Cover crops
Boron and cover crops: a micronutrient interaction in oil palm
Boron is one of the micronutrients oil palm is most sensitive to, and the soil organic matter that a legume...
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Discover science-backed research on organic farming, soil health, and sustainable agriculture. Chemiseed's expert articles guide you toward better crops and healthier soil.
Cover crops
The replant-year cover-crop establishment calendar (Sabah and Sarawak)
The replant year is the single best chance to get a legume cover crop established, because the canopy is open,...
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Cover crops
Durian and Phytophthora: an integrated soil and drainage approach
Phytophthora is a water-driven disease, and that single fact shapes everything about managing it in durian (Durio zibethinus). The pathogen...
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Cover crops
Sugarcane weevil and Cane-Phorus: an IPM approach
Yes, and the trial evidence is striking. In pheromone-based mass trapping for the weevils that attack sugarcane and banana (Metamasius...
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Cover crops
Living mulch or irrigation? A dry-season moisture decision
When the dry season squeezes an estate, the choice between a living mulch cover crop and installing irrigation is not...
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Cover crops
Soil microbiome testing for estates: what is worth measuring
Soil microbiome testing can tell an estate something useful, but only if you know what question you are asking and...
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Cover crops
Biofertilisers in oil palm: what the Malaysian PGPR isolates show
Biofertilisers, products based on plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and other beneficial soil microbes, are a genuine tool, and Malaysian...
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Cover crops
Cacao black pod: pod-husk compost and shade management
Black pod rot, caused by Phytophthora species, is the most damaging disease of cacao (Theobroma cacao) in the humid tropics,...
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Cover crops
Calopogonium caeruleum vs Calopogonium mucunoides: when to choose which
The short answer is that they solve different problems at different stages. Calopogonium mucunoides is the fast, cheap pioneer that...
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Cover crops
An EUDR documentation toolkit for Malaysian exporters
The European Union Deforestation Regulation is, at its core, a documentation and traceability requirement: exporters of covered commodities need to...
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Cover crops
The cost stack: cover crop vs herbicide vs manual weeding
Comparing weed control by cover crop, herbicide, or manual weeding is not a single price comparison; it is a cost...
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Cover crops
SoilBoost EA and cover crops: the pairing logic for Malaysian estates
SoilBoost EA, a humic acid soil amendment, and a legume cover crop do different jobs, and that is exactly why...
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Cover crops
Mycorrhizae at the nursery stage: phosphorus and seedling vigour
The strongest, most practical place to use mycorrhizae in oil palm is the nursery, where colonising young roots early can...
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Cover crops
Stylosanthes guianensis for manganese-toxic acid soils
Stylosanthes guianensis is a tropical forage legume that tolerates the acid, low-fertility soils where many other cover crops struggle, which...
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Cover crops
Legume green manure before rice: the rotation nitrogen math
A legume green manure crop grown and incorporated before rice can lift the subsequent rice yield by about 15.7 percent,...
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Cover crops
Vetiver hedgerows vs cover crops on steep oil palm slopes
On gentle to moderate slopes, leguminous cover crops are usually enough: they blanket the surface, fix nitrogen, and cut erosion...
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Cover crops
Oryctes rhinoceros: lure-based management for oil palm
A pheromone lure does not eradicate Oryctes rhinoceros, but used correctly it cuts damage sharply and cheaply. The aggregation pheromone...
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Cover crops
Designing a cover-crop seed mix for oil palm
A single legume cannot do everything an oil palm block needs across its life. One species establishes fast but fades...
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Cover crops
Humic acid in tropical acid soils: the meta-analysis in plain English
A 2024 meta-analysis in Agronomy pooled many field trials and found that humic acid application raised crop yield by about...
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Cover crops
Potassium deficiency in oil palm: the smallholder yield gap
Potassium is the nutrient oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) removes in the largest quantity, and it is also the one most...
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Cover crops
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) as a soil amendment: turning waste into soil health capital
Palm oil mills in Malaysia generate approximately 55 to 67 million tonnes of liquid effluent (POME) annually. Properly treated, POME...
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Cover crops
Rubber tree interrow cover crops in Malaysia: managing Hevea soil health with leguminous ground cover
Rubber smallholders in Malaysia manage 1.1 million hectares of Hevea brasiliensis: much of it on low-fertility acid soils with no...
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Cover crops
Cover crop management during Malaysian dry spells: how to protect your interrow through El Nino conditions
El Nino-driven dry spells increasingly affect Malaysian oil palm regions. Well-managed cover crops provide a biological moisture conservation system that...
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Cover crops
Biological nitrogen fixation in Malaysian oil palm: how legume cover crops reduce synthetic fertiliser dependence
Leguminous cover crops fix 50 to 180 kg of atmospheric nitrogen per hectare per year in Malaysian oil palm: nitrogen...
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Cover crops
Calopogonium caeruleum: the shade-tolerant cover crop that protects Malaysian oil palm soil through canopy closure
Calopogonium caeruleum displays higher overall shade tolerance than 14 other tropical legumes tested in Malaysia. As oil palm canopy closes...
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Cover crops
Pueraria javanica vs Mucuna bracteata: choosing the right cover crop for your Malaysian oil palm block
Mucuna bracteata and Pueraria javanica are the two most widely used leguminous cover crops in Malaysian oil palm. They have...
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Cover crops
Establishing cover crops in immature oil palm: ground cover strategy for the first three years
The first three years after replanting are the most critical window for establishing the ground cover system that will protect...
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Cover crops
Mucuna bracteata vs herbicide: the cost and effectiveness comparison every oil palm planter should know
Research shows Mucuna bracteata suppresses weeds by 97 to 99% in Malaysian oil palm: comparable to herbicide programmes at a...
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Cover crops
Soil erosion on sloping oil palm land in Malaysia: why cover crops outperform every other control method
Bare soil in oil palm plantations on sloping land loses up to 5.26 tonnes of topsoil per hectare per year...
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Cover crops
Oil palm trunk recycling at replanting: why zero-burn is the right agronomic and environmental choice
At replanting, a 25-year-old oil palm stand generates enormous quantities of trunk and frond biomass. Zero-burn practices: chipping and field-returning...
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Cover crops
Maximising FFB quality during peak harvest season: nutrition, ripeness, and oil extraction rate
Malaysia's oil palm harvest peaks in August to October. The quality of fresh fruit bunches at this peak: measured by...
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Cover crops
Nitrogen volatilisation from urea in oil palm: why up to 42% of applied N disappears into the air
Research shows that 11 to 42% of nitrogen applied as urea in Malaysian oil palm is lost to the atmosphere...
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Cover crops
Empty fruit bunch as a soil amendment: closing the nutrient circle in Malaysian oil palm mills
Empty fruit bunches (EFB) from palm oil mills contain 2.4% potassium, 0.9% nitrogen, and substantial organic matter. Applied as mulch,...
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Cover crops
Biochar from oil palm biomass: how charcoal improves tropical acid soils and cuts emissions
Biochar made from oil palm waste improves soil pH, increases CEC, reduces nutrient leaching, and can sequester carbon equivalent to...
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Cover crops
Liming acid soils in Malaysian oil palm: how dolomite corrects pH, calcium, and magnesium in one application
The average soil pH in Malaysian oil palm estates is 4.3: a level that locks up phosphorus, manganese, and calcium...
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Cover crops
Silicon nutrition in oil palm: the overlooked element supporting resilience to Ganoderma, bagworms, and drought
Silicon is not classified as an essential nutrient for oil palm, but the evidence says otherwise. From 53% Ganoderma disease...
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Cover crops
Ganoderma basal stem rot in oil palm: how soil biology supports tree resilience
Ganoderma basal stem rot reduces oil palm yields by 50 to 80% and worsens with each replanting cycle. Discover how...
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Cover crops
What happens under the frond stack: the nutrient recycling science Malaysian planters are missing
Oil palm frond stacking is universal but rarely managed as a nutrient cycling tool. This article uses decomposition timeline data...
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Cover crops
Why your soil organic matter disappears faster in Malaysia than anywhere else
At Malaysian temperatures of 28-32 degrees Celsius, labile organic matter decomposes in under a year. This article explains why stabilised...
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Cover crops
Hidden deficiencies in the cacao block: zinc, copper, and the pods you are not getting
Zinc is the most frequently deficient micronutrient in cacao globally. In Malaysian acid soils at pH 4-5, both zinc and...
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Cover crops
The nutrient nobody talks about: why sulfur is quietly limiting your rubber yield
Sulfur is essential for latex biosynthesis in rubber trees but almost never monitored in Malaysian fertiliser programmes. On leached sandy...
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Cover crops
Without the right bacteria, your nitrogen-fixing cover crop is just a weed
Biological nitrogen fixation in cover crops requires specific Bradyrhizobium strains matched to the species and soil pH. Without inoculation on...
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Cover crops
Before the first seed hits the soil: how priming transforms cover crop establishment
Poor establishment in the first month is the top reason cover crop programmes fail in Malaysian estates. Seed priming techniques...
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Cover crops
Living mulch vs bare soil: the soil moisture data Malaysian planters need to see
With El Nino events intensifying in Malaysia, cover crop mulch is a low-cost tool for reducing soil evaporation by 20-60%...
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Cover crops
The forgotten legume: why Centrosema pubescens deserves a second look in your young planting
Most Malaysian planters default to Mucuna bracteata or Pueraria javanica but Centrosema pubescens outperforms both under closed canopy conditions. This...
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Cover crops
The invasive weed that feeds your soil: turning water hyacinth into high-value green manure
Malaysia's waterways carry millions of tonnes of water hyacinth. This article shows how composted water hyacinth delivers measurable improvements to...
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Cover crops
After the drought: how amino acid foliar sprays help oil palm and rubber recover faster
The two to four weeks after drought or waterlogging stress are critical for yield recovery. Amino acid biostimulants accelerate the...
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Cover crops
The micronutrient behind the unopened spear: managing boron in Malaysian oil palm
Boron deficiency in oil palm causes hook leaf and unopened spear syndrome. High Malaysian rainfall leaches soil boron, especially at...
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Cover crops
The silent yield killer: soil compaction from harvesting machinery in Malaysian estates
Harvesting machinery compacts oil palm soils, reducing root growth and nutrient uptake. This article quantifies the yield cost and outlines...
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Cover crops
Where does your phosphorus fertiliser actually go? The fixation problem in Malaysian soils
Phosphorus applied to Malaysian acid soils binds rapidly to iron and aluminium oxides, making it unavailable to crops. Humic acid...
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