Durian care before harvest

Meet the needs of fertilizer and water

In about 20 days, 2 hectares of Ri6 durian of Truong Thi Thuy and Nguyen Quoc Viet in village 3, Minh Hung commune, Bu Dang district will be ready for harvest. Thanks to the success of the first crop of flowers, the durian is now 90 days old. This is the second year of harvest, so Thuy's family only leaves about 80-100 fruits per tree. At this time, the tree needs special care to grow the fruit, in which irrigation is a very important step.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Viet (left cover) in village 3, Minh Hung commune, Bu Dang district, and workers hang fruits and hold branches to prevent strong winds from causing fruit to fall and branches to break.

Ms. Thuy said: “My garden has a gentle slope so the soil drains quickly. At this time, the fruit is concentrating on forming segments, so the tree needs a lot of water to convert nutrients. Because the sprinkler irrigation system that my family invested in a long time ago, the amount of water sprayed around the base of the tree does not meet the needs of the tree at this time. Therefore, on the one hand, my family still maintains irrigation through the sprinkler system, on the other hand, watering with 34-barrel pipes, placed from high places to overflow to low places. To have irrigation water, my family scooped up a pond containing about 5 sao of water surface, and drilled a well more than 100m deep.

In addition to providing irrigation water, fertilizing durian trees in the pre-harvest stage plays a decisive role in the quality of the fruit. As someone with many years of experience, Ms. Thuy believes that it is necessary to fertilize according to the 5-right principle: the right type of fertilizer, the right physiological needs of the tree, the right soil conditions, the right time, and the right method to be effective. “At this time, my family fertilizes with 3 equal numbers (16-16-16). On average, each tree is fertilized with 1-2kg depending on the size of the tree. After fertilizing, I water immediately so that the fertilizer dissolves quickly. Each time I fertilize, I only use that amount, but I have to fertilize many times, helping the tree to continuously have enough nutrients to absorb, and the fertilizer does not wash away, causing waste.

Mr. Chu Duc Minh in Thuan Phu commune, Dong Phu district (middle) built a water reservoir, ready to meet the needs of his family's durian garden.

Pest control and fruit hanging

Also successful from the first flower crop, 5 hectares of DONA and Ri6 durian varieties of Mr. Chu Duc Minh's family in Thuan Phu commune, Dong Phu district are about to be harvested. Visiting the garden at this time, many people are amazed because the amount of fruit on most of the trees is full and round. Mr. Minh said that round fruit will produce many segments, in the garden the ratio of fruit with 4-5 segments is very high. Because the tree is 8 years old, Mr. Minh leaves an average of about 300-350kg of fruit/tree. At this time, in addition to meeting the needs of irrigation water and fertilizer, Mr. Minh also focuses on preventing some harmful pests such as mealybugs, fruit borers, stem borers and red spiders, and even root rot.

“Because the tree is focusing on growing fruit, if pests or diseases appear, we need to proactively prevent them immediately. Some trees will weaken after a period of watering to flower and produce fruit. We have to regularly check and detect them to handle them promptly. When the tree has root diseases, we can spread lime around the base to help the tree resist disease and minimize damage,” Minh shared.

At this time, the durian in the garden weighs an average of 2.5-4kg/fruit. Mr. Minh has proactively held on early to limit fruit loss and broken branches if there are strong winds. Mr. Minh said that many traders have come to see the garden and put down deposits to buy his family's durian. However, he has not accepted because he still has to focus on taking care of the trees to achieve the highest yield and quality.

On average, each durian tree of Mr. Chu Duc Minh has about 300-350kg of fruit.