Fruit trees are flowering on the dried excavated and acidic soil

The original article is in English

Late January and early February 2019 are exciting months for me to see the flowers from fruit trees that I started planting on the excavated poor and acidic soil in 2016. Over two years, my two mango trees started fruiting and this is their third flowering period for both trees. They were the only 2 out of my trial and error 10 fruit trees that survived on the 40 x 40 meter plot since the soil was very acidic and had little organic matter. Nonetheless, cow dung and chicken dung were used as the nitrogen source for soil microbiome to multiply and change micro-environment in the soil to be suitable for plant roots. Mulching practice to retain moisture in the soil beneath the trees were also implemented during 2017 – 2018 since I have been relied on rain-fed water only .

I have tried pruning with no experience since late rainy season 2018 and hope to do a better job this year. Perhaps pruning could help the flower buds to get enough sunlight when the leaves are not so dense. Not only mango trees, but also the jackfruit trees that enjoy the sun. I have five trees of three varieties. All of them start having both female and male flowers this February. Last year only one tree had female flowers that later fertilized but I took the fruits out.

Jackfruit trees were planted in 2017 but they grew very slowly. I did not think all of them could survive in 2017. I also planted trees from Fabaceae family, i.e. Burmese rosewood (Pterocarpus macrocarpus Kurz) and Siamese senna (Senna siamea (Lam.) Irwin & Barneby) about 4 meters from to jackfruit trees during late 2017. The objective was to use their roots as hedgerow barriers to control soil and water erosion on the rim of the plot. The soil was very poor with no organic matters and I had no water irrigation system for plantation. It eroded quite rapidly because of the wind and the rain over 2 years.

Some Fabaceae could help fixing nitrogen gas from the air to the soil by nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium. I received both Bermese rosewood and Siamese Senna from the Royal Forest Department, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Both of them grow well in soil type of my plantation area although I am not sure about the Rhizobium symbiosis with them under poor soil condition. The main purpose was to help prevent run-off of the excavated dried soil though.

All trees grown until now are rain-fed only since the water from farm pond was acidic. Now the water quality is getting better with the growth of aquaculture. I hope I could handle the water irrigation system for this 40 x 40 meter-plot before 2019 dry season for the fruits to get enough water. The centrifugal pump has been installed in January 2019, but I need to manage the piping system effectively.