremely dry weather, flash floods, questionable allocation of both nitrogen and organic fertilizers, etc. All these can put stress on durian trees and affect how they absorb their nutrition.
Nutrition problems can be foreseen and certain actions can be taken to address it before it even becomes a problem.
In the world of farming, prevention is always better than cure.
Here are some things that can be done to prevent aril tip burn.
1) Organic fertilizer
Don’t be stingy in applying organic fertilizer. At the same time, be mindful not to overfeed the trees.
The nutrition environment that we want to create for the trees is something like a buffet. Not a 10-course meal.
Organic fertilizer is best applied at the early stage of durian development. And when the trees can be observed to be experiencing some type of stress.
2) Other nutrients
Don’t forget that durian trees also need other types of nutrients to grow well such as magnesium and calcium, etc.
These are most needed by the trees during flowering and fruiting periods.
3) Take decisive action when leaf flushing occurs
People who don’t farm usually see new leaves as a good sign that a tree a flourishing.
But farmers see it otherwise.
A sudden grown of leaves mean that the durian fruits will have more competition for nutrients that aid it’s development.
High potassium fertilizer can be used to stabilize the flow of nutrients.
4) Water irrigation
It should not need any explanation that the water irrigation system plays a vital role in nurturing top quality durian trees which in turn produce top quality durian fruits.
A back up water tank can be maintained just in case extremely weather kicks in. Preventing trees from hydrating themselves efficiently.
Dehydrated trees won’t be able to deliver an adequate level of nutrients to the fruits that need them most.
5) Drainage
Flooding and pooling is also harmful to the optimal development of durians.
Proper drainage systems should be install to drain excess water so that the trees do not run into any health problems.