Not enough Durian Discussion

[ben mango]

A weird or ugly looking durian, discoloration of the skin etc usually indicates a bad durian from my experience. A good durian will be glowing sort of speak when they are really prime. Skin color etc can definitely indicate whether or not it’s past it’s prime. If a durian is being sold as low grade anywhere in Malaysia you better bet most of them are low grade. Of course a vendor would never sell you something saying it’s low grade, they are trying to make a sale. Kampongs can be very good but again you’d want to pick one that has a nice look to it. The best durians I’ve eaten also have a nice look to the exterior so I would not say that outer appearance doesn’t matter, with durian, it most certainly matters.

[cassowary]

Thanks for sharing that price list Peter, interesting.

It matters if the customer have eaten Kan Yao in Thailand. If not then they don't know I guess.

Those Kampung would have gone for $30kg here! Looks great!

I believe a higher grade gives the seller more responsibility to replace a bad durian, while if you buy the lowest grade then your less likely to get a replacement without a nasty look.

Yeah looks matter but, smell, sound and heaviness matters too. That's why eating from the same source can help getting better durian since you learn what indicates awesomeness. But sometimes I let the seller choose, sometimes a bit of humility pays off!

[Gone tropo]

Two months into the year and already 1910mm of rain at my place!!! And 1225mm of rain for February alone. The monsoon is showing no signs of letting go any time soon with return to heavy rain this weekend. We have two days of forecast “partly cloudy” coming up so we better enjoy it as that’s as close as we’re gunna get to sun for now.

[fruit nerd]

I had a visit from a pair of scrub fowls yesterday. Look at the mess they made. Positive is I got a good look at the root development

[Gone tropo]

Mick those things are a menace here as well I have had them dig a baby durian out of the ground. Dog now sorts them out

[All the fruit]

Durian kampung as well as some wils species grow and sometimes fruit in Borne mountains over 1200 m. The climate there is pretty rough and temperatures  can stay around 11C for extended periods. Durians from there should do ok in subtropical areas like Macaronesia or maybe even Florida. Im thinking about the moist northern slopes of the Canary islands. Of course the PH needs to be lowered but this is being done for other crops there

[fruit nerd]

Gave my oldest durian a prune the other day. Its been in the ground ~1.5 years and is ~3m tall. Had a fairly dominant branch that was growing at a steep angle that was pruned off to favour more horizontal lateral branches. Any pointers on how to shape this tree?

[Finca La Isla]

Your tree looks healthy. I’m not too sure if seedlings should be pruned the same as grafted trees. But what some would say is that looking at that tree you see an area near the top without many branches. Almost halfway down you get to an area where there is strong branching. You might select the top one of those branches to be the new leader by cutting off everything above it at an angle just above where that branch connects to the main stem.
I know that sounds radical and the tree doesn’t look like it needs any drastic remedy. You could just leave it and keep doing what you are doing to promote lateral branches.
However, selecting a new leader should force the lower branches to spread wider.
I’d be interested to hear what others suggest. Often, very competent pruners will have different approaches to working the same tree.
Peter

[Jaboticaba45]

I’ll be honest. Durian is my favorite fruit or at least top 5. This speaks volumes as I’ve had a lot of fruits lol. If you don’t like it it’s most likely cause you haven’t had a good one. Just don’t buy monthong frozen. Musang king frozen is 4-5 times expensive. Why? Because it’s good. Unfortunately I can’t grow it here along with 95% of the forum. But if you live in HI or PR I recommend getting a lot of trees. I wish we could import fresh ones somehow.

[Finca La Isla]

Fresh durian will eventually be shipped to the US from Mexico and/or Central America. There are projects underway.
Peter

[fruit nerd]

Your tree looks healthy. I’m not too sure if seedlings should be pruned the same as grafted trees. But what some would say is that looking at that tree you see an area near the top without many branches. Almost halfway down you get to an area where there is strong branching. You might select the top one of those branches to be the new leader by cutting off everything above it at an angle just above where that branch connects to the main stem.
I know that sounds radical and the tree doesn’t look like it needs any drastic remedy. You could just leave it and keep doing what you are doing to promote lateral branches.
However, selecting a new leader should force the lower branches to spread wider.
I’d be interested to hear what others suggest. Often, very competent pruners will have different approaches to working the same tree.
Peter

Thanks Peter. Cutting the top of does scare me a bit, though beefing up the laterals sounds good. Might see how the tree responds to this initial prune first.

[Finca La Isla]

[Finca La Isla]

I have been having some trouble posting images. But anyway you can see here what I am trying to do in shaping the young durian trees. Once you select a new leader and make your cut right above it then that branch starts to turn up and take over. At the same time the lower branches extend more.
Peter

[cassowary]

Durian kampung as well as some wils species grow and sometimes fruit in Borne mountains over 1200 m. The climate there is pretty rough and temperatures  can stay around 11C for extended periods. Durians from there should do ok in subtropical areas like Macaronesia or maybe even Florida. Im thinking about the moist northern slopes of the Canary islands. Of course the PH needs to be lowered but this is being done for other crops there

Thanks for that info all the fruit!

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Hey Peter...came across this guy's videos the other day.  He's here in Thailand growing.  Interesting method for planting and certainly cannot dispute the results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH-8DPJkkPg

[fruit nerd]

Thank Peter for showing the approach to pruning. Looking forward to learning more about pruning as my trees get bigger.

[Finca La Isla]

Jay, that’s an interesting video. We have a somewhat similar approach. No NPK, I’m wondering about what the guy put that must have been like a bokashi.
That’s a lot of cow manure which brings up a question. While recently traveling with Lindsay on the Malay peninsula there was talk about it being difficult to get cow manure. Then it struck me that driving around Latin America you see a lot of cattle pasture. You don’t see pastures in Malaysia!  How about in Thailand, would it be easy to find cow manure in quantity?
Anyway, we ran into large planters who get the concept that the living soil is critical which is very positive and also what I got from the video.
Peter

[fruit nerd]

Are you worried about selective herbicides in cow manure? In some parts of the world, they are quite widely used in pastures. I know vegetable gardeners have big issues with this.

[Finca La Isla]

I never thought of that…
I’ve never heard of any problems but that’s interesting. We use a combination of chicken manure and cow manure mostly for top dressing fruit trees but I use the same mix in my potting medium. In the past I’ve blamed problems on incomplete composting of the chicken manure but…
I’m going to consider my sources. Many thanks.
Peter

[TropicalFruitHunters]

I was told to only use cow manure.  The rest will have chemicals.  Cow manure is readily available.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Here is another good video from this guy.  Wonder if he's consulted with the Faculty of Durian guy?   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5he5TazIqmM

[Bush2Beach]

They may be fresh when they are picked/dropped , but I bet they will arrive like all the other fruit picked & shipped from foreign, dogshit.
Buying Lindsay’s frozen is the closest we can get to a “fresh “ Durian in the 48.
Or flying to visit you or Hawaii.

Fresh durian will eventually be shipped to the US from Mexico and/or Central America. There are projects underway.
Peter

[Finca La Isla]

William Whitman’s son, Chris, is behind a project of some 1000 durian trees in Limon. The flight is very short and they already ship longan around the US from their farms in Homestead so the know what they are doing with shipping fresh fruit. Durians are shipped around Malaysia and it can take a similar amount of time. Obviously it’s best at the farm but…
Peter

[Finca La Isla]

Jay, interesting video.
The other videos I’ve seen with this guy have to do with Thailand but this made lots of reference to Malaysia. He never mentioned having most of the trees in pairs. That’s very unusual for a large farm.
I subscribe to much of what he says but we eventually let the trees get taller. Both he and Lim give the reason for short trees as the cost of labor. Lim explains that he wants to be able to spray the tree and hand pollinate as well as tie the fruits in the tree. Lots of labor for sure.
The way everything is so mono cropped in Malaysia they are having trouble getting sufficient bat pollination. We’re not too interested in tying the durians and we do t spray.
We figure we get more fruit, not less, by getting taller trees.
Peter

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Agree.  I think one of the biggest reasons for shorter trees is the ease of maintenance...spraying ferts/insecticides.  Lim says the doubling up of trees was sort of insurance in case one dies or is not keeping up.  I planted two Monthong that were gifted to me in the same hole.  If both do well, I will most likely graft them together into one tree.  Regardless, this dude in Thailand sure showing good results.  And in such a short time frame.

I will be keeping mine here in the yard closer together and shorter, but mainly for space issues.  I'm also hoping my multiple rootstock grafting produces good results as well.  I will say, early analysis shows that the one tree where all rootstocks succeeded quickly outpaced the tree where two of the rootstocks failed.  Hopefully they continue to "giddy-up"!