Planting Fruit in Pot (Tabulampot) during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Planting Fruit in Pot (Tabulampot) during the Covid-19 Pandemic

by

A.A.Ngurah Gede Suwastika

Soil Biology Laboratory, Agroecotechnology Study Program

Faculty of Agriculture, Udayana University

During the Covid 19 pandemic, which began at the end of 2019 and until now by mid 2020, the impact is still felt in all aspects of our lives, many of our communities have lost their jobs and some of them have to work from home (WfH). This situation causes a sense of saturation for most people so that many of them look for other activities to eliminate boredom such as exercising at home with family, gardening by planting various fruits and vegetables in the garden or yard for those who still have large yards. For urban communities who are constrained by narrow land area, they can develop urban agriculture such as hydroponics, which is planting with water media without soil media, verticulture with multilevel growing systems, tabulampot by planting fruit plants in pots and many other urban agricultural systems, from which simplest to sophisticated ways such as plant factories by combining agricultural systems with technology.

Fruit cultivation in pots commonly called Tabulampot is a simple way of planting. Tabulampot is made to overcome limited land, especially in urban areas. Fruit plants that usually grow tall with deep roots require a fairly large growing space, so it becomes a problem for residents in urban areas with limited land. As a solution the community can plant fruit in pots, although the results are not as much as when planting fruit plants in the yard.

The method of growing fruit plants in a restricted environment or tabulampot continues to develop, both in terms of technology and the number of types of fruit plants that can be used as tabulampot. Types of plants that can easily bear fruit such as orange, sapodilla, mango, guava, water guava, star fruit and other types such as grapes, longan, durian etc.

Stages of activities in tabulampot cultivation that we have to do include preparing seedlings, planting media, planting seeds, and care, such as watering, pruning, fertilizing, controlling pests and diseases, and changing the potting media when the plant is large. We can prepare the seeds ourselves or can be bought by traders of seed plants in accordance with the plants we want to plant. An equally important activity is preparing planting media. Growing media can be made with a mixture of each one part of the soil + manure + charcoal husk. The planting media is put into a pot whose volume is adjusted to the type and age of the plant. Previously we put the pieces of cork or coconut coir / cocopeat so that there is a cavity at the bottom of the pot. After the planting media is ready, we will then plant the fruit tree seedlings that have been prepared and watered to keep the soil madia moist. Fruit plants in pots (Tabulampot) we have finished, just continue with the maintenance of plants. Tabulampot care is done by watering the plants every day, trimming the stems and branches to form a tree canopy. In order for the plants to flourish do fertilization. Fertilization can be done with NPK compound fertilizer or liquid organic fertilizer, which is widely sold in fertilizer input shops and agricultural medicines. Also carried out control of pests and diseases so that our plants stay healthy. Changing the pot is done when the tabulampot is large so it needs to be replaced with media and a larger pot.

All of these activities can improve physical and spiritual health because we can keep moving so as to increase physical fitness, also can reduce the saturation due to the pandemic of Covid-19. If potted plants (Tabulampot) grow and bear fruit well, can make us happy, and mentally and physically healthy (Seroja). This can increase our body's immunity so it is resistant to Covid-19. Thus a glimpse of the cultivation of Tabulampot, hopefully can be useful for us.