TESTIMONIALS

55-year-old Zhou Qing Zhong has an orchard in Grisek of more than 30 acres, planted with oil palm and durian trees. The durian orchard is about 16 acres and is planted with near to 170 trees of different durian varieties, among them are Musang King, Black Thorn, XO, 101, D24 and D13. The trees are at average 5 to 10 years of age, largely Musang King and Black Thorn planted by Zhou when he took over the orchard, while the rest of the trees are over 40 years.

Zhou was previously an owner of a wood factory and purchased this piece of land 30 years ago for his wood factory then. He shared that the durian orchard at that time was occupying 16 acres of the land behind the factory and was managed by other farmer contractors. When his wood business ended 10 years ago, he ventured into the plantation business and took over the management of the whole orchard.

Dry climate affected plant growth

Climate in recent years has not been optimum, affecting the growth of durian plants. In order to solve this issue, he installed irrigation system in the orchard to provide daily irrigation, especially during the dry climate. Based on his many years of experience, he recognised that it was inadequate to solely depend on water supply to sustain plant growth. As such, Zhou participated in a seminar, jointly organised by a distributor and AgroBridge (M) Sdn Bhd, in March last year and learned ways to manage the durian orchard in harsh climate. Through the seminar, he also came to know of AgroBridge’s imported fertiliser products and Wuxal liquid fertiliser and had since been applying these products with positive results. Zhou shared that when the climate is dry, he would spray Wuxal Ascofol (20ml in 20L of water) to provide the plants with weather-resistant effect. During fruiting stage, he would take turn to spray Wuxal K40 and Wuxal Calcium (20ml in 20L of water) to enhance quality and quantity of the fruits. Zhou would also apply on average once a month of around 5kg of fertilisers per plant (adjusted according to the age of the plants) to ensure the plants have adequate nutrients to reach flowering and fruiting stages. He would normally apply certain premium anti-chloride fertilisers from Europe. He further shared that after harvest, he would apply AgroBridge’s European-imported Complex Green Special 15-15-15+5CaO+6S to achieve strong tree growth and boost the growth of young leaves. At flowering stage, he will switch to AgroBridge’s European-imported Innotec 12-12-17-2 to increase the fruiting success rate. Once the fruits start to form, he will apply Innotec 12-6-24-2+3CaO to enhance quality and yield of the fruits. Through appropriate fertiliser management practice, Zhou’s durian plants continue to achieve desired results, achieving 3 to 4 harvests a year (in various quantities). The 5-year-old Musang King plants have grown strongly and are ready for flowering and fruiting stages, achieving another consistent result.