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Pogust

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Everything posted by Pogust

  1. They grow well here but look out for bugs on them. Mealy-bugs were very fond of mine when I was growing them. I gave up on them and use leuceana, gliricidia and samanea instead as shade-nitrogen fixers.
  2. Just bought this. Haven't done much work with it yet. It feels solid. Just make sure you buy the 15 cells battery! I have the same battery for electric chainsaw and other machine. Same battery fittings as makita. I have almost totally stopped using cable machines now.
  3. Cut grows with skilsaw at several points and glued rebar in. When pouring concrete and vibrating it well after walls are up it will bond together far better than thai way.
  4. I built 3 houses with 20 cm Qcon blocks. Didn't use any concrete pillars except in corners. The top layer was two 7,5 cm blocks where I had rebar and concrete between. If building a one story light construction house it's possible to avoid all these pillars. I have concrete/rebar surrounding the house making it very strong construction.
  5. Facts from people who really knows the limits to EVs. <iframe width="806" height="453" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5stPFdegJpg" title="Electric Vehicles: Arthur Berman, Pedro Prieto, &amp; Simon Michaux | Reality Roundtable #1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  6. Any polyurethan will be fine. Use well diluted for primer. then sand off the fibers that raise up before next layer. It can be brushed on thicker than most other varnishes when it is two part. But consider putting a third layer on, it will look so much better and create a better seal of the wood.
  7. Heavy use of chemical fertilizers and sprays will kill off soil life and reduce worms and other life forms. Earth worms need humus content, decomposing plant matter that they feed on. By using compost and mulch you will add what worms need and they will come back again. The habit of burning everything instead of returning plant matter to the soil is a bad thing in Thailand.
  8. I'd say it depends on the thickness of the present concrete floor. If it will allow the point load of columns. Thickness of concrete slab, and if there is rebars in it.
  9. Pogust

    Assembly Lub

    I would get stainless rivets. Doubt steel will last very long together with aluminium in this climate. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/m3-m4-m5-m6-m8-m10-m12-stainless-steel-rivet-nut-10-tss-i3762151511-s14286850538.html?
  10. I have similar result. Newer trees that just got up to production does very well this year. Both larger European type and smaller Thai variety. Seems it's important where they grow. In some spots they just aren't happy.
  11. Yes I have found the trees to get less bug problem for every year I supply them with more nutrition. I had to start with fill up material on the land, crushed rock mainly where not even weeds were growing. I'm in durian land and good earth is very expensive here. Didn't know anything about growing in the Tropics either, and the shallow rich soil in Tropical forests. Started with whatever I could find of organic material, sawdust, grass, water hyacinths that I spread on the land. With plenty of cow manure on that I started to grow sesbania and other fast growing legumes that shaded the land and gave grass a chance to cover the dirt. Shop and drop of the legumes gave some more organic matter to the soil and slowly a thin layer of living soil built up. Different "weed plants" moved in, was regularly cut and contributed to the soil buildup. Sesbania, leuceana, moringa, pigeon pea, gliricidia, samanea etc covered the ground and gave shade. I started planting some hardy trees, jackfruit, mango, bananas, papaya etc between them. On your advice I did a soil sample and got a suggestion on what to ad to the land. It made a huge difference that could be seen in a few months after spreading a ton of bone meal, stone meal etc. After 6 years I now have a fast growing food forest with around 200 fruit trees coming up. Almost 2 cm thick black soil on top, earth worms moving in and trees getting happier. Understory of cocoa and coffee between larger trees. Can't plant tubers yet as they need deeper good soil but getting there too in maybe another 6 years. Bought a small excavator and dig a deep hole where I mix in manure and rice husks for every new tree and bush I plant, creating environment for the soil food web, internet of the ground that distribute nutrition around. 4 years ago I was nursing this leucaena along among the stones. Today that part of the land has grown up. Still 50% support nitrogen fixers, but I cut them away as the fruit trees grow up. Will end up with 10-20% shade trees/nitrogen fixers. Last part of the land to develop. Avocado, cocoa, coffee on the way up under shade from leucaena. I still have to use some sprays but need less over time. Mealybugs love papayas, but so do I and the ducks.... Try to work after Permaculture principles, but it's not easy when surrounded by commercial durian farms that spray all the time. All their bugs come to me instead.
  12. I been using wood vinegar for some years now. There are different producers with what I guess different "strength". Tried one highly refined clear liquid, but trees didn't appreciate that. 1:100 dilution with the black stuff seem to work OK on fruit trees. I mix in 1:200 detergent also to suffocate some bugs.
  13. If you have access to water all year you don't need a deep pond. A flat bottom will make it possible to drag a net across and get the fish. Plant trees around to get some shade, both for fish and fisherman.
  14. You need 30% clay content in the soil for the pond not to leak. Sounds like you have that. Pond for holding water and for fish is not the same thing. For water it should be as deep as possible, but a fish pond should be less than 2 m deep and have a flat bottom so you can catch the fish. I would not have steeper sides than 60 degrees. If you take water for watering the level will change over the year and a shelf for fish breeding would not work so well.
  15. 6-7 m seem to be minimum for durian. They grow very wide. I'm in durian area. You could consider planting some fast growing legumes between that give shade to durians the first years. Many here use bananas for that. Bananas are good mulch producers too and help the soil. Mangosteen could have less spacing. I see 4-5 m in some old orchards. They grow so slow that if you plant for the size it will reach after 10-15 years you have too much empty space between for the first years. 2 good places to look for info: https://pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx https://tropical.theferns.info/
  16. I'm working on a Permaculture food forest near Rayong in the durian area. That means everybody around me is spraying the durian mono-cultures and all bugs come to me... I do get plenty of birds that enjoy the bugs but they can't keep up. Spraying with soapy water - wood vinegar - neem oil helps but will not take all. If I had known this from start I would have gone for a place away from commercial orchards. I will probably have to cull the most susceptible trees like guava. My hate object number one is the red ants! Been bitten enough of them, not allowed here. Looking forward to the discussion.
  17. I bought a load of cow manure once that trees didn't like. They didn't die but looked sad for a while. Is the brown grass area the same that you added manure to?
  18. Depending what you will use it for, there are many hardwoods here that chippers can't handle easily. I have a 13 hp chipper that works reasonably well with soft wood like leuceana, moringa, sesbania. It's not fast, for smallish things like mulch to the weg garden it's OK. I very rarely use it, easier to just chop and drop around fruit trees.
  19. You need a permaculture designer. If you contact me directly I might be able to help. I'm in Rayong area.
  20. Fungus need food to grow. Dust/dirt in the air sticks to door and fungus has a place to live. Cleaning often will stop fungus growth. Hot moist climate and dirt in air is the main problem. Some paints (and maybe some plastic doors) have anti-fungus chemicals in them and reduce growth. A glossy paint will make it easier to keep doors clean.
  21. Not an answer to your question but.... If I had clover over the whole area I would be very happy. It stays low and green with small yellow flowers. It is a legume so collect it's own nitrogen from the air, no need to buy fertilizer. And no need to mow. If you want to get rid of it, sow something that out-compete it and grows more vigorously. If you have seeds in the ground it will come back, after digging or spraying. There are plenty of grasses in Thailand that will take over.
  22. I have built 3 houses using 20 cm Q-con or same blocks of other producer. One story buildings with lightweight roof constructions. No need for 25 cm walls in this climate. 7,5 or 10 cm for inside walls. Fast and easy building if the workers understand how to glue AAC blocks. There was G4 load bearing blocks available some years ago, don't know now. Anyway a light construction with 20 cm works in most cases with G2 if you have some concrete beams involved. If you build two story house of course it's another construction with lots of concrete and rebar. I used both steel roofs and the SCG fiber. Steel roof with the insulation glued to it helps with heat. I found that a 5 cm insulation mat above the ceiling is all I need, even with the fiber cement roof. Looked at both alu and plastic windows but went with quality hardwood in the end. If you are in the south you are probably not far from the sea and don't get so high temps as up in Issan. Thus no need for extreme insulation. If you send pm I can supply pictures and explanation of my constructions.
  23. Items small enough is best sent with China Post. It can take some time but much cheaper than Fedex or similar service. If small enough parcel it can slip through without any tax.
  24. Pogust

    Ikea PAX

    I believe it's the climate that makes things deteriorate much faster here than in Europe. Heat and humidity. Don't think IKEA sells anything here that's not sent everywhere else. Most made in China today. So better think where we place the furniture, chipboard are OK in many places but not all. I had a cupboard door in the washing room loose part of it's surface coating due to Wife splashing water around a bit too much. That probably wouldn't be a problem in a dry climate as it dries up fast but here it did cause a problem.
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