Lending Model Information System
for Small-Scale Enterprises
VANILLA PLANTATION
(SHARI'A FUNDING PATTERN)
PRODUCTION ASPECT
HARVEST AND POST-HARVEST OF CHILI
1. Preparing the Land
The land used for planting vanilla needs to be prepared considerably well in order to trigger the roots develops quickly, so that the growth of the vanilla cutting will be guaranteed. The jobs need to be conducted include land processing and the making of bed. The previous job can be carried out by hoeing or ploughing the land in order to make it loose, deep, crumbs, and has good areation. The bed is made along the plantation with 1,2 m wide approximately 30 cm high. For plantations located in flat land, drainage should be made along the side of the plantation of approximately 60 cm wide and 40 cm deep.
2. Planting
Before being planted, the cutting is placed in a shade area for approximately 3 - 4 days in order to make the cut dry so that it will not become rotten. The cutting is then planted after the land surrounding shading plants is mixed with mature cow dung. Then, next to the base of the shading plants, with an addition of another distance of about 10 cm, a 10 cm deep planting hole is made. Three or four of leaves are removed from stem base, since this part will be buried in the soil. The posision and the way of planting vanilla in the soil are presented in Picture 4.1.
Picture 4.1. Cutting planting of Vanilla Plants
The planting of the cutting is suggested to be conducted in the beginning of rainy season. The cutting is planted in the hole prepared next to the base of shading trees. The soil surrounding this cutting must be kept wet. The way to ensure this is by placing green leaves around vanilla plants. Watering can also be carried out when it is needed. The part of the cutting which is buried is approximately 3-4 nodes, burried with a curve position so that its base stem will not be buried by soil, then the soil is slightly pressed.The part of the cutting above the soil surface is then tied to its shading plant; as a result, when it grows it will directly adhered to this supporting plant. The materials that can be used to tie vanilla to the suppoorting tree are plastic rope or the rope which is made from banana stem. The condition of vanilla which has been planted for two weeks can be viewed in Photo 4.1.
3. The Creeping of Vanilla Plants
The creeping of vanilla plants can be connducted in three ways; namely, fence system, single supporting system with twisting curves, and hanging system.
Photo 4.1. The Planting of Vanilla Around Shading Plants
a. The Fence System
The fence system is applied if the branches of the host plant is not horizontal. In the height of 2 m from this host plant, a piece of bamboo is tied to this plant to enable vanilla stem to creep horizontally in this piece of bamboo. The creeping technique using a fence sistem can be seen in Picture 4.2.
b. Single Supporting System With Twisting Curves
In such a system, vanilla is creeped upward until it reaches approximately 2.5 m. After that, 0.75 m the end of the spiral stem is released from its main support and let it hang until it is about 50 cm above the land surface, and its end is directed upwards again and then tied to its support. Continue doing this until many circles derving from the curves of vanilla stems are formed. The technique of single supporting system with twisting curves is presented in Picture 4.3.
Picture 4.3. The Creeping of Vanilla Plants with The Single Supporting System
c. Hanging System
Making the hanging system is the same as the above twisting curves one; that is, by curving the vanilla stem downward when its height reaches 1.5 - 2 m. Then when the end is approaching the surface of the soil, ( approximately 30 cm above land surface), its bud is trimmed. When it grows again and reaches 1.5 - 2 m of height, it is curved again, and when it is approaching the land surface, the bud is trimmed again. It continues like this.
4. The Trimming of Both Shading Plants and Vanilla Stems
Vanilla plants only require 50 - 70% sun shine. The intensity of the sun shine can be arranged by trimming the twigs and branches of their shading trees. Such a trimming is usually conducted once in a year, in the beginning of rainy season.
It is better for vanilla plants to flower at the same time and in the same shapes; thus, there is a need to stimulate the plants to flower. One way to conduct this is by reducing the shade, and press all young buds so that all their vegetative growth will be hindranced. Another way is by trimming all stem. If after the pressing buds still appear, onother press on vanilla stem has to be carried out, or the shade has to be reduced. Furthermore, plants have to be sprayed with Gandasil B fertilizer. Either the bud pressing and stem trimming above is performed at the end of dry season so that within 2-3 months afterward the plants will flower.
5. The Pollination of The Flower
Vanilla plants are not able to pollinate by themselves; therefore, this pollination process has to be initiated by human. The time to do pollination is very limited, since the blossom of flowers only last for 12 hours; namely, around 12 a.m. to 12 p.m. This pollination job will be easier when it is carried out before 12.00 p.m.; that is, at 08.00 a.m. - 12.00 a.m., when flowers are adequately dry from the dew.
In general, one bunch of flower consists of 15 - 20 flower stalks and in one bunch there is no more than 3 flowers which blossom at the same time. As a consequent, the job of conducting pollination in one bunch of flower takes a number of days. Every plant maximally produces 15 bunches. If the number of bunches required has been achieved, the remaining of the flower has to be thrown away. The good size of flowers is 15 cm.
The way to pollinate flowers is by lifting rostellum which is adjacent to the anther and the stigma by using a palm leaf rib as long as approximately 10 cm. Then the pollen is placed on the stigma which is located below it. Whether or not the pollination is successful can be seen in 1 - 2 days after that. If the flower stays in its bunch, the pollination is successful since the pollination will fail if the flower falls from its bunch. If the number of fruit in one bunch is sufficient (ranges between 9-12 fruits), the pollination job ceased and all of the remaining flowers are thrown away. In average, one person is able to pollinate 1,000 flowers per day. The illustration of vanilla pollination technique is presented in Picture 4.4.
(a. lifting Rostellum with palm leaf rib, b. Placing pollen on stigma)
6. Fertilization
In the cultivation of vanilla plants, the fertilazation process is crucial to carry out. The types of fertilizers that can be used in this stage is manure, unorganic fertilizer which includes N, P, K, Ca, and Mg, Gandasil D, Gandasil B and Gier (the waste of cow which is diluted). It has been proven that the application of manure approximately 1.5 tin of kerosene per plant per year can improve the number of fruit. However, the application of manure as much as 20 liter per plant per year, or 100 g of NPK fertilizer with the ratio of 15-15-15 per plant per year does not show a significant effect on the growth of the plant and the production of fruit. Manure is especially required in the areas lacking of water, and this is applied in the beginning of dry season.
Gandasil D is applied when the plant turns to be apparently thin, the bunches of flower appear in a vast number, or after harvesting period. The application of such a fertilizer is crucial in order to balance the growth of the plant, since the energy of the plants bearing a vast number of fruits will be drained and further, it results in the death of the plant.
Gandasil B is applied when the plant is approaching the flowering stage. Such a fertilizer is useful to make the growth of the flowers and the number of flower bunches homogeneous. The application of either Gandasil D or Gandasil B is conducted once in two weeks during the wet season covering a dosage of 5 - 8 g/litre of water. This kind of fertilizer is sprayed on the leaves in the morning before 06.00 a.m. or in the afternoon, around 6 p.m. Alternatively, it can be sprayed at noon after a hard rain. Both manure and artificial fertilizers can be applied in the beginning and at the end of rainy season. The dosage of the fertilizer applied, furthermore, is tailored to the age of the plant.
The Dosage of Both Manure and Artificial Fertilizers for Vanilla Plants
| Plant Age (Year) | Fertilizers Dosage (gr/plant/year) | |||
| Manure | Urea | SP-36 | KCL | |
Less than 1 | 800 | 20 | 40 | 60 |
1 - 2 | 800 | 40 | 80 | 120 |
2 - 3 | 960 | 80 | 160 | 240 |
3 - 5 | 1,280 | 160 | 320 | 480 |
More than 5 | 1,600 | 300 | 600 | 750 |
7. Controlling Pests and Diseases
Pests that attack vanilla plants are very rare. In general, the pest that usually attacks the plant is white moth (Lawava Sp.). When plants are seen to be attacked by pests then the spraying process is carried out of by using insectiside Decis 0,5 - 1,0 ml/litre of water. If there is a severe attack, the spraying can be conducted once in 7 - 10 days, until the pests completely disappear.
Additionally, the major disease of vanilla plants is rot stem. Such a disease is resulted from a kind of fungi called Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vanillae which is able to spread largerly. Until this recent time, there has been no vanilla plant which totally resists or tolerant towards this disease. Once this disease enters the plantation, it will spread incredibly quickly and will be difficult to handle. However, there are a number of ways that can be performed in order to avoid this kind of disease. They are:
- Planting the seeds or cuttings which are free from rot stem phatogen;
- When conducting any activity in the plantation, avoid hurting vanilla plants and stepping on the bed;
- Growing the kinds onions (geen onions or wild lily) araound the bed;
- Avoiding manure from chicken waste;
- Making drainage surrounding the area;
- Spread fungiside at the base of the stem during the rainy season;
- Giving mulch from dried clove leaves;
- Conducting spraying using fungiside after weeding, applying fertilizers, trimming, and harvesting; (Several kinds of fungiside that can be used are Benlate 50 WP 1 g/litre, Topsin 2g/litre, Dithane M 45 2 - 3 g/litre, and Delsene MX-200 2-3 g/l. The dosage of fungiside usage is tailored to the age of the plant. The guidelines on fungiside application is presented in Table 4.5.) below;
- Destroying parts of the plants showing the signs of having the disease as early as possible.
The Guidelines of Fungiside Application on Vanilla Plants
| Plant Age (Year) | Fungiside (kg/ha) |
Less than 1 | - |
1 - 2 | 12 |
2 - 3 | 14 |
3 - 4 | 15 |
More than 5 | 18 |
8. Harvesting
Vanilla fruits will be adequately ripe 9 months after the pollination. The length of the fruits will approximately be 15 - 25 cm, and the color of the fruit is yellow on its end. In order to obtain good quality of vanilla, vanilla fruits have to be harvested at the right time (sufficiently ripe) neither too early (unripe fruits) nor too late (too ripe). When harvested at the right time, the vanilin content reaches 2.2%, of black color, oily and shiny. When fruits are harvested earlier, however, they are too rigid and less in aroma, and have low vanilin content. On the other hand, when they are harvested too late, the fruits are broken, causing the price low. Based on some researches, vanilla that is harvested approximately 240 days after the pollination bear the highest vanilin content (2.95%).
The Influence of The Age Harvested Vanilla Age Towards
The Contents of Its Vanillin, Ash, as well as Water
Harvest Age (days) | Vanilin Contents (%) | Ash Contents (%) | Water Contants (%) |
150 | 0.85 | 6.75 | 17.54 |
180 | 1.90 | 5.68 | 18.26 |
210 | 2.65 | 4.91 | 18.49 |
240 | 2.95 | 3.59 | 17.52 |
The signs of vanilla approaching its ripeness is the change of its color: from shiny dark green turns into suram light green; there are small lines with yellow color on its kulit jangat, which gradually turn into big ones; and the ujung of the fruit turns into yellow. When the ujung buah is yellow, it is the best time for the fruit to harvest. If it is later than such a time, the fruit will be broken. Furthermore, in the plantation, vanilla fruits will not be ripe at the same time, so the picking can be conducted gradually, one fruit after another. Only fruits which are precisely ripe that have to be picked. In addition to the right time, harvesting vanilla fruits have to be performed extremely carefully in order not to destroy or hurt other belum masak fruits. The picking is carried out every day, and this may last for three months. The following is the way to harvest vanilla fruits correctly: the left hand holds tangkai tandan buah; whereas the right hand holds the ripe fruit. Then, fruits are removed from their fruit stem by twisting it carefully.
9. Post Harvest Stage
The activities that have to be handled significantly well after the harvest are handling fresh fruits, withering (immersing), ripening and drying, storing, sortaging and packaging. This post-harvest stage plays a crucial role in determining the quality of vanilla fruit; therefore, it has to be carried out well and correctly. The unique aroma of the vanilla will be produced in this stage. In fact, vanilla fruits which have just been picked do not have this unique aroma. Such an aroma is resulted from vanilin content mixed with secondary aromatic compounds (aromatic complex aldehid, alcohol, and ester).
