A Year In The Life of a Durian Grower

My wife is always looking thru various Thai websites.  Most of these are food blogs so she can torture herself looking at pictures of Thai dishes.  But today she came across a website that she know would get my attention...and it wasn't about desserts one makes in the kitchen.

No.  This was a lot better than reading about food.  What she found was a wonderful post from a Thai durian grower.  Not a grower in the orchard growing sense, but growing the durian that the farmers and home owners come to purchase.  He is one of the hard working individuals supplying grafted durian plants.

My wife went thru his entire post of around 60 pictures and what it took to get a grafted durian plant ready to sell from just a plain old seed.  I thought it was cool as hell.  I felt it was interesting enough to make the effort to share it with my tropical fruit hunters friends. 

All of the pictures are from the www.pantip.com website forum.  I take no credit for anything in the original post.  I am not profiting from any of these pictures or trying to profit from them, so I hope no one has an issue with me recreating the post here so I can share it with those not able to read Thai.  Also, Google Translate does a shitty shitty job at the translation.  Enough so that reading it back to my wife caused us to giggle quite a bit.  Here is the link to the original site to give full credit where credit is due...and if you want to try your hand at reading Thai:  
http://pantip.com/topic/34169913

My wife translated the post and I took notes.  So, if there are any inaccuracies, mistakes, and such, then it is all her fault!  Seriously, she did the best she could and did so under duress...well, more like annoyance with my begging and whining for her to sit down and do this for me!  The rest is in the hands of my listening skills.  So the narrative below is my recreation along with personal embellishments of course.  Regardless, I wanted to get the man's story out.  I hope you find it as interesting as I did.  Unfortunately, I don't have the guy's name.

This guy grew up in a farming family and didn’t want to be a farmer himself.  He graduated from college and his study was business management.  Moved to Bangkok to find a job, but wasn’t having a lot of luck.  What he did find offered very low salaries…barely enough to stay in Bangkok.  So he decided to go back home and try his hand at durian growing.

The family business was done only by is grandparents and his mother.  The grandmother is sick and in need of care.  His grandfather is getting too old to drive and his mother couldn’t.  All of this helped spur his decision to come home and help out.

He must now take responsibility if he is going to run this.  There are two workers from Burma and lots of communication issues.  Most communicating is done with hand gestures.

Before his business got to the point in the above picture, it took 1 long year of hard work.  Any screw up could cost the entire investment.  This was not a salary job.  No trees, no sales, no money.

The farm is in Chumpon province…sort of the beginning of the southern portion of Thailand.  15 kilometers from their home.  They start work at 7:30 in the morning and end at 5. 

All of this began in August of last year to prep the land as seen below.  The process took 2 ½ people.  One of the Burma workers helped his mother half the day!  The workers had no knowledge of what to do.  They had to be told every detail on what needed to be done.  He scores them a 5 out of 10 because everything had to be explained and demonstrated.  But I guess it beat doing it all by himself.

The shade cloth had to be stitched into a very long piece together.  Then the cloth would be pulled over the supports.  Those long pieces would have to be connected as well.  I can only imagine what a pain in the ass this must have been.

Thailand weather!  Conditions varied from day to day but the work still needed completed.  Could count on it always being hot!  Below is the finished job.

Next job was mixing the soil for the potting bags.  This job took nearly a complete month to finish.  He would not say the exact number of bags.  The potting mix is 3 equal parts of:  red dirt, shredded coconut husks, and rice hulls.  Red dirt below, followed by the shredded coconut husks, then the rice hulls.

That was about all of the detail he went into on this subject.  Below shows them mixing it all up.

He hired temporary labor to fill the bags.  They were paid by the number of bags completed.  He said it was a very tedious and time consuming process.  I bet!  Makes my back ache thinking about it.

Time for the durian seeds.  The seeds were obtained from local durian or found in wild areas.  Not good durian for eating, but the plants are very strong and not as susceptible to diseases.  They make good root stock plants.

Mounds of shredded coconut husks are used to germinate the seeds.  He did not say why the seeds were not germinated in those nursery bags that took so long to fill.  

Not many days after planting, they start popping up like bean sprouts.  Like little aliens popping out of the soil.  Lots.

After reaching this point, which doesn't take long, the grafting takes place.  And as you can see, that’s a shit load of durian plants!!  Maybe I can answer my own question I had above wondering why the seeds were not started in the bags themselves.  That's a lot of seedlings and they are all packed tightly together.  Once the grafting begins, I can only bet that it is a lot faster and much easier to graft such a huge number having them all right there in front of you.  Looks like you could do a couple hundred without moving your butt...boom boom boom!  Done!

The lady below is preparing the seedlings for grafting.  She cuts them below the leaves and then ties on a loop of nylon.  Why does she put this loop of nylon on the plant which clearly has no function whatsoever?  Ahhh...patience Grasshopper!  It will become clear soon.

The grafting part is very detailed work and mostly done by women.

Finished product.  Remember the nylon loops?  The stems of these plants are very delicate at this stage.  Just look how tiny they are.  It wouldn't take much for them to snap or the wedge part of the graft to just tear off.  The stem is probably too weak to hold onto the scion when inserted into the wedge as well.  So instead of trying to hold onto the scion in the wedge AND tying the nylon around the graft site to secure the scion all at once using only your own two hands, the loop of nylon is already there.  All that needs to be done is slide it up over the graft site and tighten it down.  Pretty damn smart move there.

Below is an example of the scions obtained from the mature tree.  Not very big is it?  This one already has the "V" cut made at the bottom.  It's ready to be inserted into the wedge of the seedling.

That was the high level look at the process.  Now he breaks it down into the assembly line components.  

Below, the scions have been harvested and the varieties are separated out.  Just stop here a second and think about just how long it took to tip cut all those pieces!!!  They all seem to be in the zone, just cutting and gossiping.  “Did you hear about little Pong?  Why that little…”……Well, got to pass the time somehow.

Below, the scions are prepared for the actual grafting…obviously keeping the varieties separated.  Cutting leaves and making the "V" cuts.  

Here is a bunch completed.  You can see the workers still grafting on the other mounds.  These folks are machines!

Once grafted, the mounds are covered in plastic and sealed tight.  Keep in mind, the plants are all still in the coconut husk mounds.  No air or water can penetrate.  Shade cloth is also used.  The plants will stay this way for 15-20 days.  Nothing to do after this but wait and pray that 80% or more of the grafts take.

This is an even more aggressive technique than I use for bare rooted, mail order plants.  I would never have imagined these plants would be completely sealed up.  They are serious about this...piling sand over and around the plastic.

These are the ones that made it.  Removed from the mounds and sorted.  Roots are prepared and the plants bagged up by variety.

The planting process is tedious as well.  Each plant must be straight and the roots have to be covered properly.  Any problems with this and the plants can die.  From this point on, it will be 7 months before the plants can be sold.

Now the real hard work begins!  Usually waters every day.  He does all the watering by hand…not having a sprinkler system installed yet.  Takes 5 hours to water the plants.  When there is a drought, waters every 2 days…worrying that there won’t be enough water available.

Weed and grass removal is a big chore.  Got to keep the rows tidy and clean.  I imagine not only would the grass and weeds over take the durian plants, they could easily transmit diseases and/or pests.

He fertilizes the plants once a month.  Too much and the leaves will drop.  Once fertilized,  they must be watered for 3 days in a row.  If don’t, leaves will drop.  Fertilizing is the important key…but also a secret!  

Plants need sprayed for diseases too.  There are so many that can hit durian.  Contamination is a huge factor as well so everything must be clean.  He sprays once a week.  Cannot make any mistakes.  Lots of factors…rain, heat, and more.  Any mistakes, plant die.

Water.  To grow these durian plants you need land and a good source of water.  He gets water from the mountain.  Built a retaining system to hold the water and pipe down to the farm.  When there is a drought and not enough water, they have a pond to pump water from.  Water must be clean or else could cause disease.

These next pics show the retaining system and the process of keeping it clean and free of debris.  Moving sand around that accumulates.

Plants are growing now.  So each pot must be spread out and given more room.  Will grow better.  Another tedious process.

The plants are now at a state where they can be sold.  It is the end of February.  He is not making a lot of sales during this time.  The rainy season is May thru August and this is when farmers and others normally start to purchase the plants.

At end of February, the plants are moved from the farm to his house where they will be sold.  During a period of 3- 3 /12 months, they sold every plant.  If he had more land, they could have grew and sold even more.

Selling is very clear.  Prices are marked and there is very little negotiation…except for very large orders and then only a couple baht per plant.  Given the prices below, we’re talking only around $1.50 per plant.  I cry when I think of what we would be paying for these plants here in the states...if they were available.

50% of the customers are farmers.  50% are brokers/middle men that purchase the plants to sell elsewhere.  70% of the retail sales is from the northeast of Thailand.  They are beginning to grow durian there now.  Brokers, if selling outside the city, will sell a plant for 70-90 baht.  If out of province, 100+ baht per plant.

Below is first customer of season.  Payoff from 7 months of hard work.  The customer purchased 100 trees.

The order below was for 6000 trees.  The customer wanted more than that, but he needed to keep some plants for the local growers. 

Check out the stacking!  Incredible!  Really amazing.  They have them stacked 9 plants deep!  The customer calls in the order and sends a pickup truck for the trees.  The pickup will hold 1500 trees!!  You are all wondering if they all survive.  He says at most, they might lose 20 trees on each trip of 1500.

Sometimes, it is very late at night when a customer arrives.  Doesn't matter.  He will provide the service needed.  May need to move from farm to house, then load the truck.  Each plant weighs almost 3 kilos.  Strong biceps!  Order below going to a different province.

The key is to cover the plants to make sure they are out of the wind, else the plants will die.

Order below was for 2000 trees.  The truck holds 300 trees.  Took 30-40 minutes to load the truck.  Covering process took another 20 minutes.  Requires a lot of skill.  First cover with banana leaves, then the shade cloth.  Providing good customer service results in loyal customers.

Finished and ready for the road.

Some customers arrive in normal cars.  Below, there are 80 plants in the trunk going to another province.  80!  Hell...we struggle getting less than a dozen in the trunks of our cars when we are buying plants in PR!  I bet this guy has done this a time or two!!  LOL!

A pic from his land.  This is mamut…a southern fruit similar to mango. 

Grandparents, almost 80, still walking the farm...and working.

This happens about once in 10,000 grafted trees.  So very rare, but so very cool!  They normally keep these plants for display.  The plant might also be sold to a customer that places a very large order.  The price for the plant is normally doubled.

Above, the pic is a durian from his land.  He doesn’t have a lot of durian trees growing.  He says to have a durian farm requires a lot more work than what he does growing and grafting.  Having a farm takes at least 5 years investment to see any return.  So many things can go wrong.  Not enough water, diseases and more could screw your entire year.

So if you think you are paying too much for a durian, he asks to please think of all the time and hard work that goes into producing that fruit!  Half of the profits go to the brokers who sell them.  What's left for the farmer goes to labor and other expenses.

He said this year is the only year that the price was very good.  50 baht/kilo.  That is for a very nice durian waiting to be exported.  Bad years may only bring 20 baht/kilo.  So please empathize with the farmer.  


Well...I hope you enjoyed the recreation.  If the original author ever comes across this, I hope he takes it with the spirit in which it was intended.  

Please remember that this blog/article is a reproduction from the original Thai author.  I'm sorry, but I do not sell durian plants or seeds.  I also do not have any contact with this author or any nurseries in Thailand that sells durian.

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Questions for the original author

We had some good discussions on our forum concerning this story.  Many of the members from all around the world had questions concerning the grafting process.  So I compiled them up and sent the guy the following questions below.  When I say "I sent", I actually meant that after some more whining and begging, my wife sent off my questions to him via the forum and he responded right away.  She first sent him a message stating exactly what I did with his pictures and story.  I wanted to make sure he was fine with what I had done.  He replied and said he had no problem at all and offered to answer any questions.  His responses are in blue.  As expected, the grafting process pretty much covers one day, two at most.  So they definitely have this process like a fine tuned machine!

1.  Are the scions cut from the mature trees the same day the grafting starts?  If not, how long before grafting starts?
On the same day is best.  No more than over night.

2.  Do you dip the scions in any fungicide, hormones, or other chemicals before grafting?
No, just have to make sure its not exposed to heat or sun.

3.  When the lady cuts the top off of the seedlings, does she cut the slice in the stem for the scions or do the grafters do this as they go?
The person who prepares the seedlings will cut in 1 cm.  Then another person who graft will do the rest.
Interesting...couldn't tell from the picture, but the lady topping the seedlings and putting the tie on does do the cuts as well.  Makes sense.  This would free up the grafter and speed the process up even more.

4.  Do they have problems slicing the cut in the seedling since they are so small?
No issue at all.  If a mistake is made, just cut it down shorter.  No problem.

5.  Concerning the grafting process...are the scions prepared and grafted all on the same day?  We were wondering if you had any issues with the scions drying out and not having a fresh cut.
No issue as long as same day, or no more than overnight and not wet.

6.  Were the coconut mounds watered prior to being sealed up to boost humidity levels?
Yes, very moist and packed tight.

7.  Are the coconut husks and rice hulls fresh or aged?
New if available.  If old, have to make sure that it is not moldy.

8.  Have you tried other mixes or added sand?
Yes.  Used to add chicken shit!!!!  But now they add chemicals to that so we no longer use it.  We never use sand.

9.  When you remove the grafted plants from the coconut mounds to wrap for planting, you stated that you "prepare" the roots.  It looks like the roots are trimmed.  Do you indeed trim the roots?  And is this for easier/quicker planting?  Is there any other benefits?
Yes, they are trimmed and cut the main root down in half.  Otherwise it ls difficult to plant.

10.  Do you do any preparation work on the mature trees prior to removing the tips for scion material such as girdling, stripping leaves?
No, because these are from other farmer's trees.  Just have to pick the certain look/type of branch.
Assuming those looking ready to flush if possible.

11.  As for the newly grafted trees that produce the rare flowering...do you ever follow the progress of these trees to see if they are precocious or if there was a mutation in the scion or if the rootstock was able to accelerate the first flowering?  Do you study any of these oddities much? 
No, never studies anything about these.  He thinks they are not normal and cannot hold fruit anyway because it is way too small. 
Not sure how well he understood this set of questions but not going to keep bugging him.