Rubber Nursery

Rubber, otherwise known as the Elastic Gold is a native of the Amazon River basin of South America. The scientific name of rubber is Hevea brasiliensis. The rubber cultivation has spread into the tropical regions of Asia in the nineteenth century.

The Cheerakuzhy Group of Nurseries has been playing a pivotal role in enhancing the production and productivity of natural rubber in Kerala, the largest rubber producing state in India and other rubber growing regions in the country.

Cheerakuzhy Rubber Nursery was established in 1979 and started with the production of only 1000 plants. Now our Rubber nursery has been registered and functioning under Indian Companies act in the name of Cheerakuzhy Rubber Nursery & Research Center Pvt. Ltd.

During 1980’s Brown Budding was in practice and brown budded stumps were distributed on a large scale from this nursery. During this period, we have started Green Budding and produced green budded rubber plants in large number. During 1990’s we started mass production and distribution of brown budded poly bag plants.

Having tiered of several experiments, in order to overcome the drawbacks of the age-old method of rubber budding and to reduce the labor requirement in the nursery, our founder came out with a new method in rubber budding in 1994 called Cheerakuzhy Young Budding. This new technique made immense contribution to the rubber growers throughout Kerala and other rubber growing regions in India.

Cheerakuzhy Young Budding

Innovation of Cheerakuzhy Young Budding is a milestone in the history of rubber cultivation. Under this method, germinated rubber seeds are planted directly in polybags during July-August and budding starts from the 28th day and continue up to 60 days. The scion (bud wood) used for Young Budding should be of 20 to 25 days old. The tissues of the scion and the stock seedling become firmly united within 3 or 4 weeks after budding. After the successful budding process, the budded stock seedlings will be allowed to grow in the poly bags for 4 to 5 months. Thereafter, the shoot portion above the bud patch will be chopped off. The bud will start sprouting from the 10th day onwards. After further growth of 4 months; the plants will be ready for transplanting in the field. Thus, by way of Cheerakuzhy Young budding the plants in poly bag get matured for cultivation within 10 months after sowing the rubber seed where in traditional method it will take 2 years.

Young bud Root Trainer Technique

Karshakasree K. C. Kuriakose made a revolutionary attempt to raise advanced planting materials of Hevea in polythene bags with no loss of initial roots resulting in better growth of plants and earlier tapping. This is known as "Cheerakuzhy Young Budded Rubber Plants".

Recently, Rubber Research Institute of India has developed and introduced a little more advanced method of raising Brown Budded and Green Budded rubber saplings in polypropylene cups instead of polythene bags. These cups are called 'Root Trainers'. They have certain specific features like tapering or conical shape, vertical ridges, drainage hole at the bottom etc. They are all incorporated with the purpose to provide proper training for the structural development of roots in a systematic manner and hence the cup is termed as 'root trainer.

Successful introduction of root trainers for Hevea has inspired us to change our outlook in the nursery practices adopted for the Young Bud Poly Bag Nursery. It is a sophisticated propagation technique having great potentials in improving the physical quality of root system as well as reducing the time and cost required for the production of advanced planting materials. Taking these merits into consideration, Cheerakuzhy Group of nurseries has also initiated a set of experiments to develop Young Budded Root Trainer Rubber Plants on large scale in co-operation with the Rubber Research Institute of India.

Under this method, the root trainers are filled uniformly with mixed potting mixture instead of soil. The potting medium consists of sieved and cured coir pith mixed with appropriate quantities of rotten cow-dung, bone-meal, rock phosphate etc. Germinated rubber seeds are planted directly in these root trainers for raising the stock seedlings. These stock seedlings are stacked line by line in ‘grower stands’ providing with proper spacing to attain scientific growth. Then the seedlings are subjected to Young Budding at the starting of the second whorls stages i.e., on 28th day onwards. After the successful budding process, the Young Budded plants will be allowed to grow in the root trainer itself for 4 to 5 months. Thereafter, the shoot portion above the bud patch will be chopped off. Arrange these plants in ‘hardening stand’ to undergo hardening period. The bud will start sprouting from the 10th day onwards. After further growth of 4 months; the plants will be ready for transplanting in the field. Thus, by way of Cheerakuzhy Young budding, the plants in Root Trainer Cup get matured for cultivation with in 10 months after sowing the rubber seed.

Wonder Root Technology

In general practice of root trainer system, the plants are growing in “grower stand” and in initial stage, the tap root of the plant is allowed to grow in to the soil through the bottom hole of the cup. After budding process the plants are uprooted from soil because the tap root is already grown in to the soil. Then the stem will be sawn off 5 c.m above the budded portion and cut the tap root which came out through the hole under the root trainer cup. Then the plants are stacked in “hardening stand” and gradually, in a span of 10 to 15 days, the bud/scion will start sprouting and with in 4-5 months the plants are ready for planting. So In this system 4-5 months is the actual hardening period.

From our trial and error and researches Cheerakuzhy Group of Nurseries have developed an advanced technique in the production of root trainer rubber plants. Under our system, from the seed germination stage itself we keep the plants in hardening stands which is arranged one meter height from the ground. We are not allowing the tap root of the plants to grow in to the soil in initial stage. So it is not required to uproot and cut the main tap root as doing in ordinary system. As the plants are growing in the hardening stand, when the tap root comes out of the bottom hole of the cup, the tap root gets “air pruned” and that will help the lateral roots to grow faster and vigorously.

In the natural process, the main root keeps growing down. However in our method, since there is no contact with ground soil, it will be difficult for the main root to grow further and gradually the growth of the tap root gets affected. During the hardening process the tap root resumes growth in a few days and undergoes natural air pruning near the hole at the bottom and thus prevent its coiling inside the container. This stress induces emergence of large number of lateral roots into the well aerated potting medium. The vertical ridges of the container will direct these roots downwards and thus prevent its circular growth. These lateral roots also undergo air pruning and as a result a hardened root trainer plant will have a root system consisting of central tap root and large number of lateral roots well oriented without any deformity.

In short, in wonder root technology the actual hardening period is 10-12 months where in ordinary method it is 4-5 months only. That means from seed germination stage itself, we keep the plants under hardening and gets “air pruned” in young stage itself.

In order to get over worst situation, which arises from the "Natural Air Pruning', many lateral roots will start growing from the main root and spread all over the coir pith (coco peat) inside the cup. Since the seeds are planted directly into the cups in the Cheerakuzhy Young Budding system, many natural lateral roots must be already there. Within 3-4 months after cutting back the plants attains two whorls of leafs and are ready for planting. The ridges inside cup will prevent lateral roots from growing in circle or coiling. Since the plants are used to these adverse growing circumstances in the initial stages, when they are transplanted to the plantation, they will be able to withstand any tough situations. That is the reason we call this “Wonder Root Root Trainer Plants”.

The experiment of Young Bud Root Trainer System was started in our nursery in 2007 by Rubber Research Institute in association with us. Our Young budding system and Rubber Board’s Root Trainer technique were incorporated together and thereby a novel method is introduced. Now, we are proud to be the largest nursery and pioneers in the production of Root Trainer Plants in the country. Now, the production/supply chain of our nursery is spread over the world and we are capable of supplying the plants to anywhere in the world.

Transporting of plants to Plantation Site.

Young Bud Root Trainer Plants can be easily transported anywhere in India or abroad. Locally, it can be transported in a jeep, lorry or a train and to distant countries, it can be exported without any difficulty through ship or air. The cup plants can be kept in the vehicle in single or multiple layers to save maximum space and cost. We have made our own special arrangement of vehicles to transport cup plants from our nursery to plantation site of customers far and wide at reasonable cost. Packing cases specially designed by us for carrying Root Trainer cup plants are made available for the convenience of the customers. 100 cup plants can be easily accommodated in one packing case.

Site delivery of Root Trainer Plants for small holders

Since Root trainer cups are in conical shape, it is not as easy to transport them in normal vehicles as is the case with poly bag plants. Therefore, in order to resolve this inconvenience, upon demand, we have made arrangement of special vehicles with grill for easy transportation of root trainer plants at reasonable cost. At the same time, keeping in mind the economic interest of small scale farmers/customers, we have devised a unique arrangement, whereby, on agreeing to the stipulated terms laid down by the Nursery, minor orders from several small farmers from the same locality are clubbed together and delivered to them. This arrangement not only helps the small scale customers to reduce their cost but also can be rest assured of the safe handling of their plants. We also provide attractive discount to those farmers who return empty undamaged cups back to us, once the plants are planted.

Planting of Young Bud Root Trainer Plants

Once the Root Trainer plants have reached the plantation site and before being planted into the specially prepared pits, we need to separate the plants from the Root Trainer cup. We need to adopt any of the following methodology for smooth transplanting of plants from cups to the soil:

Cheerakuzhy Model

Hold the Root Trainer cup plant straight up in your hand and while pushing the plant’s root core with your finger from the below hole, use a wooden piece to hit edge of the cup gently and the plant will come out of the cup easily.

Indian Rubber Board Model

Keep the Root Trainer cup plants upside down and hit the edge of the cup gently and while doing so, use your finger to push the plant’s root core from the below hole of the cup and the plant's roots with its core will get separated from the cup.

After separating the plant from the Root trainer cup, we can easily plant our plants in pre prepared pits. Make a small pit in the pre prepared pit with available tool and plant the root trainer plant in normal way as in the same procedure for every planting material.

Brown Budding

This is one of the traditional method for raising rubber planting materials. Under this method, germinated rubber seeds are directly planted in the nursery field and the budding is done after the seedlings have grown in the field for one year. The plants remain in the field after budding for another six months. Then they are uprooted from the ground and transplanted into polybags. The bud will start sprouting from the 25th day onwards. After six more months, they are ready to be planted in the field. Therefore, in effect, it takes about two years for the seedling to become ready for planting.

Green Budding

In the case of the traditional method of Green Budding, like brown budding, germinated rubber seeds are directly planted in the nursery field. The budding is done after the seedlings have grown in the field for 2-3 months and they remain in the field after budding for another 2-3 months. Then they are plucked from the ground and transplanted into polybags. The bud will start sprouting from the 15 th day onwards. After a further growth of 4 to 5 months; the plants will be ready for field planting. Thus, by way of Green Budding, the Plants in polybags get matured for planting within one year.

Rubber cultivation and practices

The rubber tree may live for a hundred years or even more. But its economic life period in plantations, on general considerations, is only around 32 years – 7 years of immature phase and 25 years of productive phase. Commercial cultivation of rubber in India was started in 1902.

The rubber growing regions in India can be classified under two major zones, traditional and non-traditional on the basis of agro-climatic conditions.

The scientific rubber cultivation practices and maintenance are given below:

Land Preparation

In India, rubber plantations are established in forest clearings, rubber replanting or by crop replacement. Most of the areas available for rubber cultivation are highly undulating and the extent of flat lands suitable for planting rubber is limited. These situations necessitate clearing of the land and adoption of proper soil conservation measures before planting rubber.Since June-July is the ideal period for planting rubber in South India, all the pre-planting operations should be completed before the onset of monsoon.

Clearing :

The land to be brought under rubber cultivation should be cleared of all vegetation. Large trees of economic value should be removed first followed by felling and removing of smaller trees and slashing of the under growth. A light burn after felling and drying facilitates planting operations and slows down the regeneration of weeds. Replanting the old rubber areas has to be thought of when the yield falls and the cultivation becomes uneconomic. The old trees may be slaughter tapped with yield stimulant application before felling. After clearing the land, lining and digging of pits can be started.

Roads, Fences and Buildings:

A well-planned network of roads and footpath is necessary for the easy transportation of inputs to the various fields, latex to the factory and for the efficient supervision of field operations. The roads should preferably be traced before the commencement of lining so that sufficient strip of land could be reserved.

Lining :

Lining should be based on plant spacing and planting density to be adopted. Rubber can be planted by adopting square or rectangular planting system. Square planting is suitable for level and near level lands. Rectangular system can be adopted in flat lands and slopes. Contour lining is done in undulating and hilly areas where the slope exceeds 8 per cent. The planting density recommended is 420 to 500 plants per ha.

Spacing and density of plants under different terrains

Planting Materials	Terrain	Spacing (meter)	Stand/hector
Root Trainer Plants /Poly bag plants	In hilly area	6.7 X 3.4	445
	In flat area	4.9 X4.9	420

Terracing :

On hilly and undulating terrain, cutting of terraces along the contour is a recommended practice to conserve moisture and prevent erosion.The soil on the hill side is cut from a distance of 60-75 cm in front of the planting row and thrown back in such a way that the terraces so formed will have a width of 1.25 to 1.5 meter and an inward drop of 20-30 cm. Steps of uncut earth are left out at intervals along the terraces to check lateral flow of water. For economy, planting on hillside may be done on square platform of size 1.25 x 1.25 meter (honey comb terrace) during the year of planting and later on joined together to form a complete terrace.

Drainage:

Proper drainage enhances aeration, microbial activity, ground cover establishment and helps in the development of an extensive root system. Natural waterways available in the area may be cleared, dressed or deepened to form a good drainage system.

Field Planting

The success of planting depends on the prevailing weather conditions, quality of the planting materials used and the care with which the planting operation is done. Continuous wet weather can be expected during June-July in the major rubber growing areas in India and hence this period is considered to be ideal for planting rubber. The commonly used planting materials are poly bag plants and Root Trainer plants. Of these, the last one is the most common and recommendable for these days.

After planting, the plants should be inspected at regular intervals and the false shoots sprouting from the stock should be removed and only the vigorous bud shoot is allowed to develop. Any side shoot developing up to 2.5 meters from the ground level should also be removed. Since the planting season is in Monsoon season, it is possible that the plants getting fungal diseases. Therefore, it is recommended to spray fungicides once in a week in rainy seasons.

Intercropping

During the initial years of a rubber plantation, the land area is not fully occupied by the rubber plants and inter spaces are available in the plantation which receive plenty of sunlight. These interspaces can be utilized for growing intercrops, which will help the farmer to generate additional revenue. Intercrops should be planted at least 1.5 M away from plant bases. Intercrops should be separately and adequately fertilized. The Common Intercrops Cultivated in Rubber Plantations are : Banana, Pineapple, papaya, coffee, Ginger, Turmeric, Vegetables, Medicinal Plants and Tuber crops.

Cover crops

In order to conserve the soil and improve the soil fertility, cover-crops are grown and maintained. Cover-crops enhances the growth and yield of rubber. Cover crops prevent the beating action of rain, increase the soil moisture, smother weeds, add large quantities of organic mater, improve the soil structure, fix atmospheric nitrogen and improve soil fertility .The common cover crops grown in rubber plantations are Pueraria phaseoloides and Mucuna bracteata. Pueraria is a very popular cover crop in rubber plantations. It can withstand strong sun and smother weeds. It is propagated through seeds and cuttings. Mucuna has moderate drought resistance and shade tolerance and suppresses all weeds. Propagation of Mucuna is through seeds and rooted cuttings. Cover-crop should not be allowed to grow in a circle of about 2 meters diameter around the plants or along the contour terraces for 3 to 4 years to prevent its competition with the young rubber.

Mulching, Shading and white washing

Mulching or covering the plant basin with dry leaves, cover crop cuttings, grass cuttings, paddy straw etc is a recommended practice in rubber plantations to protect soil in the immediate vicinity of the plants from direct impact of heavy rains and sunlight causing soil degradation.

Usually, November –December is the ideal time for mulching to protect the plant from adverse effect of drought.

During the year of planting young plants may be protected by shading before the beginning of summer. Plaited coconut leaves or used gunny bags can be used for this purpose. The brown bark of the young plants can be protected from the scorching action of the sun by whitewashing the main stem of the plant from the second year of planting. This may be continued till canopy of the plants develops and partially shades the plantation. However, plants on the roadsides may need whitewashing for a longer period as they are more exposed to sunlight. Whitewashing can be done using lime or china clay.

Induction of Branches

It has been observed that to achieve a high rate of girth increase the rubber plant should produce branches at a height of about 2.5 to 3.0 m from the ground. In high branching trees girth increment has been found to be poor compared to low branching trees. Some plants show a tendency for high branching, particularly clones like RRII 414 and 430. In such cases branching has to be induced by encouraging a few lateral buds to develop. The branches thus induced should develop in different directions in an equally spaced manner to ensure a well-balanced canopy. Techniques like the double blade ring cut device and the leaf cap method can be utilized for this. The double-blade ring-cut device has two V-shaped blades fixed 20 cm apart on a rod. By pressing the V-shaped blades and rotating them around the trunk complete ringing of the bark is done down to the surface of the wood. The cuts are made above a cluster of leaf scars so that a number of trunk shoots is produced around this region. This method can be applied only on greenish brown or brown tissues and is not suitable for young green tissues. In young green tissues, the leaf folding or leaf cap method can be used. In the leaf folding method, the leaves of the top whorl are folded down at the point of contact of the petiole with the lamina using only the upper few leaves to enclose the apical bud. The leaves are then tied with a rubber band. After three to four weeks they are released. In plants where the terminal whorl of leaves is in the leaflet or bud break stage, the leaf cap method is recommended. Here, three mature leaflets are taken to form a cap to enclose the terminal bud and tied with a rubber band. The cap is then removed three to four weeks later.

Weed management

Weeds can be controlled by either manual methods or with the use of chemicals known as herbicides. However, an integrated method involving a combination of these two methods is more economical and eco friendly.

Manual method involves slashing, scraping, uprooting etc. As manual clean weeding will expose soils to erosion, mulching should be done immediately after weeding. Lots of mechanical tools like bush cutter, cultivator etc are available in the market and can be used for manual methods of weed control.

Manuring and Fertilizer application

The general fertilizer recommendation for rubber is derived based on the results of the fertilizer experiments conducted by the Rubber Research Institute of India on rubber of different age groups. Majority of the rubber growing soils belong to the laterite and lateritic types and hence this general fertilizer recommendation can be followed. However, practicing discriminatory fertilizer recommendation based on soil and leaf analysis will be more advantageous. The nutrient requirements of rubber plant vary considerably during the two important stages of growth; immature and mature stages.

Pit manuring:

Incorporate 12 kg of compost or well rotted cattle manure and 200 g of rock phosphate in every pit at the time of filling to provide good soil conditions for development of a good root system. In newly cleared forest areas it is enough to apply 200g rock phosphate alone, well mixed with the top 20 cm soil in the pit as the surface soil in general will be rich in organic matter.

The quantity and schedule of manuring for rubber plantations are shown below. The quantity requirement for 10-10-4-1.5 NPKMg mixture or 12-12-6 mixture is provided. The required dose of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg) can be provided through mixing the straight fertilizers. The quantity of straight fertilizers needed for preparing these fertilizer mixtures are also shown. Two grades of mixtures, one with Mg and the other without Mg is provided for application in Mg deficient and Mg rich areas respectively. Two options are provided in the table below to prepare the mixture. In Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Waynad, Kannur and Kasargod districts of Kerala, in the states of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and North Eastern States of India, the available Mg status of the soil is high and application of 12-12-6 NPK mixture is recommended. In all other regions 10-10-4-1.5 NPKMg mixture may be applied.

Quantity and the schedule of fertilizer application for Rubber plantation

Year of Planting	Month after Planting	Time of application	Dosage of Mixture per plant(g)
			10-10-4-1.5 (NPKMg)	12-12-6 (NPK)	18:18:18 NPK
1st Year	1 month	June-July	50-75	40-50
1st Year	2 month	July-August	100-125	75-100	-
1st Year	3-4 months	September- October	350-400	300-350	-
1st Year	1 month	June-July	50-75	40-50	-
2nd Year	10-11 months	May - June	400-450	350-400	-
2nd Year	15-16 months	September- October	400-450	350-400	-
3rd Year	23-24 months	May - June	500-550	450-500	-
3rd Year	27-28 months	September- October	500-550	450-500	-
4th Year	35-36 months	May - June	500-550	450-500	-
4th Year	39-40 months	September- October	500-550	450-500	-
5th Year	47-48 months	May - June	-	-	400-450
5th Year	51-52 months	September- October	-	-	400-450
6th Year onwards	-	May - June	-	-	450-500
6th Year onwards	-	September- October	-	-	450-500

Options for the Composition of NPK and NPKMg fertilizer mixtures

Option - 1	Quantity of Straight fertilizer (Kg)						Total Kg
	Urea	RP	MOP	Mg	20:20	Filler
NPKMg - 10:10:4:1.5	22	55	7	4	-	12	100kg
NPK - 12:12:6	26	64	10	-	-	-	100kg
NPK - 18:18:18	40	90	30	-	-	-	160kg
Option - 2	Quantity of Straight fertilizer (Kg)						Total Kg
	Urea	RP	MOP	Mg	20:20	Filler
NPKMg - 10:10:4:1.5	-	-	7	4	50	39	100kg
NPK - 12:12:6	-	-	10	-	60	30	100kg
NPK - 18:18:18	-	-	30	-	90	-	120kg
MOP –Muriate of Potash (60% K2O) RP – Rock Phosphate (18% P2O5) Mg - Magnesium Sulphate (16% MgO) 20:20- Factomphos (20:20:0:15)

Note : In the first two years, it is advantageous to apply the phosphorus in the water-soluble form for better growth of the rubber plants. Factomphos contain water soluble phosphorus and therefore during the first two years, it is recommended to use option 2 of the above table.

Method of Application :

For young rubber, fertilizers should be applied taking into consideration the extent of root spread. During the first year after planting, fertilizers should be evenly distributed over a circular band of about 30 cm around the base of the young plant, leaving about seven cm from the base all around and slightly forked into the top five to eight cm of the soil. The plant bases should then be immediately mulched. This will help in better retention and utilization of the applied fertilizers and control of weed growth in the plant bases. The second round of fertilizer application, i.e., when the plants are 10-11 months old should be done in a circular band, the band width being 45 cm leaving 15cm all around the plant base. The fertilizer applications in subsequent years till the canopy of the rubber plant closes should be made in circular bands of steadily increasing width.

Tapping and Time for starting the tapping

Latex is obtained from the bark of the rubber tree by tapping. Tapping is a process of controlled wounding during which, thin shavings of bark is removed. The aim of tapping is to cut open the latex vessels in the case of trees tapped for the first time or to remove the coagulum which blocks the cut ends of the latex vessels in the case of trees under regular tapping.

Budded plants are regarded as tappable when they attain a girth of 50 cm (20 inch) at a height of 125 cm (50 inch) from the bud union. It will be generally economic to begin tapping when 70 per cent of the trees in the selected area attain the standard girth. In the traditional region, it takes an average of seven years to reach this stage. Planting of advanced materials like Root Trainer and Poly Bag plants can reduce the immaturity period. In India, the best period to open new areas for tapping is March-April. The trees that are left behind during the season for want of sufficient girth may be considered for opening in September.