Replanting phase 2

The first task of Phase 2 is to plough the land. The land needs to be ploughed twice. The first plough is very important as this sets both the depth and line. The optimum depth which the plough disc needs to flocculate the soil is at least one feet.

To accomplish this consistency is not only a man and machine consideration. It is also dependent on soil and weather conditions. Since it has been raining quite heavily, the soil structure is very wet and this would mean the tractor would need to proceed at a slower pace to plough. The general rule of thumb is – it is better to plough when it’s bone dry as this ensures consistent depth. But since we have been having a freaky spell of heavy rains recently – we would need to bring in a heavy duty plough set and a four by four tractor to get the right depth. The correct depth will ensure optimal mix between the new soil that has been dregded from the trenches and the old soil.

This is critical – the correct ratio to new and old soil mix is 3:7. If this stage is not done properly. Then it would seriously affect the second ploughing.

Quality control is very important.

After the first plough. The land is fallowed to solarized for a period of at least three weeks to a month to further extract out excess moisture and allow the soil to aerate and stabilise.

Based on the freaky weather we have been experiencing. I am not confident at all that we can get three weeks of sunny and hot weather to allow us to plough to quality. It’s conceivable from this point onwards it will be wet thru out the whole of the remainder of the year.

The quality for the second plough will be pulled back to maybe two weeks after the first plough.

After that we will prepare the lining that is when the planting points need to be calculated, fine tuned and marked out on the land. For oil palm the optimal distance between one tree to another is 30 feet (143 per hectare). This is arranged in a series of interconnected equilateral triangles orientated along a North South axis to benefit from maximum sun exposure.

During the inter growth period when the oil palm is still young and unproductive, banana will be grown in the rows.