Salak

[KarenRei]

Depending on the species, salak leaves can be as much as 7m long - very sizeable!



But we don't even know what species you have.  Suffice to say, it's not a tiny plant.   There's info about  salak cultivation here:

http://agriculturecountry.blogspot.is/2011/08/salak-tree.html

Basically, start with about 4 square meters per plant, then thin as density gets too excessive.  Note that salak prefers 50-70% sunlight, so you don't need to give it prime real estate 

[sahai1]

I got tissue culture plants here in Thailand from a certified Sumalee farm, aged about 8 months, and sexed, so I only needed to plant 2 palms.

In Thailand Sala Indo is here, but not sure what strain it is, I don't think it is self pollinating.  For sure Sumalee needs not just male and female, but you need to assist pollination from collecting male pollen and dusting the female ones.  Otherwise the pollination rate is very low.

Sumalee doesn't like full sun, but are more tolerant to wet feet then I think commonly believed.  I planted 2 in flood zones that killed many previous trees beforehand due to rot, and they pushed through.  Now my second tree is suffering because I harvested sugarcane that was shading it.  They do not like full sun, or even half sun, filtered sun is best.  It is starting to turn yellow, a bit of leaf burn.  I have to dig it up anyways since I'm digging a fishpond there, so no problem.

They are definitely I think one of the top 10 understory tree choices for any agroforestry project.  They are often planted in the rubber plantations between rows, however in that case they need irrigation during the dry season.

[Capt Ram]

Thanks for your help on this, I definitely don't have the room for this and I have only full sun where I am...so I will offer them up for anyone who wants them , I belong to a rare fruit club here I'm sure someone will have room.

[prasetya]

If you want to plant Salak tree, I suggest you to start with Salak Bali cultivar. It is the only monoecious snake fruit plant in the world. Meaning, you don't have to hand-pollinate the flower cause it self-pollinating. It makes Salak Bali cultivation a lot easier than the other snake fruit cultivars. Plus Salak Bali is actually one of the best snake fruit cultivar in Indonesia.

Okay, to give you some perspective, there are 22 species, 30 known cultivar and each cultivars has its varieties. So, when someone asks me about snake fruit I usually ask them back, "What kind of snake fruit?". Different cultivars meaning different taste and sometimes size.

And if you're curious about salak, you can visit my site, start here https://thesnakefruit.com/snake-fruit-salak-explained-salacca-zalacca-information-facts/. Contact me from contact tab on the site if you need anything.