Growing mini durian on sloping land

Doi Riu Hamlet (Hang Gon Commune, Long Khanh City) is a remote area with many steep hills, so it used to be the poorest place in the commune, as well as Long Khanh City. These difficulties have helped local farmers come up with many initiatives and creative ways to invest in production.

Mr. Ngo Thanh Phong introduces a mini durian garden in Doi Riu hamlet, Hang Gon commune, Long Khanh city. Photo: B.Nguyen

Among them, the unique model of growing mini durian of Mr. Ngo Thanh Phong has won the first prize for model garden of the province for many years with the solution of controlling the height of durian trees, helping to limit the trees from falling due to natural disasters, and the yield and quality of durian are much higher than the traditional method.

Small Plants for Big Benefits

One hectare of 8-year-old durian of Mr. Ngo Thanh Phong's family has about 270 durian trees, about 130 more than a traditional durian garden. To grow such a high density of trees, Mr. Phong controls the mature trees to only be about 3.5m tall, with a canopy diameter of only 3.5m.

Mr. Phong compared: “If the tree were left to grow naturally, in 8 years, the durian tree would be over 10m tall, with a canopy of 5-6m wide. But in this mini durian garden, when the tree was about 1m tall, I cut the top so that the tree would grow many side branches. When the tree matured to about 3.5m tall, I cut the top and trimmed the branches so that the tree would not grow taller or wider.”

Mr. Phong recalled that in the past, the remote land in Doi Riu hamlet had many difficulties due to the steep terrain and sparse population, so most farmers did not dare to boldly invest in converting production, especially investing in growing fruit trees which required high costs. Mr. Phong was a pioneer farmer in the locality to convert to growing durian.

When he was young, he loved durian trees because this is a specialty variety that is among the top in terms of economic efficiency. During the cultivation process, he observed and saw that some durian trees had broken tops, the trees were shorter but were luxuriant, yielded high yields, and had better fruit quality. Having the opportunity to visit and study the durian production model in Thailand, he learned more about the mini durian growing model. He came back to experiment with cutting durian tops to control the height of durian trees in his garden, seeing that the model was effective, 8 years ago, he decided to invest in 1 hectare of durian growing according to the mini tree model.

Mr. Phong said: “Durian trees are highly economically efficient, so I am very careful when making changes in the care process and applying new techniques. In particular, I chose the mini durian growing model because the main reason is that the trees are planted on steep hills, tall trees are easy to fall. Therefore, I dug deep holes to create flat land so that each durian tree can firmly cling to the hilly land.”

This mini durian growing model also brings many benefits such as: the tree bears fruit after 2 years and has a high yield in the 3rd year. The tree is short, so it is easy for growers to take care of it, manage pests and diseases, reduce labor and investment costs for fertilizers and pesticides. During the fruiting process, he carefully selects and only keeps about 60 fruits/tree to obtain a percentage of fruit that meets export standards. Calculating the average weight of only 3.5-4kg/fruit, each durian tree currently yields 1.5-2 quintals/tree, 1 hectare of durian, he harvests about 40 tons of fruit, nearly double that of a traditional durian garden.

According to Mr. NGO THANH PHONG, when the mini durian growing model brings high economic efficiency, he is willing to guide this technique to many other farmers. The model not only develops well in flat lands, but is also very suitable for replication in hilly, rocky, windy lands...

Support farmers to apply new techniques

Not only is the agricultural production model highly economically efficient, Mr. Phong is also a local pioneer in converting production towards organic direction.

According to Mr. Phong: “Organic farming helps the soil to be healthy, the trees to be healthy, then the fruit will be of good quality. In addition, this is also a solution to produce durian that meets the strict standards of the export market.”

Mr. Phong's entire 2-hectare durian garden is planted with the specialty durian variety DONA. Mr. Phong commented that if he masters the planting and care techniques, this specialty durian variety will bring very high economic efficiency. DONA durian has delicious quality, thick and dry durian flesh, rich sweetness, so it is favored by both domestic and export markets. In particular, the biggest advantage of this durian variety is that it can be preserved for a longer time, and exports have less risk, so even during difficult export periods, traders still pay high prices to consume this specialty.

The valuable thing about good farmer Ngo Thanh Phong is that he does not keep his unique technique of growing mini durian to himself, but is willing to share and transfer the technique to many other farmers.

Therefore, more than 10 years ago, Mr. Phong established a team of workers specializing in providing agricultural services from planting, caring, preventing and treating pests, harvesting... In particular, he has supported local farmers and many other areas to apply the mini durian growing model. Up to now, this model has been replicated locally with an area of ​​hundreds of hectares.

Binh Nguyen

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202506/trong-sau-rieng-mini-tren-dat-doi-doc-60f1203/