General guidelines for wax apple cultivation.
Wax apple is a plant originating from Southeast Asia. This plant belongs to the Myrtaceae (guava) family. Cultivating wax wax apple is quite easy when done in a tropical area like Indonesia.
The market potential is quite enormous; people normally consume wax apple as fresh fruit such as salad and sweets. The juicy fruit that is rich in water content are considered seasonal fruit, and are abundant available in certain seasons.
Several types of wax apple.
Wax Apple has various types and shapes. Some wax apples that are commonly found on the market include:- Clove wax apple
- Honey wax apple
- Citra wax apple
- King Rose wax apple
- Lilin wax apple
- Madura wax apple
- Petruk wax apple
- Button waxed apple
How to cultivate wax apple
a. Cultivation location
Wax apple grows well at altitude between 5 - 500 meters above sea level. If the fruit is planted in a higher area, the results are not optimal. To have the same result on a higher ground production, we need specialized care to maximize the production.This plant requires direct solar lighting with an sun ray intenxity of around 40-80% in a day. The optimal temperature for its grow ranges from 10 to 28 °C with a humidity level of 50-80%.
b. Nursery
Propagation of wax apple plants can be done in 2 ways, namely generative and vegetative. The generative way is to propagate plants by using its seeds. This method requires a long time from propagation, planting to fruiting.On the contrary, the vegetative method is much faster then the generative one. The vegetative process of propagation of plants not by using seeds. It can be done with grafting and scraping.
The vegetative propagation is also highly recommended for cultivation using pots or poly bags because vegetative method will produce a shorter and smaller tree but can already bear fruit.
One of the most popular vegetative propagation is by grafting. Here are the steps:
- Choose a parent tree that is around 10-15 years old.
- Choose parent tree that have a good growth or fertility quality, good fruits, and dense.
- Branches to be grafted should have a good physical appearance and are not deformed.
- Graft the branches and cover with some compost and wrap with plastic.
- Leave them until the roots grows sufficiently.
- Once you have enough roots, cut the graft, and it is ready to be planted.
Planting the Graft
After getting the desired graft, then we can do the planting.Planting of wax apple seedlings should be arranged with a space of about 8 x 8 meters so that the branches can grow optimal and do not overlap with other tree.
- Dig a hole with a size of 60 x 60 x 60 cm and leave the hole open for 2-3 days
- Add some manure or compost as basic fertilizer.
- After that, the plant seedling is ready to be inserted into the hole.
- Cover with soil that has been mixed with compost and then add some water.
- The planting process should be done in the morning or evening so that after planting the tree is not directly exposed to blistering sun.
- Trees need to be adapted so they don't get stress with the new environment, add some cover for protection using para net or plastic sheet.
Meanwhile, if planting in the rainy season, pay attention that the trees are not flooded for a long time, as this will cause rotten root.
Fertilizing Wax Apple
Fertilizing is something that must be done on the cultivation of wax apple so that plants can flourish and produce a lot of fruits. Wax apple fertilization starts from the first planting, which is to mix compost when planting the seedlings as explained above.After initial fertilization, then the wax apple need fertilizer every three months or at least twice a year.
How to fertilize wax apple?
Dig a circle around the tree with a radius of of about 1 meter with a 10 cm depth for small tree. For bigger tree, the circle is directly under the outer leaves. Add some compost or other fertilizer and cover it with the soil.Watering needs to be considered so as not to be inundated during the rainy season and not to dry out during the dry season.
The problem of weeds.
Weeds monitoring is important so that the tree is not disturbed due to the weeds growth. Also, pay attention to the issues of pests and diseases that might strike. If the tree is exposed to pests or diseases, do the treatment as soon as possible.Pruning branches
To get a maximum and dense fruit, it is necessary to prune the branches. This pruning is done so that a new branches can grow to get the perfect canopy.Pruning is also done to reduce the trees that are too lush. In trees that are too lush, many branches will not bear fruit as the leaves are rarely exposed to sunlight. It is better to cut it so that branches with good fruiting potential can grow optimally.
- Select only four main branches with opposing direction (this is called the primary branches).
- From each primary branches, select only 4 trunks with opposing direction (this is called the secondary branches).
- From each secondary branches, select only 4 trunks with opposing direction (this is called the tertiary branches).
- Prune the other branches of trunk. The length of each branches ideally is around 1m to have a short and dense healthy tree.
- This type of pruning will make it is for harvesting and ensure all leaves are exposed to sunlight.
Wax Apple Harvesting
When wax apple begin to flower, one of the many pests that attack is the fruit flies. These fruit flies usually attack flowers that are 15 days old and will make the flowers fall or the fruit becomes rotten.To overcome the attack of fruit fly pests, the flowers need to be wrapped by plastic or paper bag. If the flower has been attacked by a pest, we need to spray fungicides and insecticides with sufficient dosage.
Wax apple will usually bear fruit twice a year, in June-August and November-December. Harvesting can be done if the fruit is already ripe. Mature wax apples are usually characterized by large size (according to the variety), and changing color from greenish (or whitish) to reddish (depending on the variety).
Harvesting process is done several times by picking the fruits manually. This is done because the wax apple is usually do not ripe together. To keep the wax apple fresh for a longer period, store it in the refrigerator.
In cultivation using grafted branches, wax apples can bear fruit after 8-12 months after planting, although not too much fruit can be harvested. Wax apple will start to produce a lot of fruit when it is 3-4 years old.
Some pest of wax apple
Wax apple and all other plants certainly has many pests and diseases. Here are some pests that usually like to infect wax apple trees:a. Elephant butterfly caterpillar
Elephant butterfly caterpillar is a greenish insect whcih has a length of about 1,2 cm. This pest will attack wax apples by laying their eggs on the leaves.
After hatching, the baby caterpillar will eat the leaves and create some holes on it. After sometime, the leaves will shrink, then turn yellow, and eventually die.
A good way to deal with elephant butterfly caterpillars is to manually collect all the eggs and caterpillars on the leaves and then kill them.
However, this method is not effective in the vast area of wax apple cultivation. For larger area, pesticides can be used to control it.
b. Green shield flea
These lice have a very small size so it is difficult to see. But it can be known by the pattern of its attacks.
If the green shield fleas are in action, they will stick to the back of the leaves. Leaves that are affected by green shield ticks will have black spots like soot on its backside.
During the rainy season, this pest will gone by itself. To deal with the green shield flea we can use predators. Green shield flea predators are ladybugs.
c. Bats
These active-during-the-night animals like to eat various fruits, including wax apple. Bats will attack wax apples when they produce fruits. To deal with bats, cover the tree using nets or the fruit using plastic bag or paper bag.
d. Parasitic plants
Parasitic plants (benalu) is a plant that grows by sticking to other plants and extract the nutrient from its host. This will make the wax apple tree cannot grow optimally.
To overcome the parasitic plants on wax apple tree, manually cut the parasite using sharp knife. Careful not to cut or hurt the wax apple tree instead.
e. Fruit flies
As discussed above, fruit flies will attack flowers that are almost becoming fruit. Fruit flies will lay their eggs on the flower flesh.
Then after their lava hatches, this lava will eat the fruit from inside so that the fruit is damaged, rotted and has many holes.
To overcome this problem, you can use Diazinon insecticide.
f. Stem borer
Stem borers will attack the wax apple stem section, not the leaf area. Signs of trees that have been exposed to stem borer are the bark of the tree becomes peeled and secretes sap from the skin.
To deal with stem borer attacks, insecticide can be used.
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