Fertiliser and herbicides for rubber farms

[telstrareg]

We recently purchased a plantation with 8 year old trees. Had a couple of questions:

1. How much and what type of fertiliser are people using per rai or per tree (per year or half year)

2. Scattering the fertiliser all around or putting it in holes along the canopy line.

3. What herbicides are people using to control grass. I assume one would need to be fairly careful with the concentration so as not to harm the trees.

4. I assume one would want to avoid spraying when conditions are wet or rain is imminent.

[Dakling]

1. Our trees are much younger than yours, only 2 years old and we are giving them 1kg/tree this year. We just started the first .5 kg round this week and will do another near the end of rainy season. (We did 20-10-10 but you might looking at other ratios since your trees are older). We also throw the chicken manure in the holes with any new trees we plant. In future I plan on learning more about this and trying to blend our own fertilizer from what I can source locally. Seems chicken is the only manure available near our area, smells terrible.

2. In 3 shallow holes/tree about 45 to 60 cm from the trunk (if trees were bigger would go farther out). Holes are filed in after we put in the fertilizer. We are much less careful with manure as it is not as expensive and doing the 3 hole routine is labour intensive and less fun than it might sound.

3. Not sure on the actual herbicide used, the Mrs managed that one, but it doesn't seem to harm the trees provided you don't get it on the leaves or any green new growth. At 8yrs old I would have thought your canopy sufficient that you wouldn't need to bother with this though.

4. You assumed correctly for effectiveness though I would say avoiding high winds is even more important unless you really want to have your neighbors pissed of at you.

I am no expert though just stating what we do/did. I think you might want to do allot of thinking about your fertilizer though as with the quantities recommended for mature producing trees, you will be looking at lots of $$$.

[telstrareg]

1. Our trees are much younger than yours, only 2 years old and we are giving them 1kg/tree this year. We just started the first .5 kg round this week and will do another near the end of rainy season. (We did 20-10-10 but you might looking at other ratios since your trees are older). We also throw the chicken manure in the holes with any new trees we plant. In future I plan on learning more about this and trying to blend our own fertilizer from what I can source locally. Seems chicken is the only manure available near our area, smells terrible.

2. In 3 shallow holes/tree about 45 to 60 cm from the trunk (if trees were bigger would go farther out). Holes are filed in after we put in the fertilizer. We are much less careful with manure as it is not as expensive and doing the 3 hole routine is labour intensive and less fun than it might sound.

3. Not sure on the actual herbicide used, the Mrs managed that one, but it doesn't seem to harm the trees provided you don't get it on the leaves or any green new growth. At 8yrs old I would have thought your canopy sufficient that you wouldn't need to bother with this though.

4. You assumed correctly for effectiveness though I would say avoiding high winds is even more important unless you really want to have your neighbors pissed of at you.

I am no expert though just stating what we do/did. I think you might want to do allot of thinking about your fertilizer though as with the quantities recommended for mature producing trees, you will be looking at lots of $$$.

Thanks for the reply. Is the reason for covering the hole so that if there is a torrent of rain, all your fertiliser doesn't get swept away.? I assume the hole is prevent rain from washing away the fertiliser. Would have to virtually be a river to wash it out of a hole even if it wasn't covered.

Edited June 18, 2013 by telstrareg

[Dakling]

If you have a big storm the fertilizer will dissolve in the rain and be washed away. Burying it will prevent this. Don't underestimate the run off. granted if you want to pay to fertilizer the neighbors farm they will love you for it. On the other hand, chances are it will just end up in a local river or stream and that helps no one.

[slapout]

Read today that another batch of bad fertilizer has been found. It was sent to the southern parts of Thailand for the application to rubber trees. If this follows past examples, it is probably Chinese made/mixed, distributed via Thailand agents. Anyones guess as to how widespread this one will be, probably dependent on delivery method, large ship or multiple truck loads.