"Jiak liulian" literally means "eat durian" in Hokkien or Teochew. We found this single fruit on the jungle floor last week while hiking.
I think it was the last one to drop from the large durian tree we came across. The fruit looked like it had just dropped a day ago but there were already two large squirrel made holes in the skin, with the flesh inside half eaten. I didn't expect it to have any good pieces inside left but I picked it up and opened it anyway to take some photos...
Half of the fruit was full of ants and other fruit eating insects but there was one segment which contained a few unspoilt pieces. I only had a taste. Nice, sweet and fresh tasting. Definitely a newly dropped fruit.
There were lots of discarded durian shells around the base of the tree. Some of the seeds were already sprouting.
Look at this cluster of discarded seeds. All sprouting!
Also found a few unopened fruits, possibly dropped and gone unnoticed. The trail we used was an abandoned logging track, we stopped under the durian tree for some relief from the hot sun. I suppose the fruits are collected and eaten on the spot by others using that trail.
Even though it was slightly overcast, it was still a really hot day and we got tired very quickly walking along the exposed track That durian provided a small energy boost to my friends; I chose to down an energy drink instead since I'm not a fan of durian. :)
3 comments:
first time i planted durian seeds i got from malaysia i planted them all upside down. they sprouted with their roots in the air. i had to flip them all over. i still have maybe 4 or 5 large durian bushes. too bad they dont fruit until theyre enormous trees.
@vines, that's funny, wouldn't gravity cause them to sprout the right way no matter how you place the seeds? as long as you have them in soil or on the ground the roots should still grow downwards. You could try planting grafted plants instead of seedlings which will grow into enormous sizes. Durian wood is very soft and break easily so careful.
eventually maybe they might find it but i wasnt going to wait. i felt like an idiot. after that i just planted them on their sides so the dirt would be right next to either side of the end of the seed.
well one thing i could do is try to graft onto these existing seedlings occasionally. some of them are D28 i think its called and the other ones are just kampung durians. yeah durian wood is very soft. supposedly the filipinos were able to force it to fruit at a younger age by cutting off the top and shaping the tree a certain way. i dont know if it would actually work but it was an interesting idea and they had photos and a paper written to back it up.
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