This is Why Cutting Early Palm Flowers Matters

I haven't spoken or showed you much or practically anything about Palm oil trees but today I'll tell you something that surprises the average person that is not too experienced with growing them and a couple of months ago, the average person included me before I was taught this by an old friend.

That's the benefit of old folks, they have a lot to teach.

A second and third year palm begins its growth stage where small flowers develop. These flowers turn into very small bunches if you leave them alone, but the right thing is that all these should be cut off according to good farming practices. There's a practice called ablation which prevents the tree from using the good nutrients which the plant has stored for the development of its trunk, its large leaves and root systems.

The nutrients of the palm should be used only for development of the trunk, big leaves and a deep root system during the first three years in the field. Before the plant can bear its very first fruits, it must have a good frame, otherwise if the young palm tree bears fruits at a premature stage, remember that the trunk is still thin it's going to have an impossible time supporting all the heavy palm fruit.

When the palm tree bears bunches later on in its life, each bunch which if you make a rough estimate for a healthy tree, should be weighing about 25 kg, the thin trunk cannot hold them and breaks especially during the rains and heavy winds.

It may not also have the right type of roots which go deep down into the earth so that the tree would be able to suck water from the deep soil in the event of a prolonged drought. All this is a highway to the tree dying and the farmer losing his investments.

That delay in harvesting the first crop so you can ablate the flowers means a longer period of oil yield for the life span of the palm tree, which is around 30 years. It takes about four years for the trunk to grow big enough to bear a bunch per month every year for many years.

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