12.5 kg fertilizer for 1 kg of durianfruit

[bangkok]

http://www.cropsreview.com/durian.html

 A tree with a fruiting potential of 25 fruits each weighing 2 kg or a total of 50 kg needs fertilizer at the rate of 206 kg 46-0-0, 143 kg 14-14-14 and 308 kg 0-0-60 which is increased to 1652 kg, 1142 kg and 2466 kg, respectively, for a tree that produces 200 fruits weighing a total of 400 kg.

I don't know what to say. Will duriantree's not fruit at all if we don't give them this much fertilizer? I need to buy a truck to feed my tree.

This must be written by a Thai, they always make huge mistakes with numbers. That's the only explanation i have for this amount of fertilizer.

[Daintree]

Oh, that is funny!
Maybe we should start a thread of goofy typos in plant literature...

[BigIslandGrower]

I know of producing trees on the Big Island that aren't fertilized at all.  Not mine though.  I give them pelletized chicken manure and organic cal/mag.

[bangkok]

Oh, that is funny!
Maybe we should start a thread of goofy typos in plant literature...

I really don't know if this is a typo, it might be real info but to me it sounds very weird. They need a dumptruck to feed the tree this amount.

My tree will get only some normal fertilizer and manure, maybe 1 kilo a year max.

Without any fertilizer they also fruit.

[Pancrazio]

They need a dumptruck to feed the tree this amount.

Either a typo or Durian is one of the least environmentally sustainable fruit of the world.  I'm going with a typo. Since NPK are relatively a small part of a plant total mass (C and H2O are the vast majority of it) those value per plant are believable either if the soil get completely washed out between fertilizations or the plant photosynthesize about 10 metric tons of C every year.

[zands]

Yesterday I saw an Israeli site that came up with the same numbers   http://www.haifa-group.com/portuguese/knowledge_center/recommendations/fruit_trees/fertigation_a_way_to_provide_the_durian_tree_with_the_proper_nutrients.aspx

[bangkok]

Yesterday I saw an Israeli site that came up with the same numbers   http://www.haifa-group.com/portuguese/knowledge_center/recommendations/fruit_trees/fertigation_a_way_to_provide_the_durian_tree_with_the_proper_nutrients.aspx

Haifa is the fertilizer vendor, well then it must be the real recommendation for durian and i guess the Thai will follow it. Wow that's a lot of fertilizer. I wouldn't dare to feed my tree that much. Here the durians (in nonthaburi where the most expensive ones are grown) grow between ditches full of water. If they add this much fertilizer to the durians then sure it will leak into the ditches.

Fertilizer costs about 1 us$ a kg so that will make 12 us$ fertilizer for a kg of durian. No wonder they are not cheap fruit.

[Pancrazio]

Wait guys;
the paper you cited says that for a tree over 6 years old you should go with:
1.0 - 1.8kg N, 0.6 - 1.4kg P, 2.1 - 4.0 Kg K

That's for a plant yelding about 200kg of fruits.
Those value become as high as the one cited previously only if you switch from fertilizer/tree to fertilizer/hectare.

[bangkok]

Wait guys;
the paper you cited says that for a tree over 6 years old you should go with:
1.0 - 1.8kg N, 0.6 - 1.4kg P, 2.1 - 4.0 Kg K

That's for a plant yelding about 200kg of fruits.
Those value become as high as the one cited previously only if you switch from fertilizer/tree to fertilizer/hectare.

Yes you are right pancrazio! I didn't check the Haifa-link.

I just gave my durian a small handfull of osmocote but lucky i didn't give more then that.