The tree girth increases every year and it plays major role in tapping. The tree girth grows about 5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm in 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of plantation respectively. The girth rate would be faster after 3rd year and reaches about 30 cm at the end of 4th year and thereafter, can expect up to 37 to 50 cm of girth. This is the end of gestation period and becomes ready for tapping.

Slow release fertilizer is ideal to be used during pre-tapping period as it releases small, steady amount of nutrients over a course of time. These can be natural, organic fertilizers that add nutrients to the soil by naturally breaking down and decomposing. Most often, though, when a product is called slow release fertilizer, it is fertilizer coated with plastic resin or sulphur based polymers which slowly break down from water, heat, sunlight and/or soil microbes.