Durians are starting to drop now. Unfortunately, on average, 70% are rejects (substandard) due to primarily: early season, unexpected rains, squirrel holes, fungal attack, inconsistent quality and lack of tree care for the past decades. More have to be done to nurse the trees back to health. This will certainly be in the works immediately once the major infrastructure works are done and the worker comes onboard in a month’s time. Good news is, the balance 30% are really good, so I guess that’s a worthy consolation.
It’s also worth noting that this season, the flowering and fruiting stages are spread across too wide amongst all the trees, causing a longer season but with very low volume of droppings per time. Looks like we may not be able to sell much after all, compared to last year. The lesser number of durians available for sale is also very much driven by public perception of what’s considered “acceptable quality”.
When the market demands fruits of a certain look and physical condition, the use of chemicals is inevitable. That’s why our durians are often riddled with squirrel holes and all sorts of bug marks. Unfortunately, I would/can only sell those which are “near perfect” to cater to a certain market perception of what’s acceptable and “good”. That’s not to say, I use chemicals. In fact, because I don’t, only a small number turn out “near perfect”. Hence, there’s a lot of “wastage/rejects”.
If only people realise that food grown is to be shared with pests; or if conditions are not met, pests will have a share of it, so to speak. If a vegetable or fruit is blighted by disease, so be it. It’s meant to be. It’s sort of a survival of the fittest. If this happens, it’s very likely due to some ecological imbalance at the farm worthy of our attention. Lack of information and experience in this area may hinder the execution of an effective solution.
I shall end with a quote by Mark Shepard who aptly sums it up that when something goes south, it’s largely due to some forces of nature being at imbalance:
“If you’re growing something and trying really hard to keep it alive and fending off pests, you’re doing it wrong. Nature has a way to claim what it wants” – Mark Shepard (not verbatim)
