Rubber Nursery Establishment 59s1w

ESTABLISHMENT OF RUBBER NURSERY A. Seed Selection • Collect rubber seeds from a medium-aged rubber trees (10-29 years old); • Collect seeds that are fresh as they lose their viability after a week. • Collect seeds at the beginning of the main seed fall and collection must be scheduled to ensure smooth flow from germination to nursery planting; • Only the largest, shiniest and heaviest seed must be collected; • Discard cracked seeds and small seeds

4. Seed Maintenance • Spread the seeds in the seedbed and cover with fine sand to retain moisture. 2,000 seeds cam be accommodated in a 1.0 sq. m. seedbed. • Cover with coconut fronds. • Water the seeds in the morning and late afternoon;

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B. Site Selection Location of beds should: • Have an easy access, • Near a good water source; • Under medium density shade; • Properly drained 3. Specification of Seedbeds • 1.0 meter wide, 10.0 cm deep.hte length vary on the location and volume of seeds • Fill with fine to medium river sand; • If natural shade is not available, use artificial shade of fronds.

5. Culling pre-germinated seeds • Excavate seeds after 3 days. Select seeds with 1-2 mm root protrusion and place it in a bucket with water to avoid bruises. Discard seeds with 2.5 to 3mm root protrusions with rootlets ; • Bring the pre-germinated seeds in bucket with water to the nursery for planting in polyethylene bags;

1. Site Location • Well drained, flat to gently undulating; • Close to a clean water source which can be pump for watering • Accessible to road 2. Site Preparation: • Cultivate the area to remove stumps, weeds two to three times; • Fence the area where there is risk of animal damage; • Build access road to and around the area. • •

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Excavate the remaining pre-germinated seeds everyday Place the pre-germinated seed with growth protrusion of more than 2mm in the bucket with water and bring to the nursery for planting. Do not leave any pre-germinated seeds in the bucket overnight. Polybag Nursery

This nursery is where seedlings are developed and budded. This is the intermediate stage before field planting. The seedlings are ready for budding after 5 to 6 months. After budding, it is allowed to develop one hardened whorl before field planting. This will require 2 to 2 ½ months of development. The requirement and procedures are as follows.

3. Nursery Layout • Stake out rows to a maximum length by 1-100 meter. • A bed will have two filed polybags with 1.0 meter spacing between beds; • Dig a 10 cm x 30 cm wide trench along the row to hold 2 polybags abreast 4. Filling of Polybags: • Use Gaseted 8 x 16 x .003 polybags; • Topsoil of good structure must be filled upright. Do not lump or compact well so roots can develop normally. • Mix 30 grams of 0-30-0 per polybag as being filled. • Position the polybags in two’s in trenches. . 5. Planting seeds in polybags • The pre-germinated seeds from seedbeds with 1.5 to 2 mm root protrusion are selected seeds for planting. • Pre-germinated seeds are planted to a bag on a 3 cm triangle, in the center of the polybag; (plant 3 seeds in a polybag). • Discard all broken radicles or pre-germinated seeds; • Make small holes using a sharp stick to position the pregerminated seeds and cover it with thin soil • Water the polybag after planting.

1. Steps in Budding • The seedlings are ready for budding 5 months after seed planting. Green budding is best for these seedlings, using budsticks as source of budeyes.

6. Maintenance of polybag nursery: • Water the plated ploybag daily. Do not watering after an evening rain; • After one month, cull the weaker seedlings and leave only the best (with vigorous growth). • Nursery must be clean by manual weeding. Do not spray herbicides; • Leaf pest and disease outbreak must be controlled by knapsack spraying of insecticides like magnum, karate and dithane or allaite fungicide. • Any sprouts in branches in the seedling must be removed with sharp knife. 8. Fertilizing • Apply granular fertilizer compound (16-16-16) as follows: month after planting (mo.)

amount of fertilizer (gm)

1 2

6.0 10.0

distance from the seeds (cm.) 4.0 4.0

¾ No further fertilization is required after two month. Budding

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Synchronize fertilization of the budwood and the seedlings. One week before budding, defoliate the budstick to activate the budeye. Harvest budstick enough for the number of seedlings to be budded in a day. Use sharp pruning saw to harvest the budstick choose the budsticks that grow directly from the main trunk or main branch.

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the scion (budstick) and the seedling must of both of the stage D, where the leaves are mature green and has a dormant leaf end.

10. Post budding and cut back care • Fertilize the budded plant with 5.0 grams Ammonium sulfate dissolve in 1 liter of water after cutback. • Do not fertilized seedlings slated for rebudding; • Continue watering the cutback every other day or as the need arises and continue removing side shoots. 11. Transplantability • The budded rubber seedling is ready for field planting when the first whorl of leaves are harden, usually 2 to 21/2 months after cutback; • Do not water the budded rubber seedling on the day of removal from the trench or plot. Carefully remove the polybags from the trench so not to disturb the soil core; • When transplanting over long distance ensure that the bags are tightly position together to lessen shaking of the soil core. • Upon arrival to planting site, the seedlings should be watered immediately after its ;

• Acclimatize the seedlings for 2 to 3 days before field planting. Water daily but do not water on the day of planting; • Seedlings that are newly flashing should not be transplanted to the field.