The Distance Between Oud Trees

When oud seedlings are transplanted to their permanent land, the farmer faces a question simple in its appearance, deep in its effect: how much distance does he leave between one tree and another? This decision, which seems a small engineering detail, accompanies the farm for long years, since it determines how the trees compete for light, water, and nourishment, how the air moves between them, and how easy access to them for care and induction is later. In this article we present a general educational overview of the distance between oud trees — why it matters, and what the considerations that balance it are — in descriptive, reserved language, without claiming an expertise in the engineering of farms.

1. Why does the distance matter?

Whoever looks at a young farm may suppose that the spacing of its trees is a formal detail of no effect, but the distance between a tree and its neighbor is among the first decisions by which the features of the farm are drawn for long years to come. The seedling that appears today small will become tomorrow a tree of a crown and roots that need their space, and what is planted close together is hard to remedy later. This is why the spacing is reckoned a part of the planning of the cultivation of oud trees, not a passing step.

And the importance of the distance appears at a particular moment in the journey of the tree: the stage of transplanting the oud seedlings to the permanent ground, where it is decided where each seedling settles and how much separates it from its sisters. At this decision several considerations intersect: the growth of the tree and its health on one hand, the benefit from the land on another, and the ease of care and harvest later on a third. And the successful distance is the one that balances between these pulling considerations, not the one that favors one over the rest.

And we affirm from the outset that our talk here is qualitative, not quantitative. We explain why the distance matters and what it affects, not how much it ought to be in meters. As for the actual number, it varies widely, and the agricultural specialist estimates it in the light of the species, the soil, the climate, and the followed system of cultivation. And any number we assert here may be understood as a guaranteed recipe when it is not so.

2. The competition for resources

The first thing the distance affects is the competition for resources. The trees closer together than necessary have their roots crowd under the ground and their crowns intertwine above it, so they compete for the same elements: the light, the water, and the nourishment in the soil. And when the competition intensifies, that may be reflected on the growth of all the trees, since each of them takes less than it needs, so they grow weaker than they would have had a more abundant space been available to them.

The crowding over light begins when the crowns intertwine so they shade one another, so the lower leaves are deprived of a sufficient light that supports their growth. And the competition extends to the soil where the roots vie for the water and the nutritional elements in a limited space. And the narrower the distance, the more this hidden pulling intensifies, and it is a competition not seen easily by the eye but it leaves its effect on the strength of the tree over the long term.

But the other face of the picture is important to the same degree: the exaggeration in the spacing has its price too. Every meter of land left without a tree is an area not invested, and this reduces the number of trees the land bears and raises the cost of each tree in terms of area and care. This is why the aim is neither the maximum spacing possible nor the maximum crowding, but a point of balance between giving each tree its right of the resources and the reasonable benefit from the land. And determining this point exactly is the affair of the specialist, not the supplier.

3. Ventilation and the health of the trees

The effect of the distance is not confined to the growth, but extends to the health of the trees through the gateway of ventilation. The sufficient spacing allows the air to move between the trees and through their crowns, and it is mentioned generally that this movement helps the drying of the leaves and the branches after the rain or the dew, and reduces the remaining of humidity retained in a stagnant atmosphere around the trees. And the constant stagnant humidity is an environment that is said to increase the pressure of some plant diseases.

And when the trees crowd and their branches intertwine, the internal atmosphere between them becomes more humid and less moving of air, which may make them more inclined to some of the problems connected to the constant humidity. As for the studied spacing, it keeps the farm more ventilated and easier to dry after wetness, and this is a general health consideration mentioned among the reasons for the attention to the distribution, even though its details and its limits are the specialization of the people of agriculture and plant protection.

And we address the subject of the diseases of the oud tree and its pests independently in a later place in this guide, since it is a door standing on its own wider than the matter of the distance, and we link it here when it is completed. As for in this place, it suffices us to establish the general principle: the good ventilation resulting from a reasonable spacing is a consideration of the considerations that push the farmers to the care for the distribution of their trees, without our turning that into a numerical rule that we set.

4. Access for care and induction

There is a fourth practical consideration often overlooked when the spacing is mentioned: the ease of access to each tree. The trees need, over the course of years, a repeated care — of irrigation, fertilization, a follow-up of their health, and pruning when needed — and all this is easier when the distribution leaves pathways in which the worker and his tools move between the rows. As for the adjacent trees, it is hard to reach what is between them and to care for it.

And this consideration increases in weight when we remember that oud trees are planted in the first place for an aim that comes late in their life: the induction by which the formation of the resin is intended. This process requires the access to the trunks of the trees to deal with them, and the spacing that allows this access makes the stage of induction later easier to execute. From here the decision of the distance today is connected to what will be done to the tree after years.

And we detail the matter of the induction of oud and its stages in a later place in this guide; as for here, it suffices us to point out that the difference between the formation of oud automatically in the wild and its induction in the farms is a door standing on its own that we explained in natural formation versus induction. And it suffices us in the context of the distance to establish that the comfortable access to the trees — for care first and for induction later — is among the practical reasons that make the studied distribution important.

5. The distance differs according to the system

After all this, the recurrent question remains: so what is the correct distance then? And the honest answer is that there is no single number that suits every case. The suitable distance changes with the change of the botanical species and the size of its crown expected at maturity, with the change of the soil and the climate, and with the change of the system of cultivation itself and its aim. What suits a farm aiming at a high density differs from what suits a system that leaves the trees a wider scope, and what suits a level land may differ from a sloping land.

This is why we avoid in this article — deliberately, not out of ignorance — mentioning any numbers for the distance between the trees, or a specific density of the trees in the unit of area, or a particular number of rows. Any number we cite would be a misleading simplification of a matter that depends on many local variables, and may push a reader to an application that does not suit his land. And the correct thing is that this be measured locally in the light of the conditions of each farm.

And the reference in determining the suitable distance is the agricultural specialists and the agricultural extension services, and those who preceded them of the farmers of the same region with their accumulated experience in its soil and its climate. These alone are the ones able to balance between the considerations we presented — the competition, the ventilation, the access, and the benefit from the land — and to translate them into an actual distance that suits a particular case. As for us, we content ourselves with explaining the logic behind the decision, not with issuing the number.

6. Intercropping in brief

Connected to the subject of the distance is a circulated talk about intercropping, which is that some farmers plant other crops or plants in the voids between the young oud trees in their first years, in benefit from the land before the trees grow large and fill their space. And practical aspects that some speak of are mentioned for this practice, from the investment of the area to the diversification of the return in the long years of waiting before the maturity of the trees.

Yet we put this forward as a practice that is spoken of generally, not a technical recommendation we issue. The extent of the suitability of intercropping, what is suitable of accompanying plants, and its effect on the distances, the resources, and the competition of the young trees — all of that is among the details that the agricultural specialist estimates according to the species, the location, and the aim. And we avoid here asserting that it is always beneficial or always harmful, because the matter depends on many details that exceed the circle of our experience as suppliers. It suffices us to point to it as one of the faces of managing the void between the trees in the farms.

7. The conclusion

We can gather what precedes in a single idea: the distance between oud trees is a planning decision that balances between pulling considerations — the competition for light, water, and nourishment, the ventilation and the health of the trees, the ease of access for care and induction, and the reasonable benefit from the land. And it is a decision taken early and hard to remedy, which is why it deserves study before the planting. As for its actual number, we do not issue it, but it is measured locally with the counsel of the agricultural specialists in the light of the species, the soil, the climate, and the system of cultivation.

And we have been keen in this article — as is our habit in the guide to cultivating oud trees — to explain the logic, not to invent the numbers, honest with the reader within the bounds of what we know as suppliers, not as farmers. The studied distribution is an effect of the effects of the care that begins from the land and ends in the piece that reaches you.

As for if you are a buyer more than a farmer, what concerns you of all this is that good oud is the fruit of a long care that begins from the planning of the farm. And to distinguish the authentic when you buy, we have set a practical guide in how to choose authentic Indonesian oud, and better than that is that you try for yourself, so you begin with a sample of oud by which you test the scent, the origin, and the grade.