Jotham79

I am not sure what you mean by "ect", but I would tend to stay with herbs that you regularly use like dill or coriander, but they might need some shade. I know lemon grass can tolerate a lot of sun. Thai egg plants can take also of sun too. We have also done thai tomatoes, Kanah, Pak Kwong Tung, Pak Bung as well as summer squash and zucchini. Popcorn also can take a lot of sun and sweet corn would work. Soil will make a lot of difference too. Sun flowers?

My pond is maybe just over a rai and is almost 4 meters deep. I don't know about the sawai ratio as there should only be about 30-40 in there (left from a stocking several yeas ago), but I have caught several recently around 1 kg and recently one of 5 kg so I think they are reproducing. I don't feed regularly as there are a ton of other fish like pla maw, tilapia, pla Kiyang, eels, ple esuk, pla boo, pla Tapian, pla kao, pla kasil, pla duk, and pla chon so it is not a controlled situation. I only fish the pond when I am there at New Years and during the summer. The wife throws some bread in every week or so because she likes to watch the fish feed and we fertilize it with chicken manure every couple of weeks or so. We have manila tamarind around the edges and all the fish go nuts over the falling fruit (January-March). You have given me some ideas. Worst case scenario, I net one out when I want to eat one, but they aren't costing me anything.

I read a few years ago that to get wild pla beuk to feed the put a gunny sack of lam out on the bottom with a couple of slashes and give them a couple of weeks and I may do that on a smaller scale when I retire in a year.

I used to look at prices in major stores and it is just not realistic. They have to buy tonnes and have special wholesalers they buy from. They pay a premium for top line produce in volume. The OP was talking about selling a few kg. The price you need to look at is the price in the rural morning and afternoon markets. Half of our family works the markets. Leafy vegetables have a very short shelf life out in the heat and a seller loses a lot when prices are down. They carry it to market (sometimes at 2:30 am) and sit with it in a stall they pay rent on....or they go into the market at 2 in the afternoon and sit in the heat. The rule we follow is if we can sell it for more than it costs to harvest, then we do it. If not we let my BIL's wife pick what she wants to retail in a small market down the road. When prices are down you see a lot of produce wasted.

Well, I was in Tesco's yesterday and took a look out of interest. If wholesale prices have dropped, they are certainly not passing the saving to the customer. 2 very sad looking stalks for 5 Bt. Last time I looked, it was 4 or 5 stalks for 5 Bt.

I remember reading that at the time of the vegetarian festival, wholesale price of Ka-naa rose from 15 to 70 Bt/Kg in October.

Found the link

http://www.pattayamail.com/business/thai-vegetable-prices-rise-ahead-of-vegetarian-festival-17510

I also read somewhere that because of the troubles in Bangkok, some who would normally take their produce to Bangkok wholesalers are diverting to provincial wholesale markets. I guess that this could cause a shortage in Bangkok and a glut elsewhere.

We started at the end of November and had our harvest go longer than it should have because 1 row didn't mature as fast....less light. My idea with thinning branches was to make it easier to harvest, allow more light and so the roots would be able to supply water and minerals more easily (going for size). Most people prune (the larger variety) to have about 3 main branches and we have 5-7. We already thin the fruit some (to keep branches from breaking, but I'll try a combination of things next year. We had some fruit we couldn't pick this year because we couldn't reach it as it was high and the branches are thorny as hell.

Next year I want to try to thin the branches and bag the fruit to see if I can get more of the really nice large ones we were selling for 30 baht a kg.

For many kinds of fruits, and so I would assume jujube also, you can get larger fruit by thinning the fruits. The aim is to increase the ratio of leaves to fruit. The leaves being the suppliers of nutrients to the fruits. By thinning just the branches you would be removing leaves and fruits and not changing that ratio. Mind you there may be other benefits to thinning the branches, such as improving aeration within the plant (which may e.g. reduce disease problems), improving exposure of remaining branches to sunlight (which e.g. may improve fruit quality), give easier access to fruit during bagging, harvesting, etc.

I see there is a lot of jujube in the market now, so it seems you're harvesting at the same time as everyone else which means lower prices. Have you searched for ways to make your plants give fruit outside of the main season? In the case of other fruits, this might be done by one or a combination of techniques such as pruning time, irrigation, use of hormones such paclobutrazol, day-length manipulation using artificial lighting, and so on. Googling jujube and off-season or similar keywords may reveal such techniques.

And thank you for openly sharing real world information about your jujube crop.

JB

In the third year they should get into full production of over 20kg per tree.

that's a good return for size of the size of land me thinks.

in our village one family has some of these trees about a rai under plant, only one year old but giving fruit, all be it very small, people buying all the time 20 baht a kg - sort of pick your own. they have sort of trellised the branches, looks ok.

always good to hear people making some money.

It looks like we have finished the harvest. The final tally was around 100,000 baht gross and 50,000 in expenses. Probably close to 7,000 kg.

We will wait a month or so and cut them back. I took another look and it was probably closer to 3.5 rai. This is the best harvest with these trees. We put 24 trees in when we bought the farm and did as well per tree about 7 years ago (that's why we decided to plant more trees. We have decided to keep what we have. Any more and we wouldn't be able to sell them.

Next year I want to try to thin the branches and bag the fruit to see if I can get more of the really nice large ones we were selling for 30 baht a kgn. Now we are getting ready for the Manilla Tamarid harvest and 14 rai of corn will be ready in about 5-6 weeks.

I have about 58 Pla Beuk in a pond that are around 3 kg each. I know they are there because I put them there from another pond. I have no problem catching Sawai or Esok and they (pla beuk) do occasionally roll. I haven’t hooked one since they were about 1KG. When they were less than a kg they took bait. How can I get them to bite ( and haven't in almost 2 years). The only thing I haven’t tried is a really large bait.

I agree with the above posts, but it will depend on how old the manure is. If it is old, dry, and powdery it will be less likely to burn your grass. If it is fresh and moist it will damage what grass you have. Assuming in is not fresh, you could water regularly for a few days and let the grass grow long. Then apply a small amount and work in it so it doesn't sit on the leaves. Keep watering often (daily) until the you don't see any more of the manure and repeat. When you mow, do not pick up the cuttings. Let them settle down to help you build a layer of sod.

Those are Khaki Campells and are great egg layers. Definitely eat the males.

Here's the little rascals...

DSC02737.JPG

2 weeks old today and outstripping the rock crosses by about 3 to 1.

Regards.

A little off subject, would Neem be a good plant to keep small and have a few around to help keep annoying mosquitoes away?

We have them (Neem trees) all around and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

If it were me ( and it will be soon) I would eat them myself, they hould go well in Tom Yum or Gang Keow Wan. You will have trouble selling them to Thais. What kind of ducks? There will usually be someone who provides dressed ducks to people in the local markets and you can sell live to him. It will be around 50 baht + or - per kg for Muscovy. Others may be difficult to move. If it is only a few I would eat them too. There I a dish called pa lote which I with soy sauce and sugar witch is pretty good.

Ok, so how do I apply this to farming in Thailand? I'm at 16 degrees north if that makes a difference. Tomatoes are very expensive in the heavy part of the rainy season ( August, Sept, and Oct)and I have been wanting to try them then, but haven't been home at that time. My BIL is doing ok with shade cloth which he is mainly using to deflect excess rain. I'm looking at trying a couple of rai in the soil, potting and moving that kind of volume isn't practical. The soil is fine as tomatoes love it in the dry season.

Also, do you think all of this is as applicable to the 2 types of Thai tomatoes grown commercially or should they have developed a different light sesitivity?

I don't think it is the harvesting problems as my wife wears gloves. You have to harvest (cut the tender shoots every few days) and it is time consuming......you have to sell immediately (less than 24 hours or so)......almost impossible to wholesale a very large quantity (my wife's aunt works the market ad will never buy more than 2 kg) as it still has to be sorted into the small amounts described earlier .......it is more a spice than a dish and so only a small amount is ever needed. It is very common to have a couple of plants along a fence for home use or to share with near by family. It won't send up new shoots if it isn't watered regularly so it is very cheap in the rainy season and needs water in the dry season.

My wife said the type without thorns doesn't taste as good. When I called her the second time to find out about the thorns I found that she thought my first call was because I wanted her to plant a bunch behind my house......man I gotta be careful what I ask my wife about.

We have a small plot of Ch-om,my misses looks after it ,we put in 100 plants 3 years ago ,3 weeks after, floods big time left us with about 50 plants,it likes light land

best,it dose grow on our heavier land,we put on some NPK + some manure, is not an easy crop to manage , the new shoots have to be cut on time, or they soon get

old ,and can not be sold. We have found it soon" gets way" then it has to be chopped right back , but it soon comes back again, if it can be watered and fed all the the year, it will produce all the year.

This year, the guy who brouhgt our bamboo, also brought our ch-om, the misses just put it in a bag weighted it and sold it, once she sorted it ,put it in a pice of split

banana tree trunk, very Rip -Roy,sold it to a middle man got a good price , but a lot of work ,last year got 40 bart /kg ,in the bag ,in the split banana trunk 10 bart each ,works out at about 60 bart /kg.

So far we have not made a lot on the ch-om, I have threatened to get rid of of it and grow grass for the cattle ,but as the misses said if we had some more time,some thing we do not have a lot of, get some water laid on for the dry season we could do ok.

If they are fed and watered ,and managed right the plants will last up 8-10 years. Thai Google has a lot on ch -om,or ชะอม in Thai.

Yours Regs.

KS

Thanks for Info. Not an "easy" plant, I gather. True or false: Although price per kilo is high, Thai's don't bother too much with it, due to "harvesting-problems" = Thorns ! ?

Thanks & cheers.

It grows pretty good around here. It is more expensive in the dry season as you have to give them water. They do take a lot of work to sell, but a small patch can do a lot for a poor rural family. They definitely have thorns.

My birds are only a little over 300 grams and should be bigger. The local feed store couldn't get the hi-protein feed. Later on after I get more cages built and the feed sorted I will do a test batch. I'll hatch a small batch of the larger eggs ( on average our eggs are slightly larger than normal) and try to get some accurate numbers on FCR and then check out the laying numbers and size. I'll cull to get the fastest growers as I am mainly looking for meat. Health has been very good, but I need to see if any don't make it in the heat.

You could go to the farmer and offer a 150,000 baht loan for 90 days with a repayment of 160,000 baht. This is lower that the 5% per month which is common in the country with unsecured loans. Secure the note against the land, make sure it is chanote. Don't make this deal with family, make it with the farmer. If the farmer is not willing to take a risk, then you shouldn't either.

Mono filament gill nets are very very cheap. Get some bamboo stakes and put up 3 meters. If one gets in and you can chase it into the net it will make a god awful racket. The birds will learn. Also, hit a few with the catapult.

I was interested when this topic came up a year or so ago. I searched Yahoo and found sources ,but went a different direction. There is a previous thread on this, but it may be in the subforum or in one of the pinned topics

Around my area it is acceptable to use a sling shot inside your fenced area. Usually this is not fatal and the birds will start to avoid your place. Missing is as good as hitting as long as they know there is danger. Also you should talk to the puyai and neighbors. It wouldn't hurt to find out who the owners are and give them a small gift of some of the veggies you grow.

No, the prices relate to GBH, girth at breastheight. Diameter would be hard to achieve with these numbers, at least within one lifetime.

As I understood, they want to buy the whole plots if possible, but these prices are the underlying figures.

No Railway lines as far as I've seen, maybe at the backside, there's a little industrial complex with 3-4 wood processing factorys, one of them takes Teak, it's located in Region Nong Khai.

Of the neem tree I only heard, they make neem-oil as pest repellent or something similar, for this reason I thought also about having a few later, I never heard that they're farmed for the wood. I research first a bit about that before I disturb you with my questions about that

I know about GBH and I saw the numbers you have about 7 years ago. Please let me know when you actually sell a teak tree for those prices, I still have a few. Nong Khai is definitely on a rail line from Bangkok and has a very good wood market and some of the factories you mention are on the road from Udonthani that by passes NK and goes straight up to Friendship bridge.

I am also sure there is a market for red claws in Thailand. I have brought crayfish from Sweden and the Thais love

to eat them. I just hope that the market price is good enough to make a farm profitable. I know that the guy that sells them to Makro gets 350 Baht per kilo and I think the size is about 70 grams each. The way to make a profit is all about getting the feed cost down. I also dont know the FCR for crayfish but would guess that it is close to 2.

I bought a 25 Kg shrimp feed bag for about 1100 Baht but that is still 40 Baht per kilo.

Anyway, next year I will start a fishfarm and hopefully there will be some space left to dig a couple of ponds to play around with. I think a 1000 sqm pond could take about 5000 crayfishes. As crayfish dont need much deep water it would be cool , if it was possible to construct 2 storeys in the pond that would be about 1,5 meter deep.Then you could have 10 000 in each pond. I havent figured out how the feeding would have to be done though.

I think tank culture can be done safely, but when you put them in ponds you risk letting them loose into the environment. There are a dozen invasive species in the states reeking havoc right now and I am sure no one intended it to happen. I'm sure everyone's intentions are good, but the road to Petchabun is filled with good intentions. Please consider this risk when planning you ventures.

If those prices are for diameter then I would say they are close as my trees were considerably smaller. I have not heard of anyone ever being paid by the tree, they are paid a price in total. Where is this buyer, I expect that prices are higher near railways as it is cheaper to move the lumber. Neem (Mai Sadao) is a beautiful wood, it grows quickly, and there are no regulations so you can grow it, pay for the processing and then sell the lumber. I know of several plots around my area and dozens of fence rows that have been lined. I don't know that you would do any better selling through a broker. PM if and when interested.

You can get a catalogue from these folks. http://www.thaimesh.com/index.php/en/products/wire-mesh-fence It looks pretty sturdy.

The fish would be pla - nin. , more of an investor to be fair on a 50/50 split on nett profits

Have an option of 4 - 8 rai plots , holding approx 20k fish each .

The figures I have at the moment seem to add up , but would be good to get an independant review of expected nyett returns from you guys to see if they match up.

I think the cost of the land will be important in your advice to me.

Each plot is in nakhon chaisi @ 10k per year rent.

All paperwork issues and legal stuff etc etc are fine , just looking at what you think the expected nett may be on that over the 8 months or so for the fish to grow to 1kilo.

Please if i need to be more clear let me know what else i should be letting you guys know without going on and on wirh stuff thats not relevant.

Thx again

For this sort of volume and since you seem to be going for the larger size Tilapia are you going with CP or someone similar? Why isn't the owner running this? How long is your lease? Do you have a contracted feed supplier....what price for the feed? What are the labor costs? Besides feed and labor, what are the other costs...power for lighting/aeriation....equipment rental/replacement. What is your water source to keep your ponds topped off.

All of the large tilapia coming to Petchabun are supposed to be coming from Nakon Sawon and are net raised in a river. You may want to check out how your completion is working and what their costs and profits are.