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Guide

Harvest rounds, and why the app nudges every fortnight.

Fruit ripens on its own schedule. The round is how you keep up with it — and the calendar is built around it.

Why rounds

An oil palm doesn't ripen all at once. Every palm carries bunches at different stages, so a smallholding always has some fruit ready. Left too long, ripe bunches drop loose fruit, over-ripe fruit raises the free fatty acid in the oil, and the mill's grader marks the load down. Cut too early and the bunches are underweight and low in oil. Both cost you money at the weighbridge.

So the answer is a rhythm: walk every lot, cut what's ripe, and come back on a fixed interval. That interval is the harvest round.

Choosing the interval

The app's default is 14 days. Most smallholders and estates in Malaysia work somewhere between 10 and 14 days; shorter in peak season when fruit comes fast, longer in the lean months. You can set a different cycle per lot from its settings, and the projection updates immediately.

RoundFits whenTrade-off
7 – 10 daysPeak season, high-yielding prime palms, cutters on handMore trips, smaller loads per trip
14 daysMost smallholdings, most of the yearThe balance the app assumes
18 – 21 daysOld or thin stands, lean monthsHigher risk of loose fruit and grading penalties

How the app projects windows

From the last harvest you logged on a lot, the app adds the cycle and marks a due window of three days either side. It chains forward, so the calendar shows every round for the next three months. The nearest round is painted solidly; later ones are ghosted, because the further out they are, the more they'll move once you log the real thing.

Ripe fruit is far less forgiving than fertiliser timing — which is why a harvest window is ±3 days, while a fertiliser window runs a week before to a fortnight after.

Nothing shows on the calendar? The app needs one harvest logged on a lot to know where its rhythm starts. Log the last one you did, even if it's a few days back.

Plan, do, log

  1. Plan. When a window opens, the week tracker on the dashboard offers Plan it. Pick a day — the app suggests one and says why.
  2. Do. Cut the lot. If it slips, move the plan; if you skip a round, mark it skipped so it stops nagging without pretending it happened.
  3. Log. Tap Done and the harvest form opens with the lot and date already filled. Enter tonnes, price, and any harvest-day costs. The plan closes only when the log saves.