Category: Bumisari

According to the Department of Agriculture, Teak tree cultivation is very suitable in Indonesia, because some areas have tropical climate. Teak can be planted in Java, parts of Sumatra, Sulawesi and Maluku. Teak trees will grow well in areas with rainfall between 1,500-2,500mm/year, either in the lowlands or highlands, a good planting location in areas with an altitude of 10-1000 m above sea level, and has a light intensity of 75-100% and a Ph. Soil 4-8. The good soil for teak tree growth is sandy loam soil type, avoid swampy and rocky soil.

Good  teak seedlings are six months to one year old, derived from seeds or from tissue culture. Each has advantages and differences. For industrial plants, seedlings from tissue culture are better than seedlings from seeds.

Maintenance is needed in the first year to the third year, when the teak tree must survive from the weather and pests. After that, routine maintenance such as clearing the grass and weeds as well as pests and diseases. Giving fertilizer, pesticide or fungicide at the beginning of growth will make the teak trees grow healthy and strong.

The Java Teak plantation in Bumisari is a GoldTeak pilot project, on 2.6 hectares of former rice fields. With regular care and maintenance, teak trees grow well. Although the tree circumference is not large and has many branches, the quality of Java teak wood  is also very good, light brown to dark brown in color, strong and not easily broken or deformed. With a unique texture and motif, teak wood is widely used for furniture. With the price of teak wood continuing to rise, planting teak trees is a good  option of investment.

The distance between Cibening village and Bumisari village is about two hours away by car or one hour by motorbike. The teak plantation in Bumisari village is only two hectares, this is a pilot project. The teak trees planted are Javanese teak and Asian teak.

The villager stopped planting rice there because they only depended on the rainfall, the soil is not good enough for planting rice, it is suitable for planting teaks.

The teak trees are more than 15 years old now, they are healthy and never attacked by pests & diseases, the trees have good wood with best quality.

As a pilot project, Goldteak’s plantation was started by clearing two hectares of land in Bumisari village, Cikidang District, Sukabumi. Local teak is chosen to be planted in former rice fields. The hilly land contours make rainwater flow down quickly. But teak is a tree that is resistant to hot climates.

 Since planting in 2002, the tree has grown healthily with a standard tree circumference. Almost no one died from pests, trees died from landslides or hit by lightning.

 Edu is a guardian, every day he checks the condition of the plantation and cleans the soil from dry leaves, and keeps the fire from breaking out this summer.

It has been almost six years since Edu has worked for Goldteak plantation as a gardener, he works by himself at Kebun. He is married and has got two daughters, Siti Noerhasanah and Siti Rahmawati, with his wife, Erna, they live in the village near the plantation, every morning he goes to the plantation on foot.

The site manager, Zaini, visits Edu once a month to inspect his work and hand in his salary. As a guardian, his job is to clean dry leaves to prevent fires. In the summer there is often a fire due to a pile of dry leaves and twigs scattered. He also cleans branches that are too tight because they can reduce sunlight to the ground.

It’s hot season now,, he also ensures that there is enough space around the land to limit Goldteak’s border with someone else’ land, to avoid moving the hotspot if the next land fires.

Teak is a high quality timber plant, big tree and straight trunk. High can reach 30 – 40 meters, leaf width and can grows on the ground 700 meters above sea level. Because of the slow growth and low germination, so the market always never meet the needs of the industry. Some alternatives to respond the big demand of industry, people try to grow Teaks by Tissue Culture.

Goldteak planted a local Teak in Bumisari village on a 2 Ha land. Teak trees grow quite well above paddy fields. Periodic maintenance by fertilizing and giving insecticides at the beginning of growth keeps the trees free from pests. The Teaks in Bumisari are already 11 years old, still young and not ready to be harvested.

The plan to visit Bumisari plantation was to check the trees, whether the
teaks need to be thinned or not. For more than 10 years, the trees get good
treatment; regular fertilization, pruning limbs and mowing. The land has
little water during hot season, the land looks brown and dry, but the trees
look green.

After checking the trees, it has been decided that the trees do not need to
be thinned, it will be a pilot project for the local Teaks.

Every month, Zaini, site manager, goes to Bumisari village to check the
teak trees and meet Edu, the guardian.

Goldteak planted Indonesian teaks here, originally from East Java. The trees
are about 12 years old, but the trunks are still thin. There are some factors
influence the trees: the soil was a rice field which contains clay more than
sand so the roots do not grow well, the area is near the sea where has less
water, and the trees have big canopy, so the trunk does not grow because
get less sun light.

Although Edu works by himself, he makes sure that the trees are in good
condition during rainy season or hot season.

“Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a
long time ago” (Warren Buffett)

Comparison with Java Local teak planted at the first project in Bumisari and the Solomon teak planted at the second project in Cibening.

The teak trees looks healthy and up to now, the trees are well maintained. The simple and basic maintaining is to cut the wild grass, giving enough nutrition like fertilizer and giving pesticide as well.