Not enough Durian Discussion

[Finca La Isla]

I have other trees that are taller including a 30 year old seedling that is 30m.  We have not had a problem with the fruits falling and getting damaged.
Peter

[Gone tropo]

I have other trees that are taller including a 30 year old seedling that is 30m.  We have not had a problem with the fruits falling and getting damaged.
Peter

Peter i would love to have magnificent 30m high trees eventually, however unfortunately i live in the cyclone belt and that thing would come crashing down in an instant.  I will probably try and cut all mine to 6-9m.  I plan to use star pickets and rope to secure them in the event of a cyclone.

[Finca La Isla]

Sounds like a plan.  I imagine that in that case that I would prune the top every year on the way up, maybe a half meter higher every year, encouraging lateral growth while slowly letting it gain some height.  Should get lots of fruit and have good access for culling and other tending to the fruits.
Peter

[sunny]

I keep my grafted mongthong at about 3 meters tall. When i cut the stem i even sealed the cut but now the top end of the stem is rotting and bark is coming of. The branches underneath are still healthy though. I keep it at this size since 3-4 years now and it seems to be working.

[Gone tropo]

I keep my grafted mongthong at about 3 meters tall. When i cut the stem i even sealed the cut but now the top end of the stem is rotting and bark is coming of. The branches underneath are still healthy though. I keep it at this size since 3-4 years now and it seems to be working.

Sunny do you recommend not sealing pruning cuts based on what you have seen?

[cassowary]

I would not add any organics to the soil of a durian. The ones that died in my place all had nice soil mixed with organic material.

I would advise to not mix the OM into the soil, just put it on top of the soil. No-till.
Durian seedlings I plant out die if we do not add OM on top of the soil after planting. Planted hundreds.

[cassowary]

I have other trees that are taller including a 30 year old seedling that is 30m.  We have not had a problem with the fruits falling and getting damaged.
Peter

Peter i would love to have magnificent 30m high trees eventually, however unfortunately i live in the cyclone belt and that thing would come crashing down in an instant.  I will probably try and cut all mine to 6-9m.  I plan to use star pickets and rope to secure them in the event of a cyclone.

We have 20m tall durians that are surrounded by other big trees and they survived without damage one strong cyclone  and do very well in minor storms so if tall trees have others around theres a higher chance of survival. These are on coastal land so they got hit hard and orchard systems around the area lost many trees in the same cyclone. It's possible for tree's to survive a cyclone in a proper food forest. Eventually there will be certain food bearing vines up them too that will tie together the trees, just like in the forest here that have survived cyclones for 100 years at least (yes there's very big tree's here ).
Wind damage is mostly an issue in orchard systems with wide tree spacing, straight rows, marcotted trees or other not suitable propagation methods and poor wind breaks due to maximzing the area for the main crop.

We get good fruit of these durian tree's but cookatoos are an issue so future tree's we will try and keep shorter so that we can bag them to reduce cookatoo damage.

You gotta bang those pickets in really hard, the rain that accompanies the storm will soften the soil. We have a similar insurance plan for some tree's

[Gone tropo]

Some great advice cassowary and your not wrong those star Pickets will need to be belted In until they almost disappear underground I reckon!!!!!

[Mike T]

Thai varieties are typicall a bit smaller and easier to control. If you want an espaliered or heavily trimmed small tree with fruit Monthong, gumpun and even chanee believe it or not are probably best for it. We talk about musang king, black thorn and a few others and think about which is the best and most desirable but we have forgotten the obvious just because it is out of reach and in the too hard basket. What has shaken the durian world more than lin and long Laplae varieties?
They are almost certainly the commercial ones proven to fruit in a cooler climate than others. They are odourless and seedless and you have to mortgage you house to try a single fruit. What other seedless fruit has until recently been propagated entirely by seed? Well one in every 10 or 20 has a seed. My partner reluctantly hung around the bins at Or Tor Kor a few years ago under instructions from me and intercepted 3 seeds. One grew and I gave it to a very reliable farmer for safe keeping and he doesnt realise its value. It is almost due to fruit. Maybe an enterprising maverick who finds themselves at the Utteraditt fruit festival can nab a few seeds and bring them into circulation.

[cassowary]

Thai varieties...

Agree with you, have seen some really small monthong tree's (atleast the fruit looks like it).
Thanks for the reference to the festival, will definetly try to match that with the next Thailand visit.

Mike, have you or any one else for that matter tried a Ken yao in Au that tastes like ken yao in Thailand? I have not, they are not even close to the Ken Yao I'v had in thailand. To pale color, not strong flavour and wrong flesh consistency here in Au. Have tried from three different farms.
There's amazing durian in Au but just haven't had the ken yao expereince here yet.

[Mike T]

Gaan Yeow in the local parlance and astute observation Cassowary. Yes kinda but mostly no. The reason is because what you have tried is not the real deal. In more innocent times in the late 70s and 80s when the Kamerunga Research Station captained by Brian Watson was in an acquisition and distribution phase, big batches of thai durians were mislabelled. Perhaps even wilfully at the source Much to research station staffs' future embarrassment the eggs were never properly unscrambled and stuck back in the shells. One Malaysian expert tried to put the correct names on everything after the horse had bolted and he produced keys that included leaf characters. Chanee and monthong were also caught up in the debacle and it seems none of the originals were actually Gaan yeow  but they are here now.

[cassowary]

Have tried Chanee, Mon thong and Kan Yao in Thiland in the south and the north multiple years so yes indeed I know the real deal, that's why I was suspicious to the claimed Kan yao here in Au when it does not taste or look like it does in Thailand.
I doubt a common thai would mislabel the material in a sabotage atempt as my exerience with them is that they are quite honorable people. Even if there could be fincial interest at stake it's a far fetch without evidence. Probobly more likely mislabeld due to Au staff.
So where are they avaliable then? Happy if you could disclose. Maybe they are sent south and west for big dollar? Maybe tree's not mature yet? idk.

In northern Thailand in one market stall I remember there where a very small Durian veriety for sale for 400 bath a kilo vs 40-80 bath a kilo for M.T. it was called Li, could have been Lin since it would match with your price description of Lin and Laplae. It was avaliable in may/june. So this time of the year would be great for a visit if there wasen's such a pain to travel now.

[Gone tropo]

Mike i thought the dna testing done during the clone evaluation at bellenden ker circa 2000 cleared up a lot of the confusion as to what is what.  No doubt its still a basket case in peoples actual back yards with all kinds of unknown trees before the dna testing was done.

Cassowary best of luck finding a gan yeow for sale locally or any cultivar for that matter, easier to find any illegal drug.  All the best stuff from know cultivars is sent to brisbane, syd and melb same for rambutan etc, we are left with unkown stuff from backyard growers here.  Unless you know people who know people your outta luck man.

[Mike T]

https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/02-091.pdf
Tropo surely you cant be referring to page 79 and 80 of this that recapitulates the same errors without 'reference points'.
Cassowary there was a prevailing view that an individual who didnt want monthong and Gaan Yeow distributed did it and yes it is not in line with the land of smiles cultural vibe.
The 2 stars of the durian world to which I referred are lin laplae and long laplae developed around Laplae village not far from Uttaradit. They do feature in the fruit festival there yes.So the claims of seedlessness, odourlessness, better taste and grown in a colder northerly climate are what results in the crazy prices paid for them.There was a publicity blizzard surrounding them a little over 10 years ago.

[sunny]

I keep my grafted mongthong at about 3 meters tall. When i cut the stem i even sealed the cut but now the top end of the stem is rotting and bark is coming of. The branches underneath are still healthy though. I keep it at this size since 3-4 years now and it seems to be working.

Sunny do you recommend not sealing pruning cuts based on what you have seen?

Yes i would not seal the cuts, it doesn't help. And i cut the stem in the beginning of the dry season.

LapLae durian tree's in grafted version are not rare at all in Thailand...it tastes like butter i was told so i stopped chasing it. Gaen Yao also tastes like butter, and that's not my kind of durian, even not the top notch Gaan Yao durians which go for 500 us$ a piece and have to be booked in advance.

[Gone tropo]

https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/02-091.pdf
Tropo surely you cant be referring to page 79 and 80 of this that recapitulates the same errors without 'reference points'.
Cassowary there was a prevailing view that an individual who didnt want monthong and Gaan Yeow distributed did it and yes it is not in line with the land of smiles cultural vibe.
The 2 stars of the durian world to which I referred are lin laplae and long laplae developed around Laplae village not far from Uttaradit. They do feature in the fruit festival there yes.So the claims of seedlessness, odourlessness, better taste and grown in a colder northerly climate are what results in the crazy prices paid for them.There was a publicity blizzard surrounding them a little over 10 years ago.

Mike upon re reading the DNA section of that article you are right it doesn't exactly identify all the errors, the first time i read it I had thought it gave more valuable information than that.

RE the lin and long laplae cultivar are clones of these actually in Australia?  If not it can be forgotten about no chance of it coming in now, guess someone can try grow a seedling and hope for the best.......

[cassowary]

Did see one d. zib tree at sugar world flower about 20 days ago, maybe due to stress but will be fun to follow up coming years and see if it's a pattern or just a one of occurrence. I don't know if the tree would be able to produce fruits at this time of year with winter on the doorstep.

I do know that Julatten tree's can produce fruit that drop in June due to their later flowering, and the fruits where delicious. Wouldn't hurt with durian in July

[Mike T]

Well spotted Cassowary and there is a reason for that. The last and third last trees in the row are seedlings of Colin Grays genuine Monthong. Both have a double season most years with fruit in October and March. I posted pics of the trees and their fruit in October. Sometimes seedlings turn out with more desirable characteristics than their parents.

[cassowary]

Wow great to hear that!
Got some seeds from Colin and fruits of farmstay so maybe in the future there will be some mature seedlings here with similar characteristics.

[fruit nerd]

Have enjoyed the discussion here I am looking to plant some durian trees next month in FNQ. Any suggestions on where to buy durian seedlings or grafted durian? Haven't moved in yet but keen to do research beforehand. Interestingly, the neighboring property has a couple of great looking durian trees. Looking forward to see them next season.

[johnb51]

By now this topic title should be modified to "Lots of Durian Discussion!"

[fliptop]

I purchased and consumed this from an Asian market. I perhaps may never have a chance to try fresh durian, but I did like this very much. Anyone have any insight on how this compares to fresh?

[Gone tropo]

By now this topic title should be modified to "Lots of Durian Discussion!"

I disagree there should be more durian discussion, I would love to see an entire forum dedicated to durian and I’m sure if all those is SE Asia spoke English and used forums this would be possible. This is the KING of fruits after all.

Fruit nerd will send you a pm mate

[fruitlovers]

I purchased and consumed this from an Asian market. I perhaps may never have a chance to try fresh durian, but I did like this very much. Anyone have any insight on how this compares to fresh?

Unless its flash frozen the texture is going to really suffer. Even with flash freezing the whole array of subtle tastes is changed somewhat.

[Mike T]

Friends just planted their prize seedlings of D,kutejensis x Zibethinus and it seems the prize selections of D.dulcis x D.zibethinus  I dont think they has a surviving seedling. On their Borneo trip they did get the big fruiting selections of dulcis. Quite a few people in my area seem to have blackthorn seedlings and thes eare currently being planted out. Lets see how true they are.Blackthorn didnt become a star until it went from Thailand to Malaysia.
My big red prawn copped a fearsome prune as I wanted to punish it for 3 consecutive poor yielding years. Unless it gets its ship together it will be on mulch patrol soon.