Jamun - high density planting and cultivation practices

Chandra · July 4, 2012, 5:18am

Hi,

Does anyone know if Jamun is cultivated with high density?
Any authentic source of cultivation practices, experiences and economics would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Murali · July 4, 2012, 7:07am

Hi,

I have seen,

Jamoon fried in ultra high density @ KC Das

Regards

Murali

hegdegg · July 4, 2012, 5:45pm

Is this a commercial crop? Are there any large scale buyers for this? I was thinking this is one of the forest produce, that we just pick.

Chandra · July 4, 2012, 6:20pm

I think it is being cultivated as a horticulture crop or as avenue tree of late.
Seethaphal, ber, phalsa were all wild trees at one time.

Naren · July 5, 2012, 7:03am

Hi,

Jamun has good commercial prospects mainly due to its medicinal properties. It is considered useful for diabetics and Ayurvedic doctors speak highly of it. Secondly, the honey extracted from Jamun trees by honeybees is also sold specifically as Jamun honey - again for medicinal use. The wood of Jamun tree is considered one of the finest kinds of timber. It is rugged and grows in a wide range of climates and terrain.

Konkan Krishi Vidyapeeth, Dapoli, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra has developed a variety called ‘Bahadoli’ which yields large and fleshy fruit with a small seed. This is good for commercial (table use) sale. In Mumbai, it is sold commonly at about Rs 200 per kg.! The wild varieties with small fruit, astringent fruit and less flesh however is considered superior for medicinal use.

There are farmers in Maharashtra who have done high density planting of Jamun, for commercial purposes.

Chandra · July 5, 2012, 7:23am

Thanks Naren, this is great information.

Any idea on the spacing and pruning practices for high density planting? If you have a reference who has done this planting, I could speak to them too.

anushafarms · July 18, 2012, 1:57am

One of the main problems I have heard with Jamun was the unpredicatbility of the crop. Also to get plump juicy crop needs some amount of water. Maybe the new clones are better.

I was visiting a store recently and saw a liter of Jamun juice selling for 900 rs.

Chandra · July 18, 2012, 5:17am

Got 200 plants, ready to plant.

agri_lover · July 18, 2012, 8:35am

Hi Chandra,

Good that you have taken decision to get into HD Jamun cultivation. for the benefit of people like me and many others can you answer the below questions.

What is the configuration in which you are planting them.
What is the the pre planting preparations
What are the post planting activities
Schedule of fertilizers and pruning
What is the returns you are expecting from this plan
How much did each sapling cost?

Thanks
Agri Lover

airfoil · July 18, 2012, 9:32am

Chandra,

Here are my questions

How long before the tree bears enough quantities of fruit (commercial value)?

I understand from the web that the Jamun is a fast growing tree. But then its time seems to be measured on a 100 year scale, how developed with this tree be in say, 5 years time?

With the large canopy typical of this tree, what spacing will HD planting involve, vs. regular planting?

Edit: Found an article with more information on Jamun: [url=http://www.old.kerala.gov.in/kercalfeb07/pg30-32.pdf]http://www.old.kerala.gov.in/kercalfeb07/pg30-32.pdf[/url]

yaj · July 19, 2012, 5:05pm

One thing to keep in mind is that Jamun trees create a terrible mess around them due to ripe fruit falling.You could probably work out some sort of net system to catch the falling fruit.
Regards,
Yaj.

Chandra · July 20, 2012, 5:31am

Hi agri_lover and airfoil,

There is hardly any information on the cultivation of Jamun (neredu), almost none on high density, that I could find on the web. It looks like all the practices information is coming just from one source. So this would be a fair amount of experimentation.

It is being suggested to have a 10m x 10m spacing for seedling trees and 7-8m x 7-8m for budded plants in the available literature.

The plants I have gotten are grafted and the nursery claimed these are the Bahadoli selection from Maharashtra that Naren mentioned. From the information I got from Naren and Swamy (dns1807), it looks like high density is feasible and is being done elsewhere. I am looking to go for a 5m x 5m spacing as in high density mango and to keep the plants pruned and short with some canopy management - this would mean the 200 plants will take about 1.25 acres. Hopefully it would be easier to harvest and will avoid the messiness Yaj was referring to. Not sure if Jamun will respond the same way as mango though. It is going to be very cumbersome to harvest from a full grown tree - for the labour required and since the branches seem prone to easy breakage. I am told nets are the way for large trees.

I have identified a slightly rough and rocky part of my farm for this and intend to plant in 1m x 1m x 1m pits filled with finer soil and possibly some FYM. Current plan is to keep it organic. There is also some information to withhold manuring and irrigation in specific seasons to improve flowering and fruiting, but that is a while away anyway.

The trees are supposed to yield commercially in 8-10 years (seed) and 5-7 years (budded), but high density is supposed to speed things up - so need to wait and watch. The grafts are about an year old already and costed me Rs. 125 + 40 = 165 inclusive of transport from about 400 km away.

I read the yield could be between 50-100 kg per tree per year. Conservatively - assuming high density and pruned trees give 25 kg per tree, at a Rs. 80 at farm gate (as against a high of Rs. 200 in retail Naren was suggesting), that should mean a gross of Rs. 2,000 per tree. Assuming a net realization of Rs. 1,000 per tree, that would be 2L per 200 plants or 1.6L/acre.

The numbers look good in theory - let us get practical now
The trees need maintained free of pests and diseases, have enough water to sustain through summers, and of course make sure you just don’t grow and let someone else have the yield! There is also the assumption the trees yield on pruning - which if doesn’t work would mean thinning some of the trees.

yaj · July 20, 2012, 7:02am

Jamun once established is a very hardy tree and does not require too much watering etc. especially if you mulch well.There are some Jamun trees near my land growing without any care whatsoever and there is one with exceptional fruit(i have asked my caretaker to try and take some cuttings and prepare saplings from it) They seem to be totally free from any pests and diseases etc but in a high density monoculture things may not be the same.
The main challenge will be the harvesting of the fruit since the trees grow pretty tall and they are usually harvested by shaking the branches.Nets under the tree which are sloped downwards and inwards should be a good way to collect the fruit.
Regards,
Yaj.

whiteClover · August 31, 2012, 1:33pm

Chandra, nice to know the happenings wrt your farm.
I’ve been off the hook (from the forum) for sometime and now catching up.

Chandra · September 1, 2012, 4:25am

Welcome back, I will post some updates soon.

kskarnic · October 31, 2012, 4:09pm

Chandra:

Hi agri_lover and airfoil,

There is hardly any information on the cultivation of Jamun (neredu), almost none on high density, that I could find on the web. It looks like all the practices information is coming just from one source. So this would be a fair amount of experimentation.

It is being suggested to have a 10m x 10m spacing for seedling trees and 7-8m x 7-8m for budded plants in the available literature.

The plants I have gotten are grafted and the nursery claimed these are the Bahadoli selection from Maharashtra that Naren mentioned. From the information I got from Naren and Swamy (dns1807), it looks like high density is feasible and is being done elsewhere. I am looking to go for a 5m x 5m spacing as in high density mango and to keep the plants pruned and short with some canopy management - this would mean the 200 plants will take about 1.25 acres. Hopefully it would be easier to harvest and will avoid the messiness Yaj was referring to. Not sure if Jamun will respond the same way as mango though. It is going to be very cumbersome to harvest from a full grown tree - for the labour required and since the branches seem prone to easy breakage. I am told nets are the way for large trees.

I have identified a slightly rough and rocky part of my farm for this and intend to plant in 1m x 1m x 1m pits filled with finer soil and possibly some FYM. Current plan is to keep it organic. There is also some information to withhold manuring and irrigation in specific seasons to improve flowering and fruiting, but that is a while away anyway.

The trees are supposed to yield commercially in 8-10 years (seed) and 5-7 years (budded), but high density is supposed to speed things up - so need to wait and watch. The grafts are about an year old already and costed me Rs. 125 + 40 = 165 inclusive of transport from about 400 km away.

I read the yield could be between 50-100 kg per tree per year. Conservatively - assuming high density and pruned trees give 25 kg per tree, at a Rs. 80 at farm gate (as against a high of Rs. 200 in retail Naren was suggesting), that should mean a gross of Rs. 2,000 per tree. Assuming a net realization of Rs. 1,000 per tree, that would be 2L per 200 plants or 1.6L/acre.

The numbers look good in theory - let us get practical now
The trees need maintained free of pests and diseases, have enough water to sustain through summers, and of course make sure you just don’t grow and let someone else have the yield! There is also the assumption the trees yield on pruning - which if doesn’t work would mean thinning some of the trees.

Mr. Chandra your efforts to propogate knowledge on horticulture is commendable. I wish to inform you that by following monocropping and racing to make money, I think we have already lost biodiversity in many crops. Don’t you think that we should preserve the gift of the mother earth for welfare of future generation. it would require promoting seedling plantations to sustain and survival of many important plant species.?

Chandra · October 31, 2012, 7:34pm

Hi kskarnic,

I am not sure what you mean. Are you suggesting I should not have Jamun in a part of my land?
As far as I know, cropping itself means growing selected plants; I would be quite interested in your ideas on having commercially sustainable cropping while promoting biodiversity.

Thanks.

sri2012 · November 1, 2012, 3:40am

Dear Chandra,

What is your plan for harvesting? It can be harvested only after fruts are ripe. Once it is ripe the Shelf life is very short.
I have heard some farms in Doddaballapur near Bangalore has commercially cultivated(again tell tale story no contacts)
Remember harvesting shall be done through out the season not at once, so as and when harvested it has to be transported to the market.
It is wisdom to give contract for harvesting.

I have seen Jamun(nerale) are sold at fancy prices in Bangalore. 60/- to 120/- Kg. In my home town 1liter of this fruit is sold at 15/- to 20/-. Villagers sell these on measuring in liter-can(not on weight).

Chandra · November 1, 2012, 8:40am

Hi sri2012,

I believe the trickiest part of this crop is the harvesting. But as I said, if the trees are trained short, it will be much easier since the farm labour can pluck the fruit weekly or so. Marketing should not be a big problem after that.

A few years to put a concrete marketing plan in place though.

yaj · November 1, 2012, 9:38am

Chandra , you could also consider making jamun wine or vinegar. It will be a product with a longer shelf life and could take care of any excess produce.They fetch a very good price too.I had purchased a 250 ml bottle of jamun vinegar from an ebay seller from Hyderabad for Rs 195 .Jamun vinegar is recommended by some Ayurvedic and Unanai physicians for diabetics.I just bought it to see what it tastes like though and it was pretty good.
Jamun wine though will require an excise license if i am not mistaken.
Regards,
Yaj.