Planting Teak, Silver and Melia Dubia

Farm Questions
1

Hello All,

Last week I procured few hundred saplings of Teak, Melia Dubia and Silver. Would like to know how to go abt planting them. i.e is it a good idea to mix them and plant in one area or should I plant them in separate plots? I am not really sure if the roots of these plants compete with each other for water/nutrition…

Looking forward for comments from the experts…

Thanks
Biju

2

Hi Biju,

Please note that Teak needs a support plant and hence any plant that is near the plant with not grow properly. Just as a supplementary plant, you can go for Agathi.

You can plant Melia Dubia, Silver Oak combined and plant Teak in the borders along with the support plant.

Regards
Padmanabhan Ganesan
agricultureforeverybody.blogspot.com

3

Can anyone tell me where I can source Melia Dubia and Silver Oak saplings near Tirthahalli (Shimoga dist)?

4

AK, they are available in the local forest dept. I sourced mine from Hassan forest dept.

-Biju

5

Hi Biju,

Just wanted to know if you have verified the economics for Melia Dubia and Silver Oak and if you did, it would be helpful if you can share it

  1. Average Yield in cubic feet per Tree after 5 yrs, 8 yrs, 10 yrs

  2. Current buying price per cubic feet ON-FARM. I understand that the on-farm rate is 1/8th the actual price quoted by Timber retailers. So, what is the price we can expect on-farm per cubic feet?

  3. Could you share the above details for Melia Dubia, Teak as well as Silver Oak, as I am sure you would have done the calculations before you purchased the saplings?

  4. Also how many of these 3 varieties are you planting per acre?

Many thanks in advance
Narayana

6

Hello Narayana,

Sorry, I have not done any calculations on yield, market rate etc. You may want to refer to agro forestry sites.

Here is my situation:

The farm (abt 13 acres) currently has coconut trees (abt 450) as mono crop and few jack fruit trees and mangoes and couple of other varieties for personal consumption. Apart from this, there are abt 150 teak trees (abt 10 years old) on the boundaries.
My intend is to plant as many varieties of trees/plants as I can. So planting these saplings are part of that plan, not as a monocrop with economical perspective.

As of today noon I got 100+ teak, abt 50 melia dubia and abt 50 silver oaks and a handful of fruit trees planted mainly on the boundaries and contours.

FYI, I sourced the saplings from Forest Dept in Hasan free of cost.

-Biju