The Taro Forest

This brilliant prose was titled and written by Philippe in 2005. I thought to include it as it also captivates the essence... that these pictures can't....

The Dream Farm

Every time I have doubts about the future of Taro as a crop I paid a visit to my friend John and I know that we can make it. I also dream that my farm would look like his.

In my eyes John's and more recently Rod's farm are the nearest thing to perfection in taro planting. What I found the most impressive is not the neatness of the farm but the incredible size and regularity of the taro.

In a time of challenge with the imported taro the answer is in growing large plants. The production cost and the sales cost is the same for a 300g taro or a 3kg taro but the second brings in 10 times more.

I will not try to talk about technicalities such as fertilisation program and type of irrigation but rather understand the principle behind John's success.

I heard somebody said, "he must be using a lot of fertiliser and herbicide" this is a misconception. The key is the timing, not the quantity of chemical used.

The proof of this is very obvious. A good organic taro has a shelf life of one month without refrigeration. A taro pushed with fertiliser as a shelf life of 7 to 10 days maximum, after that it becomes soft and rots. John gave me some of his taro at several occasions and I noticed that they keep in good condition up to 3 to 4 weeks therefore I know for sure that his taro have not been over-fertilised.

Concerning the use of herbicides again the key is timing. John explained that he rotate his crop, plant green manure and let the soil rest. As he said "taro is a very unforgiving crop you have to do everything right".

After he prepared the soil he plants quickly before the weeds could germinate and mulch straight after planting. That takes care of 90% of the problem.

During the next 3 months before the taro canopy he spray a weed killer with his back pack, on each weed but just a puff is sufficient because it is still small and there is few of them because of the mulch.

For the persons interested in knowing John's fertilisation program please contacts him (Note: Available to members ...Ed) for he does not mind to share his experience with other taro growers.

The last remark is probably the most important.

I am sure that John by careful selection during 10 years has actually created a superior cultivar of bun long.

The reason I say that is because Rodney Hourston who got his planting material from John produced straight away huge taro. So did Brian Machan who also got his planting material from John and so did again Kao and Turoa who are planting taro on Don Zanoletti's farm from John's planting material.

If it is the case this cultivar which have to be named (I propose JD No1) may have a great impact on the taro industry by allowing growers to have a better yield.

Thanks John for receiving us,

Philippe Petiniaud

of Rod Hourston (President) and John Doyle (Treasurer), Bilyana, Far North Queensland, Australia