Malaysian Rubber Trees

Those who have not seen how the natural rubber is being produced will be wondering how it is done.
It starts with the rubber three like below. About six years after planting, it can be tapped.

Tapping is the manual process of control cut of the skin of the three. It is normal to tap half of the diameter.

Malaysia was the biggest producer of natural rubber until it decided to venture to palm oil. However it remains as the most effective producer, the highest Kg per Hectare.

Rubber taping requires high labor, as each tree has to be tapped manually.

Uneven growth makes tapping difficult..

The plantation was sprayed with herbicide to get rid of scrub and small trees.

The entrant road to the rubber plantation is full over small bushes. The non-metal road gets a bit slippery during the rainy season.

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The rubber trees are ready for tapping, when it reached the age of seven.

There are basically 3 ways the planter can sell the product.

1. he can leave it in the cup until it harden by itself.

2. he can collect the latex and sell the latex as unprocessed.

3. he can collect the latex and make it into rubber sheet.

Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Rubber Tree - The cash crop

The road can be a bit unkepted, plenty wild plants grow.

The rubber trees are planted in a nice rows.


The trees are young as 6 years are being tapped. They are still small in size.


Trees are tapped in early morning. As it get hotter, the latex will begin to harden.

The tapper will leave the latex in the cup to naturally harden. It will be damaged if it rains.

Rubber is a bliss tree for most tropical countries in south east asia. It is relatively easy to plant although it takes 6 to 7 years before it can produce the latex. Then it will last you for the next 20 year before the need to replant.

It secret in long life is the proper tapping. If you cut it too deep it will leave a scar if it is too shallow the amount out latex is less. So it has to be the right depth.

I enclose the video on the rubber cycle.

You can see the usage of it the most obvious is the tires, it is better than the imitation rubber.

You can also see how the rubber trees are being tapped, I know it is NOT in Malaysia as the Malaysians do it differently.

So is the processing, you can see the rubber being cut open mainly to deter the foreign object.

Enjoy the video..