Johor runs two very different soil stories in one state — deep coastal peat down the west and south, and weathered granitic inland soil. A single blanket programme suits neither well.
Johor’s west and south coastal belt carries substantial peat and organic soils, which behave nothing like mineral soil: high water tables, subsidence risk, and micronutrient availability skewed by very low pH. Inland Johor is largely weathered granitic and sedimentary mineral soil, more prone to compaction and to phosphorus lock-up with iron and aluminium.
On peat, the constraint is rarely organic matter — it is pH, micronutrient balance and water table control. On inland mineral soil the constraint is closer to the classic tropical problem: declining organic matter, compaction in the inter-row and phosphorus that is present but unavailable.
Johor receives rainfall through much of the year with the heaviest period during the northeast monsoon from roughly November to February, when the east and south see the most intense falls. Leaching risk peaks in that window, which is the argument against a single large application ahead of it.
Nutrient demand, challenges, application timing and the products we recommend for oil palm.
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