Rambutan (Malwana, Bud) Fruit Plant

Rambutan – the spiny fruit with a soft heart which can be grown as an ornamental tree in our garden.

Malwana- Bright red in colour

Rambutan fruits are highly nutritious, being rich in carbohydrates, vitamins, calcium, magnesium and potassium.

Rambutan grows well in warm tropical climate. Lands prone to water logging are not good for growing Rambutan. Slightly sloped lands are ideal. Budding is the best method for producing high-quality Rambutan planting materials. Buddings produce fruits after 2 or 3 years with optimum production occurring after 6 or 8 years, if managed well.

• The ideal spacing in between two saplings is 40 ft, which can vary from place to place depending upon the weather condition.
• In one acre of land, up to 35 saplings could be planted.
• The pits (1m sq.) should be filled with topsoil mixed with 3 pots of well decomposed cow-dung manure or compost and 1 kg each of rock phosphate. Then place the plant with the bud union above the soil level.
• A handful of compost or dried cow-dung manure and rock phosphate mixed with soil should be sprinkled around the planting hole. Additional fertilizers can be given after 6 months, but only after the new flush of leaves are emerged and matured.
• Proper irrigation is essential during the dry season. Keep the orchard clean by periodic removal of weeds. Dried branches and water suckers should be removed regularly.

Planting & Care:
Choose a fertile growing medium, such as topsoil mixed with compost or manure. The added nutrients help speed up germination and seedling growth. Plant rambutan trees at least 33 feet apart & horizontally with the flat side facing down. This helps the plant grow straight and establish a strong root system. The roots spread considerably and need plenty of room to grow. If the trees are too close together, they may not produce a high yield of fruit. Keep the plant in a sunny location and never let the soil dry out. Germination takes nine to 25 days. When seedlings reach about 12 inches, they are ready to transplant to a yard or a greenhouse.  After a fruit harvest, apply 2.2 pounds of ammonium sulfate and 2.2 pounds of a 12-24-12 fertilizer per tree to the soil.

Climate & Soil:
Rambutan is adapted to warm tropical climate. The tree grows well up to 700 meters above sea-level. It requires around 22–30°C temperature for optimum growth. It is very sensitive to low temperature and growth of plant is severely affected at temperature less than 100°C. The plant requires good rainfall of 200-500 cm well distributed through out the year but a short spell of the day period is essential for initiation of floral bud function. The heavy rainfall during maturity period causes cracking of fruits