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

This post has been edited by poks: Apr 2 2013, 08:57 AM

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.

Ah, yes, the methods of Macro-propagation looks simple enough. I think it's do-able. Too bad that my small farm is almost full, otherwise I shall try this out.

Meeting my buyers either this or next week. Shall check with them and inquire if there is any market. Yeah, there is always a chance of getting good fruits to the market.

Thanks &
Good Luck.

Hi poks,

well after getting advice from my sifu and my good friend Joel, managed to keep the disease to "Banana Leaf Spot".

Most important is to make sure no water logged area and also spray some chemical to minimise the outbreak once spotted.
No root borer at my place though *touch wood*

But those borers are heading for my jackfruit trees but am controlling them haha....

The papayas are coming along nicely

Check on the book that I got from Mardi.
There are 2 listed here
Banana Corm Borer, Pengorek umbisi pisang
Rawatan
Rawatan hendaklah dilakukan pada rumpun pisang yang diserang terdiri daripada pokok ibu dan sulur. Siram pangkal pokok degan racun perosak chlorpyrifos (contoh: Dursban 73, 35ml/4.5 liter air)

Pokok yang diserang hendaklah ditebang, umbisinya digorek, dicincang dan didedahkan kepada cahaya matahari supaya larva dan kepompong mati.

and

Banana Stem Weevils, Pengorek batang pisang
Rawatan
same as above.

I have some Banana stem weevils problem. I don't treat, just cull it, cut to small pieces and left it under strong sun. Get a good stock and replant later.

Good luck.

Mr Farmer,

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

am going there tomorrow
thanks

hi guys, wondering whats the best way to market my salted eggs?

how do you guys market your foods?

currently I am selling to retails and kopitiam....

if you guys got the ins and outs and secret in dealing with this people then please let me know....

business to business is my first venture...my past business is business to consumer....

Mr Para & Mr Farmer,

Thanks.
I'm practising the same as Mr Farmer.
Cut, dissect the affected tree & dig the crom if necessary.

currently 2 tree were cut down due to this weevils. now testing to propagate some berangan by crom. hopefully some good result.

This post has been edited by poks: Apr 8 2013, 08:06 AM

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?

wow!...200 hundred acres of water body, thats huge!
you can intergrated farming like ducks with fish

Serangga Perosak Buah-buahan Tropika Malaysia

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.

ParaOp

Thanks for replying.

We were thinking of using the cage system as we have the water body size.
We are also thinking of the vertically integrated system from cultivation/production to filleting/freezing/packing.

As far as Capex is concerned, we have no limits. We have access to funding.
What would be a the ball park investment per acre?

In your opinion, how much would be the average operating costs in RM per ton of fish?

Thanks for sharing!

Hi Farmer,

How is your shopping for the sprayer? Do you mind to share infromation about the sprayer that can reach to 40-50 fleets?

HI Teratai,
No luck

Mist Blower (backpack), it's about 15 to 25 ft high (with a micronex head attached, reduce the droplets to micron size)

Seen some photos of people using back pack power sprayer with long lance. I think for pest control, wastage is quite high. For foilar spray, fertilizer, I guess it's ok. Another thing, the long lance looks heavy, difficult to handle in the field.

Still scratching head.

Rain stopped. Off to farm.

If 200acres is entirely water size with depth 10ft and above, it's a huge lake.
Question to consider, how well you know the lake, what's in it? It can make a difference.
How about the security etc?

Having access to large funding, wonders can be done.
Despite that, you would want to avoid as much mistakes and time wastage.

There are numerous downstream activities that can be done with Tilapia.
But I believe, one step at a time is better approach as you can stabilize yourself with experience learnt before moving downstreams.onl
Yet again, with $$, you can short cut and hire the expert know how people to do the work.
I myself prefer to hands on everything, will only leave it to managers once the ship had been steadied.

I myself is in the Aqua Feed business, where my department mainly handling Tilapia Feed business.
I'm also in the Tilapia farming, small farm with 2 ponds. I also secure my clients would be able to sell their fish when harvest.

My feed cost in my farm is about RM3.50 - RM4.50 per kg of fish depending of what I am doing with it. Market ex-farm price vary from RM8-RM10 per kg. Fluctuations depends on demand and supply.
Feed cost would be your largest operating cost. How efficiently you balance cost vs benefit is the key. How efficiently you convert your FCR. We usually aim to have lower FCR to be more profitable. Yet, on another hand, lower FCR with better margin may not neccessary means more profits.
As for other operating cost, it entirely depend on yourself.

Lastly, most important is the market and your location.
Certain location does not command a good price.

Oh yes, prices fluctuations play a major part. Papaya in my area dropped by 50% recently. No eye see. Waiting for my flight to Krabi for some time off. Deal with it when I'm back.