welcome once again to MY WORLD OF RUBBER by felicia boham . Last weeks edition introduced as to what rubber is and the orign of rubber. ,Good on this edition we willbe dealing with how the rubber treeis being planted and for long does it take grow and how we get the latex from the tree.

Rubber tree seeds

 These are the seeds we use in planting rubber. this really a surprise to know that rubber comes from seed.  Rubber tree seeds possess a brilliant spotted coat showing a prominent
caruncle and usually are globate in shape. Significant seed production starts four years
after crop establishment and mature seeds are shed for approximately five months after
flowering. the tree can reach a height of up to 100 feet (30 m). The white or yellow latex occurs in latex vessels in the bark, mostly outside the phloem. These vessels spiral up the tree in a right-handed helix which forms an angle of about 30 degrees with the horizontal, and can grow as high as 45 ft.
In plantations, the trees are kept smaller, up to 78 feet (24 m) tall, so as to use most of the available carbon dioxide for latex production.
The tree requires a climate with heavy rainfall and without frost If frost does occur, the results can be disastrous for production. Temperature and relative humidity are the most important climatic conditions affecting plant developmental stages, latex production and seed yield. Regions with
mean annual temperature lower than 20oC and high humidity are not optimum for
rubber tree establishment because disease pressures are intense. Temperatures from
27oC to 30oC are the most favorable for rubber tree growth.
The germinating process take along circle about 7years.
 Now let us look how the trees are planted and how the latex is tapped.
In the wild, the tree can reach a height of up to 100 feet (30 m). The white or yellow latex occurs in latex vessels in the bark, mostly outside the phloem. These vessels spiral up the tree in a right-handed helix which forms an angle of about 30 degrees with the horizontal, and can grow as high as 45 ft.
In plantations, the trees are kept smaller, up to 78 feet (24 m) tall, so as to use most of the available carbon dioxide for latex production.^[1]
The tree requires a climate with heavy rainfall and without frost.^[1] If frost does occur, the results can be disastrous for production. One frost can cause the rubber from an entire plantation to become brittle and break once it has been refined

 

Latex being collectedfrom an incised rubber tree, and a bucket of collected latex

.This is all for today catch you again on MY WORLD OF RUBBER .dont miss our next post because we going to have a live video of how the latex is being process. love you all ..keep comments coming.