Cover Crop Seeds for Luzon Plantations
Kudzu Seeds Trading supplies tropical cover crop seeds and SoilBoost EA soil conditioner to rice-rotation farms in Central Luzon and Cagayan Valley, fruit-tree orchards in Quezon, Batangas, and Laguna, and the smaller oil palm developments in Palawan and Mindoro. Orders are Ex Works Tigatto, Davao City; delivery to your Luzon site can be arranged on request and is quoted on the quotation.
At a glance
- Delivery: Ex Works (EXW) Tigatto, Davao City, by default; delivery to your site in Luzon can be arranged on request, with the delivery address and cost stated on the quotation.
- Crops served: Rice (Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Ilocos), fruit orchards (Quezon, Batangas, Laguna), coconut belt south of Manila, small oil palm in Palawan and Mindoro.
- Climate note: Eastern Luzon sits in the typhoon belt; cover crops also serve as living mulch and storm-water erosion control.
- Certification: Phytosanitary certificates issued by the Philippine Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).
- Sister company: Kudzu Seeds Trading is the Philippines-based sister company of Chemiseed Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia (chemiseed.com).
- Naming: Pueraria javanica (PJ, tropical kudzu) is a different species from the invasive kudzu vine, Pueraria montana: see Pueraria javanica vs invasive kudzu.
Major crops in Luzon
Luzon is the rice basket of the Philippines, anchored by PhilRice in Nueva Ecija, with significant fruit-tree, coconut, and small oil palm developments. The island is large, climatically diverse, and home to most of the country's institutional agricultural research.
| Crop | Where it is grown in Luzon | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon (Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac), Ilocos region | PhilRice headquarters in Nueva Ecija; green manure rotations are well-established practice. |
| Fruit orchards | Quezon, Batangas, Laguna, Nueva Vizcaya | Mango, lanzones, calamansi, citrus; inter-row cover suits the sloping terrain. |
| Coconut | Quezon (one of the country's main coconut-producing provinces), Camarines, Sorsogon | Quezon and Bicol cover the bulk of Luzon coconut output. |
| Small oil palm | Palawan, Mindoro | Smaller scale than Mindanao; growing interest among Palawan smallholders and cooperatives. |
| Rubber and abaca | Bicol, Aurora, Quirino | Niche plantations with strong erosion-control needs. |
| Sugarcane | Tarlac, Pampanga, Batangas | Central Luzon sugar mills; smaller in scale than Negros. |
Recommended species per crop
Rice rotations and fallow
Calopogonium mucunoides and Pueraria javanica as green-manure rotations in upland and rainfed lowland rice systems where the fallow is long enough. Establish during the fallow window and incorporate before the next rice cycle. Tropical Forages gives about 4 kg/ha for PJ sown alone; the CM rate is set on the quotation for your site.
Primary: CM / Secondary: PJ
Fruit orchards (Quezon, Batangas, Laguna)
Centrosema pubescens (Tropical Forages: 3 to 5 kg/ha broadcast) under mature mango and lanzones canopy. Pueraria javanica between rows in younger orchards where light still reaches the ground.
Mature canopy: CP / Young orchard: PJ
Coconut belt (Quezon, Bicol)
Pueraria javanica (Tropical Forages: about 4 kg/ha sown alone) is a long-standing choice under coconut. Calopogonium mucunoides handles older, leached coconut soils well.
Primary: PJ / Secondary: CM
Small oil palm (Palawan, Mindoro)
Mucuna bracteata for immature palms: transplanted as nursery-raised seedlings, never broadcast. MPOB TT No. 501 (2012) used about 320 seedlings per hectare, two per palm point, from about 500 seeds (75 g); Samedani et al. (2015) used 680 seedlings per hectare. Interplant with Pueraria javanica (Tropical Forages: about 4 kg/ha sown alone). Switch to Centrosema pubescens (Tropical Forages: 3 to 5 kg/ha broadcast) and Calopogonium caeruleum (Tropical Forages: 1 to 1.5 kg/ha sown with 5 to 7.5 kg/ha PJ) once the canopy closes.
Immature: MB + PJ / Mature: CP, CC
Typhoon-belt erosion control
Pueraria javanica forms a dense ground cover for storm-water erosion control on sloping eastern Luzon land. Combine with contour bunds on steep slopes.
Primary: PJ
Sugarcane and mixed estates
Calopogonium mucunoides in fallow strips, with the seeding rate set on the quotation for your site. SoilBoost EA soil conditioner can be added to the soil programme (broadcast at 50 to 100 kg/ha).
Primary: CM / Amendment: SoilBoost EA
Local context: delivery terms and the typhoon belt
Orders are Ex Works (EXW) Tigatto, Davao City, unless the quotation states FOB or CIF for export. Delivery to an address in Luzon can be arranged on request and at your cost: you may collect from our premises in Tigatto, send your own trucker or forwarder, or ask us to book a carrier, in which case the quotation states the delivery address and the delivery cost. Risk passes to you when the goods are handed to the carrier in Davao City, unless the quotation says otherwise.
Eastern Luzon is part of the western Pacific typhoon belt. Plantations and orchards in Aurora, Quezon, Bicol, and Cagayan Valley experience high rainfall and run-off during the wet season, which makes early-establishing cover crops particularly valuable for erosion control on sloping land. Pueraria javanica is the workhorse species for this; we typically pair it with contour planting where slope is steep.
SoilBoost EA, manufactured exclusively for Chemiseed Sdn. Bhd. and Kudzu Seeds Trading, is a soil conditioner that complements the legume cover and supports soil biology in the root zone. It is leonardite-derived, with about 0.45 percent sulphur and pH 3.84. Standard application is 50 to 100 kg/ha broadcast, or 10 to 15 kg/ha as a drench. It is a conditioner, not a fertiliser and not a substitute for one, and it is not a fungicide or pesticide.
Frequently asked questions
Are there oil palm plantations in Luzon?
Yes, but at a much smaller scale than Mindanao. The main Luzon oil palm developments are in Palawan and Mindoro, with smaller experimental plots elsewhere. For these growers, our standard immature-palm package applies: Mucuna bracteata is transplanted as nursery-raised seedlings and is never broadcast. MPOB TT No. 501 (Hasnol Othman, Farawahida Mohamad Darus and Zulkifli Hashim, 2012) used about 320 seedlings per hectare, two per palm point, raised from about 500 seeds (75 g); Samedani et al. (2015) used 680 seedlings per hectare. It is interplanted with Pueraria javanica, for which Tropical Forages gives about 4 kg/ha sown alone.
Can I use cover crops in a rice rotation?
Yes, where the fallow is long enough. Calopogonium mucunoides suits the fallow window in rainfed lowland and upland rice systems in Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon: PROSEA 11 (Chen Chin Peng and Aminah, 1997) reports that it covers the soil 3 to 6 months after sowing. It fixes biological nitrogen and is incorporated as green manure before the next rice cycle; the seeding rate is set on the quotation for your site. For Mucuna bracteata, one 15N isotope-dilution study under three-year-old oil palm on Jawa Series soil in Malaysia measured roughly 67 to 84 percent of its nitrogen derived from the atmosphere (Ndfa) (Cheah et al. 2010); absolute kg N/ha/year figures are site-dependent. Legume cover contributes nitrogen; adjust your fertiliser programme only after soil and leaf analysis shows what the cover supplies on your block. Its multi-year persistence makes MB more typical for plantation cropping than for short rice fallows.
Can you deliver to Cagayan Valley or Bicol?
Yes, by arrangement. Orders are Ex Works (EXW) Tigatto, Davao City, unless the quotation states FOB or CIF for export. Delivery to Cagayan Valley, Bicol or anywhere else in Luzon can be arranged on request and at your cost: you may collect from our premises in Tigatto, send your own trucker or forwarder, or ask us to book a carrier, in which case the quotation states the delivery address and the delivery cost.
Will cover crops survive the wet season in eastern Luzon?
Yes. Pueraria javanica and Calopogonium mucunoides are well-adapted to high-rainfall lowland tropics and form dense ground cover once established, which helps protect soil from typhoon-season run-off. For steep slopes, combine the legume cover with contour bunds. SoilBoost EA and our cover crops are not fungicides or pesticides; they support soil health, which is one of several factors in plant resilience. They are not a treatment for any specific disease.
What exactly is SoilBoost EA?
SoilBoost EA is a leonardite-derived humic soil conditioner (about 0.45 percent sulphur, pH 3.84). It is manufactured exclusively for Chemiseed Sdn. Bhd. and Kudzu Seeds Trading. It is not a fertiliser and is not a substitute for one, and it is not a fungicide or pesticide. Standard application is 50 to 100 kg/ha broadcast, or 10 to 15 kg/ha as a drench.
How is Kudzu Seeds Trading related to Chemiseed?
Kudzu Seeds Trading is the Philippines-based sister company of Chemiseed Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia (chemiseed.com). SoilBoost EA is manufactured exclusively for Chemiseed Sdn. Bhd. and Kudzu Seeds Trading, and is supplied in the Philippines by Kudzu Seeds Trading.
Related pages
Request a Luzon quotation
Send a quotation request with your crop, area and delivery point, or WhatsApp us for pricing, lot availability, and delivery options. We reply within one business day (Philippine time).
Request a quotation WhatsApp Kudzu Seeds TradingAll Philippine plantation guides
Browse by region or by crop. Each guide covers Philippine-specific species and establishment notes, with published seeding rates where a source exists.
By region:
Crop-specific guides:
Sources for the seeding and establishment figures: Tropical Forages, CIAT and ILRI (2020), tropicalforages.info; PROSEA 11 (Chen Chin Peng and Aminah, 1997); MPOB TT No. 501 (Hasnol Othman, Farawahida Mohamad Darus and Zulkifli Hashim, 2012); Samedani et al. (2015), International Journal of Agriculture and Biology 17(2): 251-260, CABI (PDF); Cheah, Zaharah and Aminuddin (2010), Oil Palm Bulletin 60: 22-27, MPOB (PDF).
Last reviewed 10 October 2026.