Maybe he is not looking at the local consumer market lei....?

Red Savina has excellent eating qualities even though it is really damn hot. A popular way of eating it is to make Chilli Poppers (ie remove seeds from ripe chilli core and fill it with melted cheese). On the international market, as well as local niche markets, the Red Savina does make its presence known.

I'm looking for African Bird's Eye chilli... Anybody knows anyone who supplies seeds in pulp?

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Added on January 31, 2008, 9:05 amOh ya... Red Savina is no longer the 2nd hottest chilli.... The first is the Dorset Naga at 950,000 Scovilles, and second is the Joloika Naga at 850,000 Scovilles. Red Savina ranks 3rd at the latest poll, at a mere 350,000 Scovilles. I'll try to get a proper ranking print out and post it here.

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Added on January 31, 2008, 10:18 amhttp://www.scovilleinstitute.com/periodic_table_071607.jpg

Note: The Dorset Naga has not yet been added to the table. To read about the Dorset Naga, read the following article:

http://www.dorsetnaga.com/

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Jan 31 2008, 10:18 AM

Haha... yea lar... niche market lor... I unfortunately happened to eat one when doing food tasting at Marriot... If you do eat one unknowlingly, don't drink water... take something dairy, like milk... The casein melds with the capsaicin well, reducing the heat greatly.

African Bird's Eye chilli ah? That's what Peri-Peri Sauce is made of... haha... I got the recipe for it... so thought of planting a few bushes just to get a good crop to make a few batches. Maybe I should improvise and use Malaysian Bird's Eye, or Thai Bird's Eye instead... See the result first...

You can ask them, and if they are willing to tell then ok lor... otherwise you may get information from really good books about OP like Pigout's Oil Palm Plantation Management, or the more scientific sort like Corley and Tinker's The Oil Palm... Pigout's should suffice, but to really develop and get good crops, you do need some hands-on experience. Trust me, nothing beats hands on experience. What you read in the literature can differ greatly when put into practice, hence the value of the senior planters.

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Added on February 8, 2008, 10:22 pmOn a different note, I've managed to get my hands on some Hungarian Cherry Chilli seeds, and some of them have begun to germinate finely. Has only been 5 days since first sowing and results are showing.

I've also planted some selected Tabasco Chillies, but unfortunately my gardener killed two of the important seedlings along with all my mint plants with weedicide. Now it figures why all my garlic, onion and potatoes have failed. Gonna put up a warning sign tomorrow, and if still my plants get killed, I'm gonna sack the gardener.

Anyone has Annaheim Chilli by chance?

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Feb 8 2008, 10:22 PM

Bro, RM20000 nett is not really worth it lar... For the same amount of labour and time consumed, there are other crops that would give better returns.

As a rule of thumb, follow the 80:20 Rule... Around 20% cost of production to 80% profit taking; About 20% of customer buying 80% of your products; 20% time needed to acheive 80% optimal production capacity. Otherwise it is not very sustainable lei...

When I first wrote my paper on vanilla production for my college thesis, what was found was that although Malaysia is tropical like Brazil, Tahiti and Madagascar, our climate is largely not suitable for vanilla to flower. Only the areas closer to the highlands can actually get the thing to optimal flowering. A single node on the vanilla vine can easily produce 15 to 20 pods at optimal flowering and pollination, but so far, few successes in the low-land areas. By the way, 15 processed pods equals to a kilo for grade A in Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and Tahiti.

I've seen the processed pods from the supplier, and the plants themselves. This is my own opinion, and I've no scientific backing to this, but the plants worry me. I was quite surprised that the pods were tiny in comparison to even those from India, Indonesia and Africa. The standard grading is 20cm minimum, and those I've seen are only about 15cm. In terms of intensity of flavour, I find it barely matching the standard either.

Now I'm not saying that the vanilla industry is not profitable... Clearly it is, but what I'm pointing out is that there are many factors to consider. (I) Clearly, not everywhere in Malaysia can the crop be planted
(II) Labour problem; Famlily enterprize not great model unless you have 6-7 members in your family or so for every acre of land.
(III) High initial cost of production, coupled by high maintenance costs over the intervening years; can be offset by GAP

There are some more points, but I'm in a hurry now. You may like to read up on India's and PNG's vanilla industry. That should give a good example of what possible scenarios may take place.

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Added on February 21, 2008, 4:02 pmBro, RM20000 nett is not really worth it lar... For the same amount of labour and time consumed, there are other crops that would give better returns.

As a rule of thumb, follow the 80:20 Rule... Around 20% cost of production to 80% profit taking; About 20% of customer buying 80% of your products; 20% time needed to acheive 80% optimal production capacity. Otherwise it is not very sustainable lei...

When I first wrote my paper on vanilla production for my college thesis, what was found was that although Malaysia is tropical like Brazil, Tahiti and Madagascar, our climate is largely not suitable for vanilla to flower. Only the areas closer to the highlands can actually get the thing to optimal flowering. A single node on the vanilla vine can easily produce 15 to 20 pods at optimal flowering and pollination, but so far, few successes in the low-land areas. By the way, 15 processed pods equals to a kilo for grade A in Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and Tahiti.

I've seen the processed pods from the supplier, and the plants themselves. This is my own opinion, and I've no scientific backing to this, but the plants worry me. I was quite surprised that the pods were tiny in comparison to even those from India, Indonesia and Africa. The standard grading is 20cm minimum, and those I've seen are only about 15cm. In terms of intensity of flavour, I find it barely matching the standard either.

Now I'm not saying that the vanilla industry is not profitable... Clearly it is, but what I'm pointing out is that there are many factors to consider. (I) Clearly, not everywhere in Malaysia can the crop be planted
(II) Labour problem; Famlily enterprize not great model unless you have 6-7 members in your family or so for every acre of land.
(III) High initial cost of production, coupled by high maintenance costs over the intervening years; can be offset by GAP

There are some more points, but I'm in a hurry now. You may like to read up on India's and PNG's vanilla industry. That should give a good example of what possible scenarios may take place.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Feb 21 2008, 04:02 PM

Paraoptical,

Yep, there are a dozen or so uses. I'll just mention the more common uses.

Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) are used as mulch, as studies have shown that the amount of potassium found in fresh EFBs is almost as high as that of Muriate of Potash normally used for fertilizer application.

Mesocarp fibre and shell are commonly used as fuel for the mill. This reduces dependency on fossil fuel. On average, a well managed mill can substiture 40% of its fossil fuel dependency with fibre and shell.

The ash from the burnt fibre and shell can be used for nitrogen and carbon fertilizer, but Malaysian government has now prohibited most companies from producing bunch ash, save for a select few. Apparently bunch ash production is pollutive.

A more nouvelle uses of mesocarp fibre include the manufacturing of fibre mats, which can be used for nursery matting, orchid fibre pots, door mats. I know of at least one company who does this as a core business, and they have been doing this for the last 10 years. Very profitable it seems. A more recent use I saw was as fibreboards and carton board material.

Crushed OP shell has commonly been used for soiless media. It has good drainage, but at the same sufficient water retention ability. It is also much easily sterilized compared to soil, a common practice in well established and managed nurseries.

Some research is still on-going for the use of the cellulose fibre from the mesocarp as feeder for bioethanol production, though how it would turn out I am still to find out.

OP fibre has been used to make paper as well, but from the quality of the paper I received, it seem too rough for everyday use. I've also come to know that there is this company from China that is buying coconut and OP logs for making parquet.

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Added on February 23, 2008, 10:30 amOops, sorry about the parquet part... Forgot you asked about the fibre, not trunk...

Some time ago the fibre was also used for mushroom farming, but it appears to have lost favour compared to rice husk. Probably problem with sterilizing the fibre. But as far as I have observed, it is an excellent media for mushroom growing due to the high sugar content of the cellulignic fibre.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Feb 23 2008, 10:30 AM

Bro... if you want to sterillize one pot, then fine... use those methods... I'm talking about 10-20 tonnes of soil lei.... where got oven or pressure cooker that big? Besides, you wouldn't to destroy soil structure lei... All soils have a threshold dryness that once dried past it, you can never return moisture to it anymore. So the most common method used is steam sterillization.

Erm... Actually palm oil has been known to be a good substitute for diesel more than 15 years ago... I believe it was first brought up in 1990. The reason why it took 20 years to develop what we now call palm biodiesel, was because of the controversies surrounding oil palm. Do note that oil palm and oil palm products are highly political items; the only other plant life that is more political are orchids.

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Added on February 28, 2008, 10:05 amBy the by, anybody here have any suggestion for a suitable potting mix to use for chillies? The mix I used showing different results: Nursery premixed soil, seedling looking yellowish and like not vigour; Alluvial clay of fine particles, the seedling is doing very well, vigour is very good, and leaf appear as healthy green.

Need to transplant some 30 Hungarian Cherry Chilli seedlings soon. Also have Lilac Thai Bird's Eye and Thai Bird's Eye to transplant within the next 2 weeks.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Feb 28 2008, 10:05 AM

Mmm.... But frankly speaking i'm quite sceptical about "biofuel" per se... Sure it can alleviate some of out fuel needs, but i hope people do not forget that agriculture is very resource intensive. Water is a major resource used consistently, as well as fertilizer, some of which comes from the petroleum industry;Most need to be mined, like Rock Phosphate (RP)and Ground Magnesium Limestone (GML), which again raises the issue of land degradation. As it is, we are in fact at the point of having a SHORTAGE of clean drinking water... and water is the most abundant resource on Earth.

I'm not saying we should not do agriculture, but what I want to say is do agriculture in a responsible way... Burning food for car fuel is stupid, period. If use waste products of agriculture, like fresh pruned fronds of OP, wheat sheafs and rice husks, or maybe even sugarcane molasses for ethanol production, then fine; these have not much other uses except maybe mulching. But to use corn grains, palm oil, sugarcane sugar etc to convert into fuel, I call that irresponsible, especially when millions of people are dying from starvation. And right now, the situation is made worse because of the demand of such foods for the use in making this so called "biofuel" giving rise to food shortage and immense price hikes. Food prices have literally jumped 30-40% over the last few months!!! For the better off few, we can still afford that sort of price hike now; but for those in a lower income group? What becomes of them? And if we look at the bigger picture, world food production is not enough even right now to sustain the 6.2 billion world population, what more when we start burning food for fuel?

Then some idiot comes up with idea "Let's use a non-food crop instead". No difference. We're still straining the meagre resources left on this planet. The end result is still the same; We're burning precious resources and not cycling them properly. This is what I call irresponsible. This is what I call short-sightedness.

My uncle once told me this: "Doing intensive problem solving is like a person studying the anus of a cockroach; how it looks, how it functions, how big or small it is, and how well designed it is". As I ponder on it, I just feel that although it is important to be intense when solving problems, sometimes we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. If we look too intensely at one thing, we become short-sighted about other things. Yes, biofuel could very well solve our fuel problems, but does it fit in well with preventing further land degradation? Or water quality degradation? Is it sensible to address fuel shortage problems by burning food that could otherwise be used to feed people dying from hunger, another global problem?

To me, in this world there can never be a perfect system. The best we can do is to choose the lesser of two weasels. And biofuel is not the lesser weasel in the current case.

Hahaha... bro, my Hungarian fellas are ok so far... i need to transplant them into something better lar... The one with yellowing problem is my Tabasco Chilli... Three seedling that I transplanted initially not growing anywhere as vigourous as the single seedling I left as control. I'm thinking along the line of sunlight deficiency, as the place where I kept the three received only 5 hours partial sunlight, about 1.5 hours early morning light, 2 hours afternoon light, and 1.5 hours evening light. The control received about 6 hours sunlight, but full sunlight. My guess is that Chlorophyl A in chillies need to receive at least 5 hours full sunlight to properly convert soil nutrients to sugars at my place. Probably because of higher cloud cover here.

I'd be glad to receive your chilli seeds. However got some bad news: none of the stored Kulai Red seeds I had germinated. One year old only and viability of seeds kaput. Also, my Thai-Cherry hybrid has died from phytoptora root fungus. Fortunately I sowed some of the selfed seeds early on, so now I have a crossing population that will be ready in about 4 weeks time for transplant. Hopefully I can get a good enough parent-type for further hybrid development.

Rexis,

Yes but i don't think it is due to that. I have a feeling it is the media used, as the plant that died was using a soiless nursery mix, so my guess is that due to the partially sterile environment it was grown, the plant was not well inocculated against phytoptora root rot. One good reason was that i potted both the bought plant (an ornamental chili) and my Tabasco seed grown plants in the same soil media. My Tabasco is fine, although somewhat stunted (recovering now, proves my sunlight hypothesis to an extent), but the ornamental fella died fast. Similarly, other seed grown plantlets are doing fine. So my observation now is that early stage inocculation is crucial to seedling survival and development. This proves the EM arguement to be valid; at least I'm quite convinved about it.

Expanding on this further, I would like to point out that many plants do have very close symbiotic relationships with fungi. Even more so if the plant originates from a climax community primary forest, such as that in the Amazon and Malaysia. Chili plants in that purvue would most likely be one of those plants, althought they may not be as fussy about who their symbion is. Think about this in a scientific and logical manner: How could a seed with almost no endosperm germinate and develop into a massive plant by comparison? Hence, it is to my view that for good cropping for chili at least, seedlings should not be bought for planting as the seedlings may not have the right inocculum to help it establish itself. Instead, seedlings should be raised from seed in-situ using the soil media that would eventually become the growing medium for the mature plant. In that way, the associated microbes are not disturbed, and the seedlings would have the right combination of inocculum to ensure survival and proper development at the specific site of planting.

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Added on March 12, 2008, 1:22 pmBro Rexis,

You got me at activated carbon. Activated carbon is used for a couple of reasons: (1) As a 'scrubber', i.e. to absorb soil toxins and lechates (2) As a pH balancer through redox reaction, i.e. balancing negative and positive ions in soil; important when talking about soil nutrient uptake and release.

By any chance you have the article in soft copy? Can send me?

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 12 2008, 01:22 PM

Haha... yea, rexis... Something like that. The process is called hardening. There are many ways of doing this, and there is no hard and fast rule about it. However, for seedlings raised in nursery beds, this hardening process is still a must, especially after transplanting from nursery pot to main growing pot (or bag whichever you're using).

Mmm... activated carbon to control fungus? Moisture regulator? He talking about mulching ah? Well maybe the guy did not see any mushrooms growing where his plants are so he assumed can prevent fungus lor.... But the truth is that activated carbon, even in pellet form, is a pretty good medium for mycelium adherance. As for water regulator.... that depends. As a mulch, activated carbon doesn't have much water holding capacity, unless you soak it for about a week and after that keep it wet at all times. But if he's talking about cation exchange capacity with regard to water, then yea, it does make a difference.

By the by, please do note that carbon is basis of all life on earth. So don't think that carbon is not important in soil and nutritient; it is the opposite for carbon is the most important component, but most ignored.

Hardening depends on the manner your seedling exits the system lor... Tissue cultured plants like orchids for example requires stepwise exposure to the environment, eg. controlled sunlight exposure, air contact etc. Like for hydroponic, the main reason they do wind hardening is because the seedlings grow on liquid based media, the fluid content of the cellular matrix is much higher than normal; so should there be a drought period, or if water in soil/media after transplant insufficiently high, it may cause the plant to bend or snap. By hardening using wind, the cuticle layer is toughened to withstand wind damage better lor...

Very dependant one lar this hardening process... but is crucial to do it anyhow to reduce transplanting shock to seedlings later on.

Erm... kernel cake ah? hahaha.... Actually got do one. My company got process it lor.. Quite a good response. But the main reason why maize and grains are still used is because of politics.... Ministers-minister got interest in certain companies that sell such stuff....

Mmm... do note that the main reason why grain prices have leaped so much over the recent months is because of US bioethanol production. Whatever grains US has, all kena sapu by bioethanol producers.

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Added on March 13, 2008, 11:37 amkianwei,

Erm.... organic farming = growing with weeds? Not necessary so... Ever heard of mulching ah? Plastic mulching not considered organic mulching, can still use wood shavings ma? good control of weeds. Wont eliminate weeds, but can at leat control them from getting out of hand.

Mmm... sure 100% organic or not? No use of inorganic pesticide is one thing, how about the fertilizer? Are those fertilizers i see 100% organic or fortified organic fertilizers? If organic fertilizer, how do you do quality control to ensure crop uniformity?

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Added on March 13, 2008, 12:11 pmrexis,

Eh... got company doing that de lei... check out this company called Vermicast. Although they sell the earthworm casting as fertilizer, the also sell the excess worms as feed. Not sure if they process the worms first or not, but that's what the exhibitor told us at MICCOS. Oh, by the by, my company is also doing research on earthworms, and our earthworm breeding programme is a great success. We should be able to publish our findings in The Planter soon.

Hmmm.... I have to point something out, I hope i have not said this before. Malaysia has very limited arable land. In Peninsular Malaysia, save for our forested areas, we have used up all of our good agriculture land. Whatever land still available for development are largely marginal soils which are not very good for agriculture. East Malaysian land bank is still quite big, but then again most of them are peat soils, which give rise to a number of issues related to agri (i) Agriculture quality (ii) Cost effectiveness (iii) Environmental and social issues. There are many more, but these are the core issues at hand when thinking of developing peat land.


So the real issue at hand in Malaysia is not trying to just increase production of food crops, but how to best utilize existing agriland and make it sustainable in the long run. If compared to Indon or Thailand, Malaysia really has little arable land, and so in terms of scale of production we really cannot compete against them. But in terms of quality we have a definite fighting chance IF the focus of the scientific community and the agriculturist is on the same path.

Frankly speaking i'm very dissapointed with the government agencies dealing with agriculture. They are more willing to spend millions of ringgit doing research work that bears little or no significant results or value, than to work together with dedicated individuals to push the forefronts of the industry. Look at how advanced the crops that are being produced in Europe and US. They are talking about a 10-20% improvement in crop performance per year!! And Malaysia? We're barely improving some of our crop performance by 1% per year!!

This is appalling to say the least. It's a shame that the government agencies, who supposedly have huge funds backing them are not able to achieve what some in the private sector are achieving today; worse still, those private sector fellas achieved their results with less than a fraction of the cost government agencies are incurring. What is even more appalling is that some INDIVIDUALS are getting far better results than the government agencies.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 13 2008, 12:11 PM

Rexis,

There is a lot of dispute regarding the use of 'weeds' as living mulch. After all, a 'weed' is any plant life that is not the planted (crop) found growing within the vicinity or area of the said crop. Even beneficial plants like those used in Integrated Pest Management, if found growing outside of their designated grow-zones (i.e. palm circle, rentice etc.) are considered 'weeds'.

Some of the proposed disadvantages surrounding the use of 'weeds' as living mulch include:
(i) Competition with crop plants. Do note that weeds are usually highly competitive plants, which mean they quickly drain the immediate surrounding of important nutrients crucial to crop growth and performance. For perennial, care against weeds is crucial especially in the establishing years leading up to first harvest. There after, weeding regimes may be loosened a little, but kept running. For annuals, this is even more crucial, as annuals are very similar to many weeds in terms of growth pattern. There have been numerous studies done by agronomist on weed competition, but as the papers they write tend to be somewhat dry and unexciting, not many people really care to read about it. Weeding on plantations are not done for no reason lei, and chemical costs wouldn't be so darn high if weeding was not crucial.

(ii) 'Weeds' draw nutrients locked underground and deposit them on the top soil layer. This notion is not true at all. Most weeds like sedges, grasses, reeds etc have a shallow root system, which is within the top 15-20cm of soil. The top 30-40cm of soil is still considered top soil, so i cannot understand how weeds are able to draw nutrients locked underground to the top soil layer if their root system only goes down to 20cm. As for what the sweetcorn farmers you mentioned earlier said, note what you wrote: "... they let them grow before they harvest..". Meaning to say they allow the weeds to grow when harvest season is approaching, right? Then that would make economic sense, as a few things have to considered here (a) You want to reduce cost, and since harvest season is only 1-1.5 months or so away, what for apply weedicide? (b) Your crop may be affected by the weedicide, reducing it's appeal, i.e. weedicide damage on corn cob, weedicide residue etc. © Again relating to the harvest season. You're going to harvest everything soon, and after tilling the land, you still need to apply weedicide. Might as well do it after harvest during tillage since it is just a couple of weeks away.

I think the plant you are referring to as looking like eggplant is called Mucuna bracteata. That is not a weed unless it grows where it shouldn't. The key differences with that plant and your average weed is that (a) unlike weeds, Mucuna is very deep rooted, up to 100-120cm depending on soil type and elevation. This means that it is effective and efficient in drawing underground nutrients up to the top soil level. (b) Mucuna is shade intolerant, meaning it will die back as the crop plant grows and forms a shade. This means that at least for tree crops, the shade the tree forms as it matures will ensure that little immediate competition is given by Mucuna over time. © Mucuna is gregarious in growth, meaning that the organic matter it deposits (through die back, root mass etc) is very much higher than weeds. This also means that the deep drawn nutrients from underground are deposited abundantly right at the top soil layer, making it easily accessed by the root system of crop plants. (d) Mucuna is leguminous, meaning that it has root nodules that provide growth space for beneficial rhizo bacterium to grow. Rhizo bacterium by the way, are bacteria that fixes atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, thereby enriching soil fertility. Read up on the nitrogen cycle for more understanding.

(iii) 'Weeds' keep soil moist. Partially true. Weed root mass and body do lock in soil moisture, and their rather extensive root system on the top soil layer does keep the top soil layer somewhat friable. But that's just the top soil layer. For annuals, maybe that is more crucial, but perennial not so.

Now, 'weeds' do have some plus points worth noting, although the way they are meant to be used does not make them 'weeds':
(i) Green cover. This is part of IPM method. Provide herbivorous insects with a green space where they can feed and live, and they won't disturb your plants so much. Green cover also provides shelter and breeding place for beneficial insects that control the troublesome ones.

(ii) Ground cover. Ensure soil in non-planting zones does not flow-off, otherwise known as soil erosion. However, this role can be substituted by other plant forms.

Over fertility is a major problem in many start up farm. It could be due to many reasons why something as such happens. Maybe there wasn't a soil nutrient analysis that was done; or maybe just plain ignorance. Under fertilizing the soil and over fertilizing the soil results in the same thing: Reduced yields. The equation does not work where >Fertilizer = >Productivity. There is a threshold level for fertilizers. This, as with all things biological in nature, is dependent on many factors. The most important factor, and one that we most definitely have control on, is the soil type. Different soils have different nutrient holding capacity. Selangor Series soils are more balanced, so is the Serdang Series. Acid sulphate soils on the other hand are rather troublesome to manage, as their nutrient holding capacity fluctuates quick broadly. (Acid sulphate soils narmally are the result of peat soils breaking down over time). Needless to say, sandy soils have the worst nutrient holding capacity, so fertilizer regimes must be more frequent, but in much more controlled amounts.

The second thing that is somewhat in our control is the crop type. Different crop species are known for their differing intensities on fertilizers. Leaf crops live leaf vegetables need more Nitrogen (N), so more nitrogen based fertilizers like Ammonium Nitrate or Urea should be applied instead of the other 3 components. For fruiting types, you need more Potassium (K), so fertilizers like Muriate of Potash should be applied more. That's just a general guide, but the key point here is that as a planter, you MUST KNOW what you are planting. No short cuts.

Rexis, I feel that what the orchard manager saw was more of an associated occurence. If truly the orchard has been over-fertilized till the point of crop reduction, how would additional fertilizer brought up by weeds help recover it? No, i feel that it is true that the weeds helped bring balance to the nutrient status of the orchard, but not by bringing in extra nutrients from deep soil; instead, i feel what had happened was that the vigorous growth nature of the weeds have managed to sap the soil of so much nutrient that balance managed to be achieved. As you noted, the orchard was heavily overgrown. However, leave it like that for a further one year, then as soil fertility reduces, the crop production may very well fall again.

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Added on March 14, 2008, 2:51 pmEkestima,

Yes, agriculture and aquaculture most definitely have bright futures. The only problem that lies ahead is there is no consensus or integrative networking amongst all the farmers/planters/operator. Everyone just minds their own business; there is no unity. Just look at Thailand for a simple and quick reference, and compare Malaysia. Maybe Thailand is too advanced for Malaysia; let's just compare Indonesia to Malaysia then. I dunno how many people watches Agrotech on RTM, but if you have been watching it long enough, you would notice that 80% of the farms and techniques featured are from countries outside of Malaysia, especially Thailand and Indon.

If we want to be productive and effective, we have to push the limits. We have to crash through the barriers. We have to have a corporate spirit. I really love the quote the CEO of my company uses:" If you want to have fried eggs, you've got to crack the egg first".

Call me competitive, but I cannot stand staring at the backside of others who are running far ahead. And it's not because it's an ugly sight seeing flabby buttocks jiggling up and down.... hahaha.... At the very least I have to be running side by side with the others.

Now i don't mean that since other nation got send people into space, we should too. What i'm saying is that we must measure ourselves to what those at our level can do. Once we've broken the barrier, we move to a higher level. No such thing as 'skipping grades'. And who's at our level? Thailand? Indon? Phillipines? or are they considered too "off-track"? Then in that case, compare ourselves to Taiwan, a nation not recognized by the UN, and yet so much more advanced than ourselves.

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Added on March 14, 2008, 3:11 pmHaha.... Rexis my brother, i cannot share too much information regarding the earthworm breeding to you lar... At least not until the scientist working on it decides to publish their study lor... work ethics. Furthermore, if you decide to start one breeding plot, you may run some of the smaller operators out of business lei... harharhar....! Maybe i could share more with you if i manage to be at Midvalley gathering this 29th March.

The Planter is an exclusive journal that is published by the Incorporated Society of Planters. ISP is an international body, with members from various countries, usually ex-colonial nations. Hence, being rather exclusive, membership is likewise 'exclusive'. My company has been encouraging me to join the Society, but i've yet to formally hand in my proposal. Too much work to do till no time to get the necessary signatures. I may decide to get it signed by end of March, since after the last presentation I made, the signatories have been much impressed. I hope that impression would at least motivate them to endorse my candidature to the Society.

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 14 2008, 03:13 PM

bro rexis,

Haha... Not yet settle lar... Everyone in the committee busy with Good Friday and Easter lei.... Easter Sunday we will convene and settle the issues lor... I'll give my final word 3-4 days before the 29th?

Hmm... in Sepang, I used to rear a lot of fowls. Ducks and geese.... despite quite good at controlling weeds, they make a mess of the soil lei.. I kept Muscovy Whites, and those typical brown geese you see in kampungs. Before keeping the ducks and geese, i had kept Guinea Fowls, which are these very beautiful ground birds from Africa. Also good in controlling weeds, slugs, snails, and snakes. Only downside is that they are crazy noisemakers, especially the females. I only had one female who was quiet and very tame; i hand picked her as a juvenile. Oh, and one other thing is that although they seem flightless and prefer to run about on the ground, they are very good flyers. Meaning to say, they can fly very far distances, even on top of a two storey house roof.

mmm.... Funny you mentioned about oil extraction... here at the RD, we also extract tea tree oil, along with a number of other plant based essential oils. Just as a research interest, although for tea tree oil, we are one the largest exporter of pure oil to the European market. I can't show you or tell you how the extractor we works, but let me just give you a key word: steam.

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Added on March 17, 2008, 8:32 pmoh ya... ps: before you go off using steam or hot water etc to extract oil from crushed seed, please do note that heating cost is very VERY expensive... just had a look at my Heat Chamber electricity bill.... almost fainted... Hahaha....

This post has been edited by Michael J.: Mar 17 2008, 08:32 PM

5th April ah...? Yor.... maybe if i leave early morning can make it lor... 4th April night i've got Church Council meeting lei.... But i'm keen to come; need to get a present for my sweets ler... XD...!

Hey, i've some soil media results to share from my chili growth trial. Let me just list it out simply:

Exp - Optimum structural matrix of soil for nursery and pot cultivation of Capsicum annum var. Tabasco (New Mexico)

Obj - To determine the optimum soil composition and structural matrix for best growth and establishment of Tabasco chili peppers

Test - i. Common nursery premix of 3:2:1 ratio consisting of burnt soil, peat soil, and high organic clay loam (inland alluvial soil)
ii. Self mixing of 1:1 ratio consisting burnt laterite and high organic clay loam (low acid sulphate soil)
iii. Natural occuring inland alluvial soil, of clay loam consistency
iv. Natural occuring marine alluvial soil, of clay loam consistency

Pre - i. All seedlings used are of comparable size and vigour, with no clear advantage against each other, each one at the four leaf stage during transplanting
ii. Each 20cm D x 30cm H pot was planted with 3 seedlings each at equilateral triangle (equal distance) to even out competition among seedlings
iii. Soon after transplanting into respective media, all seedlings were given equal treatment of rooting hormone and plant growth regulator to reduce transplanting shock, at a rate of 1:500 ratio hormone powder + growth regulator per seedling

Obsv - Although the balanced nursery premix was hypothesized to give the best results, observation showed otherwise. Of the 4 treatments, it was found that the self-mix gave rise to the best growth of seedlings, followed by natural inland alluvial, natural marine alluvial, and lastly the nursery premix. On closer observation, it was found that soil compaction had occured extensively in the nursery premix, possibly brought about by higher watering regime during the drought period between January - February period. Extensive compaction of soil matrix had also occured in inland alluvial soil and marine alluvial soil, although it was observed that despite soil compaction, seedlings planted had managed to develop far more superiorly than seedlings in nursey premix. Seedlings in both inland and marine alluvial had managed to reach 10 leaf stage within 2.5 weeks since transplanting. The most alarming yet gratifying observation was made with the self-mix, as seedlings transplanted were far more superior in growth and development than seedlings in other soils. Seedlings planted in 1:1 self-mix had achieved 10 leaf stage within 1.5 weeks, and at sampling point on 3rd week since transplant had already acheived 15 leaf stage. First branching is expected to take place within the 4 week. Leaf area of seedlings in self-mix were observed to be 5 times that of seedlings planted in inland and marine alluvials, while leaf area against nursery premix was 7 times greater.

It was observed that the water holding capacity of each soil class differed greatly. The self-mix had the best drainage, with loosely packed soil grains. The nursery premix had the second best drainage, although soil compaction was extensive and water penetration was far slower than self-mix. This was followed by the marine alluvial soil. The inland alluvial was found to have the worst drainage. It is therefore inferred that optimal soil structure for chili cultivation would be one with high porosity, easily friable structure, but with moderate ion holding capacity (makes a weak doughnut shape when mixed with water, sandy loam consistency, low compaction risk). It is therefore postulated that riverine alluvials, which are characterized with high sediment content, sandy loam consistency, and generally good drainage ability to be most suitable for chili cultivation. Nonetheless, due to its porous nature, higher input of fertilizers are required, either organic or inorganic.


I'm still keeping this test moving as i would like to see how far the seedlings can develop before having problems, especially those planted in my self-mix. Will be getting a fertigation hobby kit this Friday, possibly getting it up and running latest this Sunday. I will be using my self-mix to test the system.. Don't really trust cocopeat as media.

Haha... That's En. Ridzuan...! Kuala Bernam is one of my coconut trial areas. You probably would have seen some of my research materials there.... i mean apart from the Pandan...

Nice Jatropha

Guys, I may not be able to come now.... Some screw-ups happened, and my whole unit is being held responsible to resolve it. Sorry... was really looking forward to it...

Don't seem like it's something that can be resolved anytime soon... Basically involves restructuring the whole thing, reorganizing it, and implementing new protocols. Even if i put in my leave form, it may not be approved.

Hey, just a little update on my small project.

I've started a fertigation system, but I'm not going to follow MARDI's method by using cocopeat. Instead, I'll be using my own mix of soil. Unfortunately, because of the limited time i have each day, i've yet to fully set up the system. I've planted 5 cultivars of chilies in 2 bag groups, consisting of Tabasco, Hungarian Cherry, Thai Bird's Eye, Lilac Bird's Eye, and Tepin Hybrid. In another ten bags, I'm going to plant 4 cultivars of chilies, and 1 cultivar of cherry tomatoes. The chilies are Ipoh F1, Kulai F1, Indon Kerinting, and Malaysian Bird's Eye.

Today, I managed to acquire some Yitu chili seeds, and some super hot chili seeds, which I feel is Xi'an chili. With those two, I now have a chili germplasm of 10 cultivars from various nations to work with. My current breeding plan is to improve our cultivars, namely the Malaysian Bird's Eye and Kulai/Langkap/Ipoh Reds. What I'm looking for is not just increased productivity, but also early maturity and disease resistance.

By the by, I'm terminating my garlic, potato, onion and mint development ideas. Once again, my gardener killed them all using weedicide, so since the programme keeps getting interrupted, I will stop it. Some good news is that my carrots are doing fine, and the coffee seeds i sown are starting to germinate. It has been almost 2 months since I sowed the last batch, and only now are they germinating.