Durian
Durio zibethinus
It fruits on the trunk and lets the crop fall when ready, which is why harvesting means nets overhead.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 39 ft 4 in
- In-row spacing
- 39 ft 4 in
- Between rows
- 49 ft 3 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Fruit · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun, somewhere strong wind cannot reach it.
- Watering
- Constant moisture — the equivalent of 1500-2000mm of rain a year.
- Feeding
- Balanced NPK four times a year, turning to high-K ahead of fruiting.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- February
- Pruning
- Prune lightly after harvest, and leave the fruiting wood on the trunk alone.
Through the year
- Feb–Mar Bud Break
- Mar–Mar Flowering
- Mar–Jun Fruit Set
- Jun–Jul Harvest
- Jul–Dec Growing
- Jan–Feb Growing
Pests & problems
- Scale insects Scale insects on stems and branches
- Leaf spot Leaf spot disease marking the foliage
- Phytophthora root and foot rot Phytophthora palmivora, the cause of patch canker
- Durian fruit borer tunneling into the developing fruit
- Rhizopus fruit rot
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Scale insects
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Scale insects
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com