NEW PLANTING OF COCONUT (PART 4)

COCONUT (Cocos nucifera) are an important crop in Malaysia and few other ASEAN countries. The  crop are categorised as ''Plant of Life'' from the locals as there are many uses from this plant.  have been receiving quite a few requests of late regarding information in setting-up a coconut plantation. While I would love to write a comprehensive coverage of all aspects involved in establishing a coconut plantation, it will be an enormous undertaking, and something that cannot be covered simply in blog posts.  Instead, I will give some basics of starting a new coconut plantation, the key cost elements and man-power management al all requirements. In Malaysia currently there are about 96,000 hectare of coconut planted able to produce 650 million nuts annually. However Malaysia import 150 million nuts from Indonesia for processing anually.  Actually there are a number of important stages when attempting to set up a successful coconut plantation. Now, a lot of people may think: “What’s so difficult? Just look for a germinated coconut, dig a hole, and plant it!”. Well, that method may work if all you want is a coconut tree, or if the coconuts are meant to be ornamental plants. But for a thriving, production coconut plantation, extra care and consideration will be needed. This few series article in "Anim Agriculture Technology" I would like to share the stages of planting new coconut farms.

New coconut planting for Step 3 are the preparation of seedlings for field planting. Normally the 12-month to 15-month old coconut seedlings designated for field planting must be prepared at least 2-3 weeks beforehand. This reason for this step is to minimize transplanting shock experienced by seedling once transferred into the field. Ideally, seedlings should be of a similar height; any that are obviously under-sized should be set aside in favor of more robust siblings. To prepare the seedlings for field planting, pruning of the basal fronds must be carried out, followed by root-pruning of half the basal area (a semi circle, taking care not to cut the polybag) at least 2-3 weeks before field planting. Watering must be intensified on the day when root pruning is carried out. Two or three days prior to field planting, seedling fronds are trimmed in diamond shape, and tied. The balance of 50% roots are pruned one day before dispatching the seedling into the field for planting, and must be watered thoroughly. When moving the seedlings, it is important to ensure that they are handled with care to prevent damaging the nursery bags. The correct way is to hold the seedlings whilst supporting the base of the bag. Thus, there must be sufficient labor for the operation of moving seedlings from the nursery to the field.

The next steps are known as Step 4: Land preparation and spacing whereby with coconuts, timing when to plant your palms is important. Normal planting months are in April to May, or September to December. These are the typical monsoon seasons in Malaysia, where there will be adequate rainfall during field planting, thus ensuring that your palms do not suffer from transpiration stress. Do note that for areas typically hit hard by the monsoon rains (eg. East Coast states), it would best to plant during the less severe monsoon months, typically during April to May. Cleared and prepared field, reading for planting coconut seedlings. Same field two months later, after coconut seedlings had been planted. Field clearing should commence 2 months ahead of the target planting date. Brush and unwanted vegetation should be felled, cleared and burned. Two type of row plantings are normally found in coconut plantation, but the most efficient method in Malaysia is known as the "double-hedged row". This planting system facilitates in-field mechanization, allowing efficient grass mowing, fertilizer spreading, and also evacuation of harvest coconuts. The following dimensions are used in a double-hedged row system. The planting distance for tall variety are  8.5m x 6.5 meter distance (row-to-row and Field drain and 7.5 meter distance (in a row) or distance from palm to palm giving 178 plants /hectare. For dwarf and Pandan coconut cultivars the planting distance are 7.25 m x 6.25 m x 5.93 meter with planting density of 220 plants/ hectare. Field drains of dimension 4'x3'x2' alternate with scupper drain of dimension 3'x2'x1'. Two rows of coconut are planted per drain block.  This results in coconut palms that are planted at a density of 178 palms/ha under the double-hedged planting system for tall and hybrid coconut palms, and 220 palms/ha for dwarf and Pandan coconut palms. Cover crops, such as mucuna, are often planted to protect the bare soil of newly planted fields. This helps retain soil moisture content, and when the cover crop dies back, adds back organic matters and soil nutrients locked deep underground to the top soil. It would be a good practice to plant cover crops, but next activity for maintaining this will add additional costs to the grower, as the cover crop has to be pruned and cut back each month in order to prevent it from choking the young palms. Once the palms have reached 5-6 years of age, the cover crop can be killed off, either through the use of weedicides, or by natural shading. The article continue for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5 and Part 6 respectively. ThanK You.

By,
M Anem,
Senior Agronomist,
Bandar Baru UDA,
Johor Bahru, Johor,
Malaysia.
(4 September 2018).