Planting Coconuts

To The Best

Advantage

Agricultural experts attending the SPC technical meeting on

coconut production at Rangiroa,

French Polynesia, in August agreed on a series of recommen dations on the optimum density for coconut palms.

THE experts agreed that factors de termining the most desirable density included the variety of palm to be planted; light intensity; fertility of the soil; and moisture supply.

A dwarf palm, it was pointed out, occupied less space than a tall palm, while light intensity varied according to latitude and climate.

“A triangular system of planting, with one line due north and south makes more efficient use of light than any other system,” the experts said.

“On fertile soils well supplied with moisture, vegetative development is greater and therefore optimum density will be less.

“The optimum density may also be less in areas of severe dry season to avoid intense interplant competition for moisture.”

The experts made these recom mendations for planting tall palms in the Pacific; • 70 to 80 palms per acre in Papua-New Guinea and the Solomons, in triangles with the palms spaced 27 to 25 ft apart. • 60 to 70 palms per acre in Fiji and the New Hebrides in 29 to 27 ft triangular spacing. • 80 to 100 palms per acre on atolls in 25 to 22 ft triangular spacing.

The closer spacing on atolls is re garded as desirable because the palms do not grow so big.

Mr. A. E. Charles, economic botanist in the Papua-New Guinea Department of Agriculture, who at tended the conference, told PIM that the 27 to 25 ft triangles recom mended for P-NG and the Solomons would not have been considered feasible 10 to 15 years ago. In those days, 30 ft spacing was thought to be the closest desirable in those territories.