Ladies, this plant is for you.

The centre oil palm tree (above)
 is where the Lipstick plant grows

 I had a pleasant surprise upon seeing the Lipstick vine ( Aeschynanthus spp) that hugs the oil palm trunk at Zone B (see inset) producing flowers.  For a couple of days I have been watching the moment when the flower will reveal its full blooming glory. The Lisptick vine is a native plant in Sarawak or Borneo Island for that matter where it naturally grows on trees close to rivers and streams.  The flowers look like a red lipstick poking out of a deep red holder.  The leaves are waxy and succulent . This plant does fine on a hanging basket.

Near blooming stage

The flower starting to full bloom.

A day in the park ( 28 Aug'16)

Great Mormon butterfly at the Yellow Ixora bush, Zone C.

Wild red ginger flower
Licuala Hill, Zone I

 A day in the park could be a many splendoured thing.  I started the morning walk early and was greeted by the Great Mormon butterfly which was busy siphoning the nectar from the flowers of the Yellow Ixora.  I walked further into Zone I to check out the jungle trails there.  At the western slope of the Licuala Hill I stumbled upon a rare find that kind of made my day.  This is the first time ever that I come across a really wild red ginger flower.  It rose from beneath the ground (inset) and there were traces around the area that the stems were bitten or eaten by some kind of animals.   My wild guess is the Sambar deer's doing. The flowers produced some nice fragrance.  I spent a good half an hour around the site and cleared the trail properly.  Should I call it the wild red ginger trail?  Next to the wild ginger plant was a flushing treelet showing really attractive red young leaves.  I had on an earlier occasion trimmed this treelet to enable it to produce new branches which today I saw it did produce new branches and new flushes.  After the morning walk, I decided to pluck some fresh ferns (miding) at the Keruak wetlands of which I obtained sufficient quantity for lunch.  Yes, lunch was served with miding mixed with bamboo shoots cooked in coconut milk.  The cooking was done perfectly by my wife.  All of the vegetables were harvested freely and freshly from the park, the kind of healthy food I like.  Well, after lunch it was business as usual with harvesting of the oil palm fresh fruit bunches.  What kept me excited about working today was the abnormally high price of the ffb currently i.e. at RM 430/ton. Compared with last year the price of ffb was a meagre RM 330 on average (ramp price or at middleman's collection centre). For much of the period since January this year, the average price has been hovering around RM430/ton for many reasons which I will write in future postings.  Therefore, this year is a lot happier year in terms of the oil palm small holder.  I have read in some reports that the price of ffb will probably rise further throughout 2017.  Well, all this would be excellent news for the park as more money means more funds available for better amenities and care of the park.    After harvesting and before night falls I climbed the Licuala Hill again to catch a glimpse of the Tiong birds and witness the sunset from the hill.  I was rewarded by a good sunset but I thought I direct my camera lens instead  on the the wild grass flowers and view the sunset through them which produced a beautiful photographic capture.

Jungle treelet with red flushes, a potential for landscaping plant.

Fresh and free 'miding' young fronds for lunch

A lunch plate of mixed vegetables - miding combine with bamboo shoots cooked in 'santan' or coconut milk.

Oil palm fruit bunches in close up.  This month of August the price of oil palm ffb (fresh fruit bunches) has hit an average of RM 430/ton at collection centre or ramp price. 

It's harvesting time.

Before the day ends the Tiong birds (Hill Myna) perched on a tall dead tree at Licuala Hill

An artistic view of the sunset

Parts of the oil palm fruit

Densely packed fruits of the oil palm, Elaeis quineensis

I have in this picture split the oil palm fruit bunch in half.   From this cross-section view it is clear how closely packed are the fruits.  At the bottom of the picture is a cross section of a fruit.  Starting from the outermost layer of the fruit (skin) is the epicarp which is variously coloured orange to yellow and overlain with deep violet or black in exposed parts.  The middle layer of the fruit is called the mesocarp and in the picture is thick, oily, fleshy, fibrous, and  coloured deep orange.   The black ring is the endocarp, or innermost layer of the fruit wall, also referred to as shell.  Finally the white center is the endosperm, which is the nutritive body of the seed, sometimes called the kernel.

Tropical plants

Fresh fruit  bunches of the oil palm(Elaeis guineensis)

Oil palm fruit

Both the oil palm tree and the Cempedak tree are chiefly tropical plants.  The oil palm belongs to the Palmae family and though majority are tree-like there are others in the family that are climbing, a characteristic common in the rattan or 'Rotan' in Malay .    The  Cempedak is a species of woody plant and placed under the Fig family (Moraceae).  Members of the  fig family that are planted for their fruits here are the Artocarpus - Cempedak (Artocarpus integer), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) and the Ong Lumok or Terap (Artocarpus odiratissimus).

 Cempedak tree (Artocarpus integer)

Sawit success

Two big bunches can fully load a wheel barrow with average weight of 20 kilo per bunch.

It sounds familiar - sweet success.  After a while, after proper care and maintenance of the oil palm trees you can achieve the standard of 20 kg and above per fresh fruit bunch.  The trees that can reach this standard are those that have been grown for about 7 years or more.  Now more and more trees at the park are able to produce 20 kg per bunch of oil palm fruits.  There is no secret to this sawit success.  It is just plain fertilising.  Oil palm trees react well to fertilising.  On the average  the standard is 1 kg of fertiliser per tree per month.  It is very much left to the wisdom of the planters whether to apply the fertiliser per 2 or 3 month basis.  Now don't try to over-fertilise the plants.  This is because you don't want the fruit bunches to weigh 30 or 40 kg per bunch.  Reason?  Who's gonna lift the bunches that heavy during harvesting, carry them on the wheel barrow or load them on the pick-up or lorry?  Imagine harvesting and lifting 50 bunches of 40 kg bunches a morning.  And another 50 bunches in the afternoon.  And who's going to repeat the work tomorrow?  Over-fertilising is not only a waste of money but can play havoc to soil long-term health and a major attraction for pests that devour the tempting fat and very green oil palm leaves for delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Orchids no bloody care!

A Dendrobium spp orchid grown on oil palm trunk.
The rotting fibroous cut bases are excellent for the orchid roots as they retain much moisture.

Zone C

One good thing about the oil palm trunk is that the cut bases that are left after cutting the fronds during harvesting  are excellent for placing orchids.  Place them there and nature will take care of itself.  For one, shade is amply provoided by the green umbrella of oil palm fronds.  Secondly, the rotting cut bases of the fronds collect decomposed materials, fibres, and organic wastes from dying insects, birds and other small animals faeces which become organic fertiliser to the orchids.  Thirdly, the bases are highly absorbent of moisture from rain or dew.  I have planted freely many species of orchids on these palm trunks so that I don't have to worry about care.  Let nature for once take care of itself. 

It's harvesting time

Pick-up fully loaded with ripe oil palm fruits
10 April'15

( Note: Internet by Celcom in Bintulu is back to its snail pace again..This picture took 2 hours to upload.  There goes all the marketing promises of Celcom..Hah!! " It's a Celcom territory")

Harvesting ripe oil palm fruit bunch

Cross-section of ripe 'Sawit' (Malay) fruits or the oil palm fruits (Elaeis quineensis)

The base of the fronds is cut first with a sickle before cutting the fruits stalk
Location: Zone C

Early to walk, eager to work

Plantain squirrel scavenging for insects

Nimbled by squirrel

 Went about the park early.  The morning seemed cloudy and hopefully there'll be no rain, not before the harvesting of the fresh fruit bunches are done with.  A Plantain squirrel was busily hunting for insects at the very end of the branches.  On ground level some ripe fruits of the oil palm bore marks of being eaten by the squirrel.  The main produce of the park that helps to sustain its operation are these oil palm fruits.  Today is harvesting day and the ffb will need to be exported to the wholesale buyers or middlemen buyers later in the day.  At ramp price (i.e. the collecting/buying center) the price per ton is about RM 300 currently.  Before starting work  I stumbled upon a Blue Glassy Tiger when walking through the Botanic Island One....The day is gonna be a fruitful one...hopefully.

Close-up of the oil palm fruit

Blue Glassy Tiger

Walk in Botanic Island One

Oil palm fresh fruit bunches (ffb)

Every day fruiting at the park

Clean cut leaf base for harvesting purpose

The thicker the yellow flesh the more
oil yield is obtained in better hybrids.

 The oil palm tree bears and produces fruits on everyday basis for the next 25 years, which is the economic life of the palm. When harvesting the oil palm fruit bunch, the thick and broad leaf base below it needs to be clean cut.  The bunch of fruits is held by a soft fruit stalk which is easily cut by a sharp curved pruner even at great heights.  Today many varieties of oil palm fruits are produced to obtain more oil yield for the manufacture of cooking oil.   Besides the oil from the yellow flesh (mesocarp), the center of the the fruit which contains the pure white embryo or kernel is also the source of kernel oil.  The seed's protective covering (endocarp) needs to be crushed at the factories to collect the kernel oil.  The remains of the waste endocarps can be used as road metalling.

Oil palm fruits are ovoid and are basally angled due to close packing.  The fruits are coloured variously yellow or orange and overlain with deep violet or black in exposed parts.

Rendang is the perfect arch

Fruiting head have male and female flowers, but its the female flowers that bear the fruits.
The male inflorescence is a cluster of furry, simple spikes which resembles a hand.

 The oil palm tree is a tough plant that can live for more than 100 years.  The species Elaeis guineensis is the one planted here. This species is also called African Oil Palm.  Besides having a long life it is also the most productive oil crop in the world.  Here it is expected to give an economic life of about 20 -25 years.  The Malays have a good word to describe the health of the oil palm tree.  The conditions of the leaf especially the bottom most ones  must look graceful, curved in a semi-circular arch by the weight of the combined leaflets which is best described by the Malay word - " Rendang".  It is partly due to this Rendang arch that the oil palm tree can be made into an ornamental plant provided it is well-maintained, of robust growth, with a crown of shiny, green fronds or leaves.  The Rendang look also symbolizes gateway or protection  and for thousands of small holders in Bintulu the oil palm is thus a passport to prosperity.  Depending on the size and age of the holdings, this  'green gold' can be harvested on daily or weekly basis.  The demand will keep on increasing with unstoppable growth of world population because the minimum a breadwinner needs to keep his or her family happy and alive is cooked vegetables or fish on the dinner table.  The cheapest commercially available cooking oil in the world now is the palm oil.

Lines of graceful curves

Oil palms thrive exceeding well in the Bintulu for its tropical climate.  Epiphytes such as erns and orchids grow on them.

Singing the eco-diversity mantra

View of oil palm trees planted amidst introduced tree species - Eugenia oleina

 In the park the business model is radical when compared to the vast plantation-style oil palm mono cultivation in Sarawak.  I feel very much at peace with my conscience doing business using the Kambatik model because here profits go hand in hand with preservation.  This is primarily possible because the prime criteria in the development of the park is ecological diversity placed in the context of an agro-forestry management.  It takes me a good 6 years to achieve some resemblance of success in this new oil palm based business model.  The pictures indicating the return of wildlife to park park are concrete examples of the model's performance index.  Enjoy the park through the lenses of diversity....butterflies, insects, small animals, all wild and free......

 Among the existing native or exotic fruit trees and timber trees are planted flowering trees, shrubs and vines that provide food, shelter and breeding grounds to the extensive web of wildlife but with little or no maintenance.  When singing the ecological diversity mantra we sing out loud that "doing good is doing well ".....la la la la..

Recreational activity like wildlife and nature photography helps promote the idea of the park's sustainability mantra.

Doing good is doing well...