How to revive coconut trees?

Hi All,

As some of you might know, I have about 100 coconut trees that were not cared for in the past (almost 8-10 years). Only 10-12 trees out of the 100 are actually yielding and the rest of the trees are very weak, underdeveloped and nuts keep falling off when they are quite young (size of a tennis ball, some slightly larger).

I plan to cut them down and replace them with fresh saplings over a period of time, but I want to know if there is any way to revive these trees before handing down capital punishment to these trees. I have provided a mixture of potash + salt + chicken manure + green manure last year, around Sept based on the advice of locals. No discernible effect so far.

Is it possible that these trees can be revived? Or is it best to bulldoze the entire plantation and start afresh?

Thanks,
AK

Hi AK,

Even I have, luckily only one in my land planted and not cared by my previous owner. No idea why he planted only one, where as neighbors have plenty :astonished: :astonished: .

Wanted to give life to it. But it looks like its already decided to commit suicide :frowning: :frowning: . I have no option to help it :-\ , next time the first sacrifice for the JCB / Hitachi would be this, followed by the Jaali trees.

One thing about these Jaali Trees with thorns (Acacia Nelitocia) . My god, I appreciate the zest for life in these species. How I hope the other plant / tree species take a cue from this. ::) ::) . Mercilessly I get this chopped, with a vengeance it springs back. Its roots needs to be uprooted.

Regards

Murali

Murali,

I have one acacia tree on my plot that was uprooted a long time ago, the tree has actually risen again at 90 degrees! That tree showed me the amazing power of nature and the natural will to survive that living things possess!

BTW, just one coconut tree? Maybe it was a proof of concept! :stuck_out_tongue: They say coconut trees take 3 years to show any result, adverse or for good. If you care for it for 3 years, it might again spring back to life! I have taken that risk with my trees, let me see how they react.

Thanks,
AK

Rejuvanation of neglected coconut plants is a long drawn process. As you have stated the plants were neglected for more than a decade. It is unwise to invest money and time on their rejuvanation. if you have emotional attachment, you can keep them alive by providing optimum irrigation so that you can have the plants as supports for growing pepper. In the meantime do not lose time. monsoon is fast approaching and it is time to open pits and find new quality plants , may be coconut, mango, sapota, gauva and such others. it you irrigation facility you may another crop such banana which would fetch you a fair returns. Any way it is to take a positive decission

I have decided to replace 10 weakest trees every year starting in Dec this year. Any suggestions for type of coconut tree for Tirthahalli? Tall, Dwarf, TXD ? I intend to grow banana, coffee and cocoa as intercrops.

Thanks,
AK

Dear Arvind,
Have you got feedback from farmers around your area?
How they curing such problems with indigenous knowledge.

Swamy,

Looking at the farms around mine, my trees appear far healthier! :slight_smile:

I have followed the local advice - chicken manure +potash + salt + extensive mulching. No discernible effect so far (7 months down the line). Now they are saying it takes 3 years for the trees to show any effect. That’s why I decided on replacing 10% of the trees per year. That way, I mitigate the risk of these trees not recovering while making full use of the additives that have gone in.

Thanks,
AK

Hi Aravind,

If it takes 3 years for the existing ones to show any results, might aswell you can plant new ones. The Malaysian dwarf starts yielding at 3 to 4 years. I am told by the board. The bright orange ones with nuts hanging at arms length. I think Mr swamy had posted the pics earlier.

Best support you get is from coconut board. They are very very helpful. You can meed Mr Madavan at Mandya, Lokasara. Its a treat to see their farm. Imagine 50 Acres of coconut plants, you name a variety, they have it there. If you are serious, you should visit them, make the payment and wait for the monsoon for plantation. Its in short supply, the demand is from TN for Tender coconut…

Early yielding ones are better, that too Tender coconuts variety. The way its heating up, in bangalore its already at Rs 17. :astonished: No wonder it will cross Rs 25 shortly. You can also meet them at Hulimavu, the coconut board. But you dont happen to see the plants.

Regards

Murali

Arvind,
Mulching only will not give you result, but add Jeevamrutha to it and see the great results. You would spend about less than rs.50/- for this. Use Malnad Gidd cow dung and urine for preparation of jeevamrutha.
Keep present trees and you can add any selected verities.

;D ;D Effect of Palekars first day training. ;D ;D

Aravind, if the trees are badly under developed, no amount of tendering can review it now. If sentiment does not interfere, better to uproot and plant new in its place. OR if there is distance in between, go for new ones in between and wait and watch for the older ones. You may get a double whammy ;D ;D

Regards

Murali

Dear Murali,
Your statement is totally wrong as he is not at all given any lecture in first day of training.
If you want to see the miracle of farm including coconut grown under Palekarjis advice by Krishnappa s/O Dasappa, ask any one in Bannur about him to find him which is in T Narasipura Taluk near on the way to your land and you can examine the truth

Hi Swamy,

No offence meant. ;D The pic you had posted was from his farm. I could see coconuts touching the ground.

What is the ideal distance between plant to plant for coconuts. Any Ultra High Density techniques you have come across.

The only UHD i have come across is where I live. every site has a coconut tree, that too many of them on the border. All the trees are touching each other. But all are filled with nuts :astonished: . To the brim :astonished:

Regards

Murali

Murali,

I think the spacing for coconut is 27 ft. Or at least ensure that the leaves of two trees do not touch each other. I am planning to replace 10 trees a year, that way, I will have all the weaklings weeded out in 10 years. I will also plant a few extra trees.

I don’t know if I can visit this place in Mandya over the weekend. Is anyone available there on a Saturday? I don’t want to travel all the way to Mandya and return disappointed.

Swamy,

I have started with Ghanajeewamrita (sourced from Ramachandrapura Mutt, Hosanagara) because I do not have cows currently. It’s damn expensive to purchase and transport. Costs about 4000 a month for my 3 acres of coconut and areca. The lack of water was stopping my purchase of cows, should have a pair of cows by this year end. I was planning on Malnad Gidda from Ramachandrapura Mutt as we have no requirement for milk. We plan to start full scale jeewamrita use later this year. We have stopped using chemicals from the day I bought this farm.

Thanks,
AK

coconut is a very water hungry plant, this is what I understand. maybe lack of water is the reason they are not performing well in your area. are there ANY coconut plants in the radius of your farm that are giving nuts at all ?

PS: lot of people go on and on about organic, natural farming etc distributing free advice / gyan, but I have come across very few who actually have the balls to practice it, so well done on actually doing this.

can you give us a brief idea about the acerage and scaping of your farm, how has the experience with no chemicals been so far, any experiences that have stood out?

Hi Brijesh,

I think you are right to an extent. We face water shortage from Feb to June every year. But I have some trees that yield quite well. Over all, we have harvested about 1200 nuts in the past year from this farm, most of the produce coming from less than 20 trees.

I have to agree that I am not 100% natural yet. We went for a Bordeaux spray last year mostly owing to neighbors’ pressure. Generally, in this village, people use minimal chemicals. I think the only chemical used is the Bordeaux mixture for areca. This year, I have asked my caretaker to go for an organic spray called ‘Biofyte’. I am prepared to lose a significant part of the yield just to observe the effects.

Our coconuts too got some potash last year when we provided some chicken manure + potash + salt. So again, it’s not 100% natural. But this year on, it will be only green manure and jeewamrita.

About yields:

Areca - has increased from 12 quintals in 2010 to 15 quintals in 2011 (still way below average of 30-40 quintals/acre)
Cashew - has increased from 97 kilos in 2011 to 130 kilos in 2012
Coconuts - increased from 800 nuts in 2010-11 to 1200 nuts in 2011-2012

We use minimal labor and no additional fertilizers or enhancers. I think the increase in yield came from better irrigation and mulching. We have tried Ghanajeewamrita for about 4 months but it was too costly to source it from outside and beats the whole purpose of natural farming :slight_smile: so decided to stop it.

I intend to follow only natural farming practices because:

  1. I don’t depend on farm income for living expenses, I can afford to forego some profits
  2. I was influenced by Fukuoka to take up farming and I want to see for myself whether his theory works

I will continue to document the yields and analyze it over a longer period so that these numbers are more trustworthy.

Thanks,
AK

thanks for the information, and keep up the good work. you should also try coir composting (enhanced) this if done right can work out to good quality compost @50 paise per kg, i have lot of studies and information on composting and if you need it i can mail it to you (cannot upload due to copyright issues)

We, back home do organic farming. No chemicals et all. We use only, one mixture for areca nuts I forget the name, (AK/Murali, can you help with the name?), to withstand the heavy rain, or else everything is organic.

We use cow dung based compost for all trees/plants except for coconut. For coconut, its just mulching and we mulch very high. Once in 4-5 years we clean the whole stuff, add lots of green leaves, dry leaves, twigs, and large branches of fallen (or cut) trees after 3-4 years it would look like the pic below.
picasaweb.google.com/1072704091 … 6919641266 .

AK, my take is to go back to basics, follow the same method, its almost similar practice in your area too. Just thinking, if soil tests could give you some more idea.

As far as cutting it down, its advisable to do it only after the substitute tree has come up.

Hegde, that’s the Bordeaux mixture I was talking about in my post. It’s copper sulphate + lime (suNNa) + something else, I don’t remember.

Brijesh,

It’ll be helpful if you can mail me the details of coir composting.

Thanks,
AK

Dear Arvind,
The intention to reply to your post was to share knowledge and help you with my little knowledge there by help brother farmer.
However I felt hurt from the comments of other members and feeling why I should share my knowledge/gyan freely with this forum?
If something is earned by spending something, than the value of the earned can be measured.

Coming to the subject point, alway it is advised to prepare Any kind of Jeevamrutha in the farm where it has to be applied.
The main ingredient to prepare Jeevamrutha is the soil of the land to which Jeevamrutha to be applied.
Therefore purchasing it from market is not advisable and it will not give you expected result.
As you informed about purchasing from out side is high cost with no benefit.
Sellers will charge as per their interest which is burden for a farmer.

Regarding meeting Succeeded farmers, you can personally call me to get more informations.

Any one can prepare either of Jeevamrutha with less than rs.50 which is sufficient for any crop in one acre .
All the best.