Salak production maintenance

[Finca La Isla]

I have a small, commercial planting of salak and I have made a lot of progress in general maintenance, propagation by division, and increased fruit set through supporting pollination.  I have read about culling some fruits off the bunch to increase the size/quality of the remaining fruits and am wondering if anyone has experience with this.  At what point is this best done and exactly what would be the precise technique employed?

[Mike T]

The species and varieties are  key consideration.Thais have pinned down fertilizer regimes to boost production,male to female ratios and the removal of suckers.The removal of male inflorescences and attaching them to female ones seems to boost production.Balis can be boosted by the presence of males of other varieties and species.I don't believe the culling of fruit is normal for commercial growers of any salak variety.

[Finca La Isla]

Hi Mike
Thanks for your reply,  I introduced salak to Costa Rica a little over 20 years ago.  Consequently, I have been on my own here but have already incorporated the practices you mentioned.  Occasionally I have found information on salak growing techniques and they have been mostly easy to apply.  But I have seen more than one reference to the limited culling of fruit.  It makes sense that you would get larger fruit which could be a big bonus but the fruits are tightly packed and I am wondering if anyone has seen this performed by a more experienced grower.
Peter