JungleBiker

4 hours ago, khwaibah said:

 

Evaporative cooling is as useless as tits on a boar in a high humidity climate which Thailand is.

Certainly the effectiveness of evaporative cooling depends on the ambient humidity. 

I wasn't recommending evaporative cooling but then neither was I writing it off. 

The hottest time of the year in Thailand is also the time when humidity is fairly low (at least in locations away from the sea or large bodies of water). So evaporative cooling may be worth considering, depending on various factors, like which crop you want to grow. 

Dutch experts from Wageningen University in cooperation with Malaysian researchers came up with this design for a passively vented tropical greenhouse: http://www.hortidaily.com/article/12647/Asia-New-Alma-greenhouse-for-Thai-growers-of-Take-Me-Home I think it has a bigger area of roof ventilation than your design. 

Fan and pad cooling is not going to work very well if you can't close the roof vent. But, in any case, these days, a fogging system is considered superior to a fan and pad system. The fogging system should be a fogging system not a misting system (the difference is in the size of droplets <50 microns vs >50 microns). 

The highest technology these days is a closed greenhouse using mechanical cooling (i.e. air conditioning using refrigerants) rather than evaporative cooling using water (e.g, fan and pad, fogging). Good but not cheap. 

This document (also from your compatriots at WUR) is full of information about the complex science and technology behind designing a greenhouse for hot humid climates: http://www.tari.gov.tw/df_ufiles/b/The Design of Greenhouse in Sub-tropical areas-from Crop to Economics_Bas Speetjens.pdf

17 hours ago, lust said:

Why not serve justice yourself?

Because friends or family of Nattapong Ngern-khiri might then take counter-revenge against loved ones. 

Who needs schools when you have youtube!? ? 

6 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

What has become of this country?

 

A granddaughter is a student in Loei.

Sadly, there are criminals like this everywhere. Always have been. Always will be. 

Luckily the gun jammed. I hope all 4 of them are caught and jailed for attempted murder. 

Another agricultural plastic sheet company is http://www.tctthainet.com/en/home/ 

Hi Bowey,

I could not see your photos until after I pressed send for my message above. Your pots are huge and expensive. For an intensive hydroponic greenhouse system, you could use much smaller plastic pots but have many more plants per unit area, with the plants trained vertically, not spreading. That way you could get the yield much higher and better recoup the investment in your greenhouse system. The plants would be prevented from toppling over by using some high tensile wires and posts (simple trellis system). 

JB.

15 hours ago, bowey said:

First post, nice to see a thread about figs in LOS. I am currently running some trials and having good success, lots of delicious fruit and it grows rather quickly. Will add some more photos later with progress, experimenting with different pots/ air pruning and also trying to find optimum fertilizer blend. Currently using worm castings, compost, biochar and also added minerals. Will deffo get a greenhouse/ rain shelter set up as the figs don't like rain and too much water. happy days. 

Hi Bowey,

"Optimum fertiliser blend" will be a complete nutrient solution that is used everytime you irrigate. In other words, a hydroponic system. In which case, you do not need to put all that fancy stuff (i.e. worm casts, etc) in your pots. I would go with a coir mix of say 25% coir chips and 75% coir peat. 

Hi All, 

So which varieties are working well?

JB.

A couple of years ago, I heard there were plans to fly in plane loads of live beef cattle from Australia for finishing off and slaughtering. I don't know if that is now happening or not. 

In India, the cow is a holy animal and many people are vegetarians but do consume milk and yoghurt. So I wonder if there may be a cheap supply of bulls from India and perhaps the OP is planning to so something similar to the Aussies? 

If the land is sloping, I would do the conversion in alternate strips (along the contour) so that you don't expose the whole plot at the same time and lose soil due to erosion by heavy rain. 

If you use the term "geotextile" to search this forum you will find more information. 

On 5/15/2018 at 6:14 PM, noopin2014 said:

Hi, i'm living in Issaan in Chaiyaphum, our land is 250m above the sea. Which variety do you recommend me to grow please ?

Your area is still very tropical so you should try growing varieties of the West Indian race. If you google the 2 varieties mentioned by Dumbfalang, you should be able to find out which of the 3 races they belong to. 

On 6/19/2018 at 5:33 PM, kickstart said:

Sakon Nakhon is where this farm is.

There use to be a farang owned a dairy farm near Seekue, not far from Packchon,Korat , but he sold up 7-8 years ago, I know that a dairy farmer friend of mine near here brought some of his cows.

I know a large dairy farm in the Sakon Nakhon area, owned by Malee and managed by a German guy but I think it has 1,000 head. So I am not sure if it is the same farm you are referring to. 

The farm I was talking about, with high milk yields, is in a higher and cooler part of Isaan than the places you've mentioned. 

On 6/15/2018 at 6:48 PM, kickstart said:

If it is the company I think it is they yields are good 18-20kg/cow/day ?,and they are milking 300 cows?,  which is good for Thailand, they manager is a Farang I meet the guy last year, he knows his cows.

 Buying in the imported hay, I  did not know, they use to feed Nappier grass, may still do .but not as much  .                         I live only 50 km from  Mortlec  and Packchon, and Chok Chie is another 40 km up the road, all 3 areas have a lot of cows  I have been up they in the new year on more than one occasion, and it is a top coat cooler than where I am,they must have more rain than us as they always seem to have grass growing ,but the do some irrigating .

At the Thai annual dairy show at Mortlec ,they have a 4day milking competition, cow that gives the most milk wins , one very frequent winner comes from Packchon. 

Back in 1963 the king of Denmark gave our late King 50 Danish red cows, the Thai DLD said Mortlec ,would be good for cows being a bit cooler, they still had big problems namely tick fever, a good few died, no resistance to tick fever,but heat-wise not much of a problem.

That is where the Thai -Danish milk brand name come from, the red cow and calf logo comes from the Danish red cattle. 

Is the company you are thinking of (with 300 cows and foreign manager) in the area you talk about (between Saraburi and Korat)?

On 6/16/2018 at 6:59 PM, kickstart said:

And do not start on carbon footprints etc etc ,of sending a container of hay halfway around the world. 

There is a lot of container traffic going from Asia to USA carrying consumer goods like T-shirts and iPhones, etc, that would otherwise come back empty. US alfalfa exporters can get very cheap rates shipping their hay to Asia. 

3 hours ago, missoura said:

Beef in Thailand has always confused me.  Around our place, there is a handful of farmers who raise small beef herds. They sell to some middleman from Bangkok. So where does the beef from these scraggly herds end up?

 

Throughout the years, I have eaten in tons of shops that sell Thai food and very seldom do I see beef on the menu. 

 

I've heard that a lot of beef animals go to places near Bangkok where they are finished in feedlots. Besides steaks, I think a lot of beef goes into meatballs used in certain kinds of noodle soup (like "kwetio reua"). 

10 hours ago, farmerjo said:

I'm no scientist but i think every variety of seed succumbs to some form of disease over time and depending on the season.Most can be controlled if monitered.A  lot depends on plant density,spacings,rainfall,weather etc.

What do you look for in a seed variety?

High yield,strong stem,rust resilient,no leaf disease.

You vary rarely get all you want in one.

Just my opinion.

Well, in this case, since it will not be grown for animal forage, high yield and strong stem are not important, but it would be good if the grass did not succumb to disease.  

20 hours ago, Michael Hare said:

Purple guinea is declining in popularity because of leaf diseases. I have just released another new guinea grass this year. Named it Mun River guinea grass after the big river here in Ubon. 

Thanks for letting me know that the 44,000 baht worth of your Purple Guinea seed that I recently purchased is prone to leaf diseases.

You might want to Google: Post Purchase Cognitive Dissonance 

1 minute ago, khwaibah said:

 

Thai Danish Farm http://www.dpo.go.th or Farm Chokchai  http://www.farmchokchai.com/en/index_content.php?content_id=29

Nope. I doubt they are getting good milk yields because they are too low (= too hot). 

On 6/4/2018 at 12:24 PM, kickstart said:

l was in my local feed shop and they had these bales of Alfalfa hay, and believe it or not, comes from the USA they brought in a container load, they are going/try and sell the stuff at 320 baht/bale.

Alfalfa hay has a protein of about 19 %,a good feed for cattle, but very expensive for what it is, if you know anyone who has some horses they will enjoy it.

I can't mention any names but I know there is a large dairy farm in northeast Thailand that is owned by a major company and is getting very good milk yields (I can look up the yields if anyone is interested). They are importing container loads of the above product (bales of alfalfa hay from USA) to feed their cows. I guess they pay far less than the above retail price. Perhaps the above bales were imported by the same company. 

6 hours ago, BEVUP said:

PS

Also in the 2015/16 models there was a fault with the key boards that Apple would of repaired if still under Warranty, & if not it was up to the buyer to fix at own cost 

Yes, I had a chance to have my keyboard changed under warranty but I did not find it worth the hassle. 

7 hours ago, BEVUP said:

 

How did you know they didn't replace the battery - as there are only a 2015 / 2017 Macbook model with the battery inside (you would of had to open it up )

1. The battery ran out of juice very quickly, just like it did before I took it in for the battery swap. There's a noticably difference between a battery life of less than 1 hour and a life of 10 hours. 

2. Click on the Apple logo in the top left corner. Then click on "About This Mac". Click on "System Report". Click on "Power". And there you will see "Battery Health Information" including the number of times the battery has been charged and the battery's condition (e.g. Normal, or time to get a new one).  The Health information revealed that I still had the old battery. 

The instructions you provided about how to change a battery strengthen my suspicion that the technician made a mistake and damaged the mainboard (logicboard). And I am being asked to pay for his mistake.  

Regarding the Canadian prices, I assume import duties may be a factor. Since I don't live in Canada, I'm more curious to know if other authorized Apple dealers/service centres in Thailand charge the sames prices that I am being charged? I assume they do but perhaps they don't.  

On 6/6/2018 at 2:36 PM, JungleBiker said:

 

Then another 4 days later they told me by email: 

"Refer to your MacBook 12 , After replace new MLB the system power on now and seem the original MLB faulty.

MLB cost is 23,300 baht.

Please advise for your decision."

 

They are still waiting for my decision. 

 

 

Hi Sheung Wan, 

It seems I misunderstood the email above from the shop. You were on the right track regarding authorising the repair. I contacted the shop yesterday. I asked them if it was okay for me to go to their shop tomorrow (Sat), pay the 23,300 baht, and pick up my MacBook. They replied: 

I hope you can at least see why I misunderstood the earlier email? 

JB.

On 6/7/2018 at 8:12 AM, KittenKong said:

Call me a cynical and suspicious old fool if you like, but this sounds rather like a scam to me.

The cost of an official replacement battery seems to be around USD130-200, or 7000B max, plus taxes. You have been charged double that, or more. Why?

On top of that once the repair is done they suddenly find a major fault with the device. It takes them days to work out where the problem is (why?). They fit a new motherboard to test it and having fitted it they want to know if you are willing to pay 20,000B for it? But who fits a brand new part costing 20,000B just as a test? Something does not add up there.

I suspect that there is nothing wrong with the old motherboard, and that if you do pay the 20,000B you will just get your device back with a new battery and the original motherboard, and possibly some broken motherboard from a completely different machine as "proof" that they have replaced it.

Thanks for the warning. I will try to find out how can I be sure any new parts really are new. They have serial numbers and there ought to be some kind of traceability system but whether or not I can access that I don't know, yet.  

FYI, the warranty for the new parts is only 90 days. I would have expected it to be 1 year like the original laptop. 

As you might imagine, I am not happy that I am expected to pay a total of 36,300 baht to keep my MacBook going when it was only just over 2 years old. 

Regarding the price of the new battery. When I first went to inquire about the price, I was told that due to the compact/integrated design, they would also have to replace the keyboard. This was included in the 13,000 baht.

The "funny" thing is that the first time I went to collect my Macbook after the supposed battery change, I saw the new keyboard but obviously could not see the new battery inside. I took it away and then in the evening I noticed the battery drained very quickly. I checked in the system and found my laptop still contained the original battery. The shop had screwed up. It seemed to be a case of "too many cooks spoil the broth" (I think cooks not crooks). I took it back. They apologised. Then they ordered the new battery! A month later, I returned to get the new battery installed and then the new problem arose (the failed mainboard).

I don't know how they managed to change the keyboard without changing the battery if it was necessary to change the keyboard to change the battery! And did they put in a second new keyboard when they finally did change the battery? I didn't ask. I will ask next time.   

3 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

They quoted you that price, you authorised them to undertake the job at that price, they completed the job. There is nothing else to consider other than payment and collection. Apart from the option of abandoning the machine.

Excuse me sir, but your assumptions are incorrect. 

The communication with the repair shop took place 3 months ago.

I could not remember the details and I did not think they were particularly relevant. But since you seem to be having a go at me, I have just looked up the old emails. 

Initially, before the emails, when I was in Thailand and went to collect my MacBook, after the battery change, I was told they could not start the machine.

They said they did not know what the problem was.

They said they would carry out tests to find the problem.

I can't remember now but I think I went back the next day and they said they were still checking but had ruled out any problem with the new battery and thought it might be the mainboard.

I asked how much would a new mainboard cost. They told me the price but they said they hoped it was something less serious and less expensive. They would keep looking to find out what was the problem.

I returned to Laos. 

Then about a week or so later they told me by email: 

Then another 4 days later they told me by email: 

They are still waiting for my decision. 

Hope you're happy now?