For someone who is new to the durian farming profession, it is so easy to underestimate the value of proper fertilization.
After all durians have grown very well on their own in the wild jungles for centuries. And there is still a huge number of farming old-timers who don’t prioritize fertilization as part of their protocol for tree-caring.
Let’s not misrepresent anything here.
Durian trees can very well grow into adult trees and bear fruit for harvest without much intervention from farmers. But constant care will be absolutely required if you want consistently high quality fruits and bountiful harvests.
So one with a durian orchard to take care of has to weigh up the pros and cons, then decide accordingly if he wants to commit that time and effort to care for the trees.
While the obvious “correct” answer everybody likes to hear is that one should care for his tree like they are his children, it’s not a decision that is easily straight-forward as it might appear.
Some people don’t feel a need to maximise revenue. They are more than happy and contented to make a living with that they have with minimal effort.
There’s nothing wrong with that lifestyle.
More caring means more manpower, more stress, more resources, more capital, and more problems that outsiders will never even imagine exists!
But if you want as high a revenue as can be possibly squeezed out of your farm, then you obviously cannot shortchange the love that you trees demand.
And one of these factors of caring is fertilization.
Very few people would have to be educated about how plants need fertilizers to thrive in peak condition. Even home gardeners would know that.
But as we get into the business of durian farming, fertilization is not just about buying a sack of nutritious soil from the store and scooping them into your flower pots.
It is way more complicated than that.
In fact, with climate change happening right before our very eyes, proper fertilization has become more important for trees to receive enough nourishment despite the chaos that unpredictable weather brings along.
Macro nutrients
The 3 main macro nutrients are potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus.
Potassium, also often known as potash, is needed by trees to transport nutrients to all parts of the plant. Which means that a lack of it will mean trees that look healthy but some parts can lack nutrients. These parts can very be the branches where durian fruits sprout.
Nitrogen provides energy for plants to both grow and heal. Many scientist concur that it is the single most important nutrient for plants to grown and remain healthy.
The function of phosphorus is to convert nutrients into forms that can absorb. One of it’s major roles is essentially to regulate protein synthesis.
As supplying all trees with all these nutrients all the time can be quite costly, most farmers practice savvy fertilization. Selectively using different types and different forms depending on circumstances.
Whatever the case, it is recommended that organic fertilizers like chicken manure are used at least 2 to 3 times a year. You can see like life a Christmas gift, birthday gift and anniversary gift for your trees.
During dry seasons for example, most people would apply organic fertilizers.
What you use and what method of application also depends on the situation.
For example, one might be thrilled to see a mega harvest totally exceeding expectations. While this is definitely good news, be mindful that it is more that probable that the trees have overexerted themselves.
So they would need more nutrients than normal if you want the big harvest to return next time.
Otherwise, the trees might need more time for recovery and you’d be left with underwhelming harvests in the next cycle.
Topdressing is a popular technique used today. It basically means that nutrients are added to crops during period when fruits start to grow. This timing can be indicated by the flowering of the trees.
However, many see topdressing as too manpower-intensive to undertake. This is especially challenging when increased manpower is only needed for a few weeks a year.
So alternative methods are used that are more focused on technology systems that automate the whole process. This is assuming that a farmer deems that topdressing is a step that cannot be skipped.
Phosphate fertilizers for instance are most useful during the flowering period of durian trees. Because as mentioned previously, it plays a critical role in converting nutrients into forms that can be used for the nurturing of fruits.
During this phase, water-soluble phosphate fertilizers might be more suitable to spray the trees with. For regular periods off-season, applying them to the ground around the roots might be more suitable as you don’t want to overwhelm the trees with so much nutrients.
In any case, remember that too much of a good thing can also lead to detrimental consequences. Bigger seeds is a common result of too much fertilization.
Whereas too little can mean a low harvesting yield. There might be a comparable amount of fruits compared to good seasons, but many of these fruits might lack enough quality to release onto the market.
So if you think that durian farmers enjoy the most quality durians, it’s more likely that the truth is farmers actually consume much more low quality durians than high quality ones.
The conclusion with this discussion is that one needs to use proper fertilizers for his or her durian trees to thrive. However the method and timing of application really depends on circumstances that are greatly affected by the weather.
If this knowledge can be picked up fast by a rookie farmer, he or she would already be on an accelerated pace of learning and can very well be a superstar farmer in the making.