Thank you all for the infos..
anyway, i would like to know the prospect of this red banana.
i was walking around when i notice this tree in the far end of my palm farm..
Mr Farmer, have you ever sold or plant this banana in Sabah?
thanks..

Hi all,
I have been a lurker on this thread for over a year and found quite an interesting assortment of experiences here. I am making my 1st post here in the hope of getting some pointers as where I can obtain the 'stuff' professional pest control use for termite bait stations.
I have identified the most wide-action active ingredient to be hexaflumuron or a less potent one diflubenzuron (aka DIMILIN). I am aware that it's only available to these pest control firms locally ...in theory anyway as I know DIMILIN is used in Koi (fish) disease treatment.
I have a 3 acre plot in Selangor purchased for a purpose that was still born. So I now have 40 old durian trees of unknown heritage. Over 2 years hardly a decent harvest (few and uneven ripening) and the last one was VERY FEW in nos and ALL suffered uneven ripening. I have used a rotation of commercial 'organic' and chemical fertilisers. No weed killer was used the last 2 years and only cow grass mechanically trimmed.

I am seeking pointers to the local availability of
1)hexaflumuron or
2)diflubenzuron (aka DIMILIN)
as almost all has termite tracks up their trunks and I want to avoid any mass soil application or spraying.
Hoping to eliminate termite as 1 of many causes for poor fruits in both quality and quantity.

Excuse my asking for help on my 1st posting.

Hi Para, can't prune not as the Avocado are fruiting. Just did the 1st harvest for this year. Shall do it after the fruiting season.
Yes, I went to the Agriculture Park, near here. They are pruning the Jackfruits trees to 10 ~ 15 feet, small canopy, still the fruits are big & plenty. Experimenting with our Jackfruit trees. Shall give it a go.

The papaya is on a gradient slope, maybe about 10 degrees, slanting to the right where the small creeks runs. Hence I didn't do any 'hill'. Also when papaya had grown, the roots are all over the place and any hoeing shall break the roots. This farm, it's slightly sloped, both ends slopping to the middle, where the small creek runs.

Say, out of curiosity, how does a 'hill' perform during dry / extremely dry season? Am thinking of doing this for my banana to prevent toppling.
Hey your papaya harvesting already?

the similar effect can noticed from the banana trees. out of my 400 banana trees i have less than 5 trees that toppled with this method in my farm.

MJ:

Thanks. Banana is my first successful plant. The only thing is that i have cavendish in large amount of +- 30 trees which i can't sell yellow. Have to do some experiment on ripening. As for the others, they are just normal except  for the recent tall banana and red banana. looking to propagate them 
I'm still looking for more variety as collection.

btw, found some interesting ways to propagate;
1. http://www.ina.or.id/knoma-hpsp/fruit/HPSP...nana-Manual.pdf
2. http://www.cialca.org/files/files/extensio...ion_english.pdf
3. http://www.apcoab.org/uploads/files/1298295339pub_banana.pdf

Mr Farmer, i actually never seen people sell this reds in big quantity. might be a chance to open up the market 

Hi MrFarmer,

yeah once they are done fruiting then just prune them slowly. massive benefits are awaiting.

that's correct for the jackfruit trees. though shorter doesnt mean that the fruit will be smaller. as my sifu calls, Focused Channeling of Energy to the required areas. His trees grow 20 fruits and averages about 30-35kg each. so yes it can be done

well the "hill" has many advantages ie, no water log and minimise the chance of root rot, and more importantly it will also helping in on holding onto the tree trunks to prevent toppling over.

the similar effect can noticed from the banana trees. out of my 400 banana trees i have less than 5 trees that toppled with this method in my farm.

during dry/extremely dry season, i just put grass mulches to help conserve moisture and more importantly the hills for for my fertiliser input and prevent water logging.

papaya should be harvesting before end of april...hahaha...need to look for buyers...lolx

Btw, have you experience any disease outbreak on your bananas?
I would like to know any mitigation steps you implement to prevent diseases.
to date, i only experienced root borer problems and considering planting marigold as natural agent.

Btw, have you experience any disease outbreak on your bananas?
I would like to know any mitigation steps you implement to prevent diseases.
to date, i only experienced root borer problems and considering planting marigold as natural agent.

Elmer :

if you dont mind i would like to post my answer here also to your PM

=======================

RAS initial costing is too high for small time players because you dont get Economies of Scale.

unless you have RM 10-20 million sitting in your bank then its worth your time and effort.

actually RAS gives you control of labour because it requires less labour to operate the system.

well there are a few tilapia farmers in Hulu Langat, Semenyih & Broga that are quite big. but they are NOT RAS

=======================

if you are doing pond culture then your initial cost wouldn't be that high BUT you have to be very very careful with labour force as i know a few people who "manufacture" culvert pipes & others in KL/Selangor had closed down due to our Govt's Pemutihan Exercise

another thing i didnt read or maybe i missed, Where is this 8 acre of land ???

and seriously depending on your take-over price can you ROI in 1-2 years ?

Hi ParaOp

I was googling about Tilapia farming and it brought me to lowyat! 

I have a body of water, a lake to be precise, of about 200 acres.

Thinking of venturing into Tilapia farming.

Searching for info about capital(investment) and operational costs.......could you enlighten me on this since
you seem to have a handle on fish farming?

Thanks!

Mr Farmer,

what was the title of the book you bought from Mardi ??

am going there tomorrow
thanks

Hi ParaOp

I was googling about Tilapia farming and it brought me to lowyat! 

I have a body of water, a lake to be precise, of about 200 acres.

Thinking of venturing into Tilapia farming.

Searching for info about capital(investment) and operational costs.......could you enlighten me on this since
you seem to have a handle on fish farming?

Thanks!

Sorry

Whats RAS?

Hi prophetjul,

thanks for writing.

hadnt been in Fish Farming for like 5 years now.

If you have a place like 200 acres then you can "divide" into smaller cachement and rear non stop and thus giving you output everymonth or even every 2 weeks.

Capital is subjective. And there is no figure i can put out. It actually depends on how much you are able to put forward for this venture then only work backwards.

RAS : is Recirculating Aquaculture System which is usually housed in tanks and alot of factors like weather and fish quality can be monitored and controlled.