papaya sprouts

Two months ago after sampling a very good papaya in KL that was RM10 per kg, I saved the seeds and took them back to my little nursery. Sowed the seeds onto the little black bags ... now at least 200 tiny papaya plants have sprouted. Next month they will be transplanted to the dusun.

This special papaya specie produces small but very sweet papaya. The uniqueness is the fruitskin is firmer and the papaya can last up to 4 or 5 days, which is ideal if we need to despatch them to the fruit wholesalers and vendors.

A peek into P2

Amidst the undergrowth and old abandoned rubber trees, there are quite a number of matured fruiting durian, langsat and local olive trees. Then there are other younger fruit trees, as you can see in the pictures above. The task in hand is to transform this plot of land into a dusun. What it takes is weeding, cutting away unwanted trees and shrubs ... still it will take some planning and hard labour !

limau madu

There are 33 mandarin orange clones registered with the DOA in the country, but only two are viable for commercial farming. The two clones are limau madu and limau langkat. The scientific name is citrus suhuiensis hort, and it belongs to the family of rutaceae. The tropical fruit is medium in size, the fruitskin is smooth .. green to yellowish green when ripe. Orange pulp and very sweet. The clone we intend to plant is limau madu or honey mandarin .

Maturity is 3 to 4 years after planting. First year of yield 8,000 kg per hectare of fruit. By the 6th year, the yield goes up to 24,000 kg. A non seasonal tree, fruiting is year round but peak season is Oct-Nov and Mar-Apr.

Per kg of limau madu is selling between RM 5-6 across the country.

P2 for honey mandarin

Several hundred metres away from P1, there is another plot of land. This plot of land, which we will call P2, used to be cultivated, however over time it had been left unattended. Now overgrown with jungle undergrowth, we need to do some clearing . Equally fertile, it will be ideal for our next dusun. P2 will be for growing honey mandarin or limau madu. It will be a government initiated project for 200 trees. Scheduled to start sometime in January 2009, we need to get the land ready for cultivation.

Above pictures show the discreet entrance. Not many will find this entrance , at least for now. Will take a tour of what's in store at P2 next couple of days.

IOI Community Run 2008

Last Sunday, November 8 .. we took part in a local community run. Took part in the 5.5 km run and managed to finish 3 mins ahead of Alex. Asp came in 1st , according to him , in the 3.2 km family run. TJ also finished the 3.2 km.

Grafting lesson

When we go to the nurseries to buy grafted seedlings, we are always confronted with the thoughts ... why don't we learn to do grafting. We have a very good mango ulam tree , at our house. These mangos make very good pickles and are ideal to eat with spicy condiments like belacan. These mangos have a fruiting season and there will be at least a thousand fruits. They can fetch very good selling price of RM5-6 per kg. The grafting have been done in June 2008 ... we will see if we are successful with our experiments , when we unwrapped next month. Hopefully we have a pleasant revelation !

Organic rice

Doing the old-fashioned way, we planted the land area with padi seedlings a couple of months back. Farmers still practice gotong-royong. Today or this week I help you, next week you help me. Of course hired farm-hands are willing to work at various stages of planting. Take a good look in between the long leaves .. you'll find the healthy growing durian and mango plants.

More pics at the 6th month

Farming is a continuous process. Although we mapped out the various phases - preparing land , planting seedlings , adding fertilizers , weeding , planting the cash crops .. and lots of waiting , in reality each week , each month we tend the farm and plant new crops. What we sowed is what we are going to reap ..

Right after a few cucumber harvest, we planted hill padi. Soil conditions were excellent for growing organic rice. Not so much for commercial objective , although in recent months , the price of rice have skyrocketed. At least with all these rice, they are chemical-free.

So in between the growing fruit plants , the padi replaces the weed or lallang. It will be a transformation , vastly different from the original secondary jungle and abandoned old rubber trees.

6th month growth

I cannot wait for the plants to grow taller, but at the 6th month some have grown faster than the rest. A simple lesson from this - always get the older grafted seedling from the nursery ! Even if it cost more, it is still a time-saving measure. These pictures were taken two weeks ago. Overall a healthy growing phase for P1.

Cucumber terrain

While the durian and mango plants take their time to grow, we planted cash crops. Cucumbers were the first vege that we planted. Usually farmers erect poles and let the cucumber plant creep up , but in our case here , we lay them on the ground. And they grew beautifully down the terrain. Such a pretty sight !

1st Anniversary

It is six months since we planted the 1st batch of grafted durian seedlings. It is coming to the end of Year 1 since we first prepared the land for fruit farming. For the most part, the seedlings have grown very well and have developed into young plants. In between the durian, longan, langsat, mango, lime, mangosteen plants we planted cash crops like cucumbers, brinjals and bananas. However, we had two seedlings that needed to be replaced. Indeed, the dusun is shaping up ! We shall call this first cultivated plot of land P1.

Yes, by naming this plot P1, we are setting our sights at several other plot of lands. We have surveyed P2, P3 and P4. Our intent is to start land clearing on P2 next month. Land clearing appears to be easier for P2, as it is taking over an existing farm that has been overgrown by weeds and creepers. There are quite a number of good old fruit trees that we may want to keep. Except now we need to upkeep with fertilizers. Primary cultivated crop for P2 is going to be honey oranges, otherwise called mandarin limau madu. It is going to be a busy December month.