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Latex is the milky sap of the rubber tree, Hevea Brasiliensis. The natural rubber is produced by cutting a spiral groove in the bark and placing a spout and a collection cup at the tree trunk. The natural rubber latex contains 30-35% rubber and the rest is water.
One week of daily harvesting from 30 rubber trees produces enough latex for just one pillow!
The rubber industry started in Malaysia when 9 plants were brought in from Brazil.
The Malaysian Rubber Board is backed by 80 years of R&D (The Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia’ was established in 1925).
One of the areas of research is in the production of new clones for rubber trees. New clones are tested for at least 15-20 years in different areas before they are recommended to the growers for large scale planting. Clones are grown for 15 years in different areas before they are used for buds.
Natural rubber production in Malaysia has been declining and currently Malaysia has 1.3 million hectares of land under rubber. Eighty percent of Malaysia’s rubber plantations are owned by the small farmers with each farmer owning an average of 2.5 hectares of rubber plot.
The rubber trees have an economic life span of 30 years.
After 25 years of latex extraction the trunk of the tree is used for furniture production and the branches are used for fibre board.
The tree trunk provides a medium density wood which is kiln dried.
The Rubber tree is deciduous loosing all its leaves in January during a hot dry spell. With the new leaves come the flowers then the
fruit. The green fruit slowly turns brown and on a hot afternoon between Jul and Sept you can hear the cracking sound as the seeds
explode from the fruit. This time is known as “Seed Fall”.
Because seeds rapidly loose their viability if exposed to sun and rain, the seeds are collected and put into a coldstore or into a germination bed.
Seed germination takes 7-10 days, transferred to poly bag from the germination bed. The seedling provides the rootstock
and the graft provides the tree.
Green buds for grafting come from a bush nursery.
When the seedling is 3 months old, using the standard grafting technique, a small opening or window is made on the bark of the
seedling and a selected bud is grafted to the window. A transparent polythene strip is used to secure the bud patch.
The grafted bud will provide the tree. The selected green bud wood is harvested from a bud wood nursery (source bush nursery).
The graft is left for one month and if the graft is successful then the bud patch remains green. The polythene strip is then removed and the scion will start to grow and the rootstock is cut back.
The grafted plant will remain in the nursery till the scion reaches two or more whorl of leaves before it can be planted in the farm.
The whole process of bud grafting takes at least six months.
Planting density: about 400-500 trees per hectare.
Latex extraction of the rubber tree can start when the circumference of the tree reaches 45 cm. On the average it takes 4-5 years for the tree to reach the desired size. To extract the latex an incision on the bark is made by ‘tapping’ the tree thus severing the latex vessels which are found in the bark.
The tapping panel is half spiral and starting about 150 cm from the ground (about the height of the tapper). Tapping is done from the left to right and downwards. Each tapping (shaving of the bark) is 1-2 mm thick.
Using the conventional tapping method, on the average a rubber tree can be tapped for 25 years.
With the tapping panel being half spiral, each half can be tapped for 5 years.
Tapping method
1. Virgin bark-panel A-5 years)
2. Virgin bark-panel B-5 years
3. Renewed bark-panel C-5 years
4. Renewed bark-panel D-5 years
5. Upward tapping-5 years.
Tapping is done early in the morning as long as it’s not raining or the trees are not wet. Out of 365 days in a year a tapper may get around 100 tapping days. A tapper taps 500 trees in about 3-3 ½ hours, has a break, and then collects the latex after 4-5 hours.
After 4-5 hours the plugging of latex vessels begin
and the latex coagulates leaving a white strip of rubber on the tapping panel.
The strip is known as ‘tree lace’.
