Author Topic: Not enough Durian Discussion  (Read 54273 times)

fruit nerd

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #325 on: November 01, 2022, 06:19:35 AM »
Off topic but our rambutan have set a very small amount of fruit but not flowering heavily yet. Hopefully that changes in the next few weeks.

Gone tropo

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #326 on: November 01, 2022, 07:13:49 AM »
Cassowary if your asking how I find the historical rainfall data you need to use the climate data online feature on BOM then type in whatever town you want and it will show all the stations in that area. This link hopefully shows you for example cape tribulation

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=136&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=&p_c=&p_stn_num=031012

When you click on the link it will show you rainfall data for this year so far and then down the bottom of you click view monthly data it will take you to the page that shows historical data going way way back
« Last Edit: November 01, 2022, 07:17:55 AM by Gone tropo »

DurianLover

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #327 on: November 02, 2022, 01:30:17 PM »
Guys, if you can get access to genetic material, plant more varieties. Never expected this. Humble D101 defeated such heavyweights as Red Prawn and Black Thorn on the day test. Look at the wrinkles. It says it all.




Gone tropo

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #328 on: November 02, 2022, 03:58:03 PM »
Looks incredible durian lover unfortunately we have major issues getting access to many of the varieties here and it’s basically impossible for anything new to come in due to the oxygen thieves at Australian customs

Finca La Isla

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #329 on: November 02, 2022, 05:28:03 PM »
That’s interesting Durian lover.  What competition are you referring to?
We have 101 and Bkack thorn but no red prawn.  There’s actually quite a few varieties here now.  I’m planting seedlings too.  There is a farm here with a durian I never saw on my trips to Malaysia, D-2.  What a great durian.  Before we found out what it is some we’re calling it Tiramisu!
Peter

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #330 on: November 03, 2022, 07:21:40 AM »
Agree, that durian looks great Durian Lover :) I'm happy enough with the diversity of durians I can get my hands on. Already have 4 cultivars and have quite a few seedlings including macrantha, ganyao, red prawn and kradum thong plus more of unknown varieties. Will be planting the red prawn seedling tomorrow

DurianLover

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #331 on: November 04, 2022, 11:15:08 AM »
That’s interesting Durian lover.  What competition are you referring to?

Meaning D101 tasted better that day than Red Prawn or Black Thorn. Latter two are somewhat champion durians in reputation, and D101 is a bit forgotten so to speak.

Overall my perception how you grow or eat durian changed in the last few weeks. To me, Musang King is still the best if properly ripened and especially those graded triple A. But paradox has happened.  I stayed at a friends house in Singapore for 10 days and there was a durian stall 2 min away. They only had Musang King. So after 10 days, I'm so fed up with Musang King, that given a choice, I avoid it now and would go for another premier variety ever since moved to a new place. Even though I think MK is the best, lol!  Overall last couple weeks confirmed that it's not variety so much, but soil, climate, maturity of the tree etc. Given right conditions any premier variety can be amazing. Black Thorn was mind blowing good when I had first time 10 years ago, but this week I tried 4 times (first time after 10 years ), and all of them I would say slightly below other premier varieties, like Tekka, D101. Apparently Black Thorn tree needs to be well matured for fruits to live up to reputation. Now it's off season and the soil in a part of Malaysia where they are coming from now may not be optimal for full flavor. Basically, my point is you never know what will shine in your particular soil, therefore it's worth giving a try to all premier varieties.

Finca La Isla

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #332 on: November 04, 2022, 06:01:08 PM »
You make some good points Durian Lover but I think it would be wise for those with the space to also plant good quality seedlings along with the best varieties.
First of all, planting seedlings is the only way to get improved varieties.  Every fantastic selection was just some seedling when it was planted.
Not all these varieties will do well everywhere.  In Malaysia they encourage certain varieties regionally while discouraging certain ones that haven’t done well everywhere.
Ideally we can develop our own selections that produce great fruit in our zones.
 We have about 15 select varieties in our collection and I graft from some of those as a business.  But I am also very into my seedlings.  I have material that I think has great potential collected from Penang and Sabah and a few from here. 
Earlier in my career I was fortunate enough to develop what many figure is the best rambutan in Costa Rica despite lots of select material coming from Asia.  Just planting seeds….
Peter

cassowary

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #333 on: November 05, 2022, 12:32:56 AM »
Thanks tropo, that link worked yay!!
Those wrinkles are intense and yes it's important to diversify.
Seedlings even more important in order to get adaptation going with the succession of offspring.

Grafted durian go for 100-150 here, it's a sellers market for sure as supply is low.

Have anyone tried to apply bulk amounts of Diatomacious earth (Silicates) to the soil around durian?
I know there where someone way back that did this with quite good success in keeping the durian trees from dying even without irrigation in our climate. Maybe it's the Silicone or maybe it reduces pathogenic biota in the soil?

Peace
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DurianLover

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #334 on: November 05, 2022, 11:07:51 AM »
I like seedlings for different reasons. Trees are majestic and elegant. Just beautiful to look at.  Grafted durian tree are like bushy Christmas tree, not very attractive and are subjected to theft from animals and humans. I don't don't have problems with rats or squirrels like numerous other people at different tropical locations. But monkeys are a big problem, and with seedlings it's easy to protect crop.  Just prune all lower branches and wrap slippery aluminum or stainless steel sheet higher up on the trunk. No human or animal able to climb.

ben mango

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #335 on: November 05, 2022, 12:50:33 PM »
Durian in Singapore was amazing, granted there are many vendors with subpar quality. Could be said about anywhere. I could spend an easy $100 a day in Singapore eating durian sometimes closer to 200. That’s just too much for me. My best experience buying durian was in Davao where I would get choice arancillo durians anywhere from $1-3 a piece. The flavor is very strong when you find a good one and overall the experience was just as good as any musang king I’ve tried

Finca La Isla

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #336 on: November 05, 2022, 07:51:57 PM »
That’s a great price Benjamin, a 2kg durian costs about $15 here. We sell grafted durian trees for $20.
What time of year we’re you in Davao?
Peter

DurianLover

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #337 on: November 06, 2022, 03:33:37 AM »
Durian in Singapore was amazing, granted there are many vendors with subpar quality. Could be said about anywhere. I could spend an easy $100 a day in Singapore eating durian sometimes closer to 200. That’s just too much for me. My best experience buying durian was in Davao where I would get choice arancillo durians anywhere from $1-3 a piece. The flavor is very strong when you find a good one and overall the experience was just as good as any musang king I’ve tried

Actually prices are much more reasonable now. I could get MK for 16 SG dollars a kilo ( 11.50 USD). Musang King in Malaysia  now 40 ringit a kilo ( 8.5 USD ). For 1.5 kg fruit its reasonable.  Black Thorn double MK price.  80 ringit a kilo. Mind you, it's off seasin now. Second season starts in December, prices should be even lower.

ben mango

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #338 on: November 06, 2022, 07:08:02 AM »
Peter, I went a few times, late August is usually the best time to visit. They have a festival called kadayawan every year in celebration of the main fruit season, where durian, mangosteen, lanzones , marang and pomelo are all in abundance. There are so many vendors during the season that it would be impossible to visit and miss them

That’s good to know,DL.

cassowary

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #339 on: November 07, 2022, 05:09:56 PM »
DurianLover,
Good method for keeping monkeys away. We have none here luckly but plenty of raiders from the sky!

Wow BT selling for so much more. Maybe MK will become so common eventually that price will go down considerably.

BenMango,
Is it the Chinese demand that have started to bring the price up? Or have it always been expensive in Singapore?
The Chinese demand must have had some manjor changes to durian in SEA in the last decade.

Finca,
Wow here the price ratio for fruit:tree is way different here.
7 usd/kg:20 usd tree 1:2
12 usd/kg:100 usd tree 1:8

100x 20 = 2000 usd
100x100 = 10000 usd

establishment cost is so much higher here.
but you could sell for 35 a kilo to distributors in south and west. But you still have to pay for refrigerated freight yourself and that would take away some of the profit from the higher priced fruit. And even with farmer protection contracts you might not get paid fro the full load.

Local plant prices have to go down before we can expand here.
Even 10 000 more tree's wouldnt saturate the market here.

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Finca La Isla

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #340 on: November 07, 2022, 10:16:35 PM »
My model is local sales. People come to me for the fruits. We harvested 1500kg of mangosteen and around 500kg of durian this year and sold it all at the farm and our farmers market. I’m happy with that amount of mangosteen and content with the prices we get for our products here but am working to ramp up the durian production, both fruit and trees.  I think I have successfully grafted about 300 durian trees this year. At this point I think there are only 2 other nurseries in the country grafting durian to any scale. People come from Panama for trees. Some have been taken to Ecuador. I get lots of inquiries to ship trees but we don’t even ship within Costa Rica.
Peter

ben mango

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #341 on: November 11, 2022, 01:11:00 PM »
Cassowary, that is a good point and worth nothing. considering Singapore is one of the most expensive cities in the world, doesn’t surprise me that durian can and will go for a premium price. As to why the prices have gone down as DL mentioned, I would be curious to know more. Once you factor in everything is imported from neighboring Malaysia , Thailand or Indonesia , it’s no surprise the prices are high

DurianLover

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #342 on: November 21, 2022, 09:29:51 AM »
Cassowary, that is a good point and worth nothing. considering Singapore is one of the most expensive cities in the world, doesn’t surprise me that durian can and will go for a premium price. As to why the prices have gone down as DL mentioned, I would be curious to know more. Once you factor in everything is imported from neighboring Malaysia , Thailand or Indonesia , it’s no surprise the prices are high

Singapore imports from Malaysia only when durian season is there. When I left a week ago, prices went even lower. You could get Musang King kilo for $14 SG dollars ( 10 USD). In Malaysia was as low as $8 USD a kilo. Almost the same prices. Everyone started planting Musang King 10 years ago, so supply has increased dramatically. People crave other varieties as well, and those premium varieties now sell for almost as much as Musang King. Since very few farmers were planting those older premium varieties recently. In fact D160 was even more expensive than Musang King in KL. Although I remember it used to be like half the cost many years ago. Currently Black Thorn hype. Everyone plants just this. In 3-10 years years there will be a new hype :) 

I mostly just rent space rates that add to cost in SG, but SG dealers get excellent prices from Malaysian wholesalers. Truck leaves early in in the morning Malaysia, by 4:30 Pm in Singapore. Transportation and fuel is cheap in Malaysia, doesn't add much to the cost towards bulk order. Hence, prices now similar Singapore vs Malaysia. In fact I got even better deals in Singapore. I go towards 4 pm just before new stock arrives. they are eager to get rid off of the old stock. I get decent prepackaged premium durian box for $11 USD in Singapore.

I don't think they import from Indonesia. I'm in Indonesian now, and seedling culture is still strong here. Besides they cut durians in order to keep in shops for a longer. Very hard to find dropped durians. Cut durians are very hard sell for sophisticated Malaysian and SG consumers. It's cheap. Around 2-4 USD for a big fruit, but I would rather spend $10 for a quality one and smaller flesh amount.

cassowary

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #343 on: November 28, 2022, 12:31:58 AM »
Peter,
IMO that is a good model as it helps to keep the fertility on the land (husks fruit waste etc). And reduced middlemen that can have a negative impact on all other parties.

DL,
4pm for the best price then! Thanks! I wish we had that kind of movement of Durian here.
Here it is so scarce that people raid botanical gardens for durian to sell at the local market at $30 per kg! And they cut them of the tree way before they are ripe and then unknowing Chinese visitors buy them. It's not only theft but also fruit crime cause one can destroy someones opinion of the fruit with selling crap fruit and then they spread around that durian is awful etc.
One gang rolled in with a wheelbarrow 30 min after the gardeners left so they got time before security came.
And one year ago one friend had his orchard raided by a gang, lost most durian, wheelbarrows of it!
These are not hippies or fruitarians, these are criminals as they get $30/kg for the fruit.

Not fun to have overcome bats, cockatoos, bugs, monsoon and mozzies to have thieves grab it all.

Yes seedling culture is still strong which is great, I have mostly seen them tying durians with ropes so that they can be hoisted down. The only picked durian that we noticed was "bangkok durian" as it is common that they splash if fallen from high in the tree onto non mulched soil but still most of the farms we saw use the rope method.

Peace
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jimreevescairns

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #344 on: November 28, 2022, 04:49:41 AM »







Greetings. Update on the grafts onto my 12 year old crap durian.
Chopped it a year ago but took a while before Trina could get here and waiting for the temps to rise and the sap to start flowing in scion material.
She put 5 onto side shoots  - kradom tong , horlor and Peter Knudsen
Most died pretty quickly but the 2 Peter Knudsen on the large side shoot are looking good at 2 weeks - leaf remnants still green which I am assuming (in our current heat) means there has been a connection made.
It’s local tree - seedling of monthong heritage - that has become a bit of a local favourite. It also grows aggressively so hopefully if the grafts take with a trunk and root system that size it should take off !!

jimreevescairns

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #345 on: November 28, 2022, 04:53:37 AM »
Visited the lady I get pollen off - she has lots of durian trees that she has no idea what they are. Lots were in deeply shaded areas amongst other trees.
She recently has chopped a lot out and these old, lanky trees are getting some light and showing signs of life


This is an interesting one with lots of flowers off the main trunk - she has no recollection of ever getting  any fruit off it. I didn’t think this happened ??

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #346 on: November 28, 2022, 05:51:14 AM »
I have a Peter Knudsen durian and it is growing very vigorously (in ground ~6-8 months). Currently has no shade cloth but is shaded by a mulberry that I staked into the ground. Had no problems with the recent heat and is flushing now.

jimreevescairns

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #347 on: November 28, 2022, 07:19:55 AM »
Fingers crossed. They are a good tasting one too! Had a couple last season.
You will have a few more varieties by the end of the week mate !🙂

ben mango

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #348 on: November 28, 2022, 11:00:32 AM »
https://boletines.exportemos.pe/recursos/boletin/25207.pdf

Indonesian exports stood at only 331 MTs in 1993, down from 435 MTs in 1989 but up from 277 MTs in 1992. Singapore has remained Indonesia's largest export market, accounting for 98 percent of all exports in 1993. The only other nations importing more than 1 MT from Indonesia in 1993 were Taiwan and Brunei.

The amount of durian Indonesia exports is small in comparison with Malaysia and Thailand but they still export some. Seedling culture is good in theory but when they are planting seeds from mediocre fruits, not so much. I found a lot of the seedling durians in Indonesia, Sumatra specifically were not very good.

Finca La Isla

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Re: Not enough Durian Discussion
« Reply #349 on: November 29, 2022, 08:55:02 AM »
Planting seedlings is best for somebody with the space to plant quite a few. Certainly there will be some disappointment.  But it is the only way to get the next terrific durian.
I’m interested in opinions on selecting seed material to plant.
I’m not just planting out anything. Most recently I’ve planted some very goog Penang durian seeds that came from mixed orchards. I’ve also planted a couple of D-2 seeds that came from a neighbors farm who has lots of variety.
The prospect of actually hybridizing intrigues me too. I have hybridized ornamentals and I figure it wouldn’t be that hard with durians.
Peter