btate

Thank you both.

I'm no good with maths (volume of liters or C meters of water)

I'm looking at a method of cleaning up a water source and using it for drip irrigation.

The Slow Sand Filter seems to be appropriate for the clean up stage. Now I need storage

for enough water to utilize roughly 4K liters per day. Three or four days of storage should

suffice.

The water is from a "pond" / swamp, that appears to be loaded with silt, weeds, and who

knows what else. The application would be for intensive production in a green house. The

target products would be one of a couple of options. Tomatoes, cantelope or maybe even

makua.

Thanks again.

Bt

Re. storage tanks.

In regard to cost, ease of implementation and simple design would not tanks similar to Slow Sand Filters do the trick? Some rings and simple plumbing should provide a controlable 'field' of storage.

The downside that I can see is the required real estate to approximate the needed volume.

I am looking at a system that would provide filtration and storage for a commercial garden I'm planning.

bt

Let me add my congratulations on a seemingly decent recovery, to the chorus here.

Also a thank you to your friend Pallasaides for keeping you in touch. Must be a great

friend to finish a shift with "CHIPS" and spend the time with you in ICU.

Return to your 'ranch' with Godspeed.

Bt

^ Maybe because you have a valid "VISA" and not just a free 30 day on entry.

Looks like the intent of the law is to rid the country of the many 30 day runners.

Those skirting the visa rules and living here without any official recognition are the

folks they are after.

P & M

http://www.netafimgreenhouse.com/ while not specific to Thailand does have a lot of info on greenhouses and does have contact info (email) for the Thai office.

Thanks for the link and ideas.

Bt

Pallasaide and Maizefarmer

Sorry, I wasn't too clear on what I was looking for. I'm interested in finding out the pitfalls etc. of using a greenhouse in tropical climates. I 'think' I understand some of the environmental plusses of a closed system for pest control. I will check the net on the two references from Tim and I thank him for that.

On another note, I read what I could find on the insecticide that Tim has recommended. It seems according to the literature that both require a 15 day window between application and sale/use. The way I read it, it wasn't tied to one method of application or another (spray vs. soil penetration)

Tim's thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

As always, a speedy recovery and early return to home.

BT

Pallasaide and Maizefarmer

I've noted on a couple of threads, including how to grow Makua, a mention of using a greenhouse. I am testing a couple of buckets of Makua to see how I do with them, I am also interested in anothere crop, no sense in all the eggs in one "bucket".

I am interested to know if Tim knows of a resource for using greenhouses in a tropical climate. I imagine cooling would be a major issue. I like his idea of cantelope production or even tomatoes intensly grown.

Thanks for any info.

Sheeeeshs

What a guy, apparently still in ICU recovering from a trip to death's door and STILL willing to share and educate us wannabees.

Now that's dedication.

Thanks Tim and a speedy recovery.

No, have not checked the banks yet. Most of what I've looked at is 'local' knowledge from family members. In two cases you are correct the bank wants the money back.

Both were mangosteen orchards, one 12 rai and the other 29 rai. One other is a rubber plot just about expired also in the 100k range per rai.

will check with the banks.

thanks

Tim207

Interesting that you are finding land at that price around Chantaburi. I've been looking in the same general area. Mostly East and Northeast in the foothills. In that area most property is going for 100K / rai. From what available property I've seen, it is mostly orchards of one type or another.

Maybe we could start a makua co-op I'm not totally enamored with makua yet though. I have planted a couple of plants just to see if I don't kill them LoL

good luck

LBD

There is a guy in Phuket making sausage and pies.

Check at Michael's bar in phuket town, they order

from him.

I believe his (wife's) shop is in Patong on the back road somewhere.

Magic map has several versions, I believe there is one for the Eastern provinces. Also Google Map is decent in some sections of Chantaburi, less so in Pong Nam Rong. There is also another Thai map/view program called Point Asia. Similar to Google's Map. Some areas have better definition.

Moving the pointer in the map programs gives you elevations, within reason.

Not knowing the intended use that is the best I can recommend.

rods

Some info for you. I doubt you will find a supplier. ALL maps in Thailand can be/are controlled by the military, general publication is not allowed for sensitive areas. I know that when in Phuket you could not buy, rent, steal an arial map of the island. You could go to the distric land office and view it.

You might try the the land office in Chantaburi town, I haven't seen a land office in Makham. Land offices in the province generally have all the info you need.

Shock! Maize farmer injured blew me away.

I was just thinking of writing a post about my

new Makua. Just getting ready to transplant into

buckets. The idea was to 'try' as tim had suggested.

My best wishes for a full and speedy recovery. You

are an invaluable asset to us 'wannabee farmers'.

My thoughts are with you and your family.

I'm trying to find somewhere I don't need to escape from, in the heat of the summer. Right now I live in Songkhla. During the rainy season it's fine- 28-31C in the day and 25-27C at night, -slightly less when it's just been raining. It gets way too hot from March through to August down here. I got heatstroke last year, and I'm dreading the coming summer. So, where's the coolest place to live all year round in Thailand?

I don't mind being in the boonies at all, provided I can get to buy farang supplies within a couple of hours drive or less. Maybe up north in Chiang Mai/ Rai? ... in the hills around Khao Yai National Park? Northern Isaan? Where in Thailand is it cool (or even cold) in the winter, and not so hot (ie max 28C) in the summer?

Any ideas guys?

Try this web site, you can click on most cities and get yearly comparisons.

http://www.wunderground.com/global/TH.html

I've just moved to Ma Kham outside of Chantaburi. One reason is the cooler nites, cooler than BGK by 2 deg. C. Lots of rain, but decent infrastructure, close to beaches, in the foothills between coastal plain and Soi Dau mountain range.

I had intentionally left off the "TER" portion of the word.

Another example of hereditary/vernacular communication problems?

Back to the topic... LOL

It seems that direct light in conjunction with heat drives the little buggers, (pun intended), away.

Once in awhile we forget/neglect to replace the cover on our rice container properly. The ants have a great time until the GF places the open container in direct sunlight for some time.

Poof ants gone. Works with just about any congegration of ants in an object.

Regarding fans, I've noticed the ceiling fans, even when turned on at hurricane levels, don't help much. The mossies seem to be able to do a nose dive in the breeze and eat you alive anyway. But using the table fans at bedside, for some reason, they don't.

For those who aren't too fussy, a friend of mine would burn coconut husks indoors, close up the house and wait for a while. It burns like incense creating smoke rather than flame. Then he'd open all the windows and doors to let the place to air out. It seemed to kill a few of the slow or weak stragglers, but for the most part, the rest just seemed to leave. I'm guessing they didn't like the smoke. Seemed to work on all kinds of creepy crawlers, including mossies, ants, mites, spiders, flies, etc. and kept them away for a day or so. After the place airs out, there doesn't seem to be much of an after scent of the smoke.

While living in Phuket, where they the mozzies call ahead to get the landing lights turned on, I used a stand-up fan with a lit coil about 18 inches behind it. Worked well when we sat outside on our deck for dinner, drinks etc. Place the coil tray at about the same level as the center of the fan about 1 -2 feet away with the fan speed on low or medium. On high you need to place the coil slightly further away.

For outside on walk about there is a spray bottle sold at most convience stores, don't recall the name but it works well. A small white pump style bottle. Spray around ankles, socks or pant cuffs and around wrist and collar. Works!

THis missus is out at the moment but she brought back a piece of paper that has details on it of about 4 farms that breed them or have them in Thailand - Lumtarn Tong was one of them - maybe some of the others have stock..................now where is that piece of paper?!

I just phoned had a word with a guy at Lumtarn Tong: the Thai market is limited - most people prefer the Giant Fresh water prawn - grows quicker, costs less to breed and therefore cheaper to sell on the market - side by side at a market the prawns outsell the yabbies by 100 to 1 - and in a Thai dish (with spices) most people wouldnt know one from the other.

I'll stick the details up of the other farms as soon as I can find them, and for the record I aske dhim about any legal issues - there are none as they come from a country whose stock is apparently certified diesese free (Australia). He couldnt comment on the Red Claws from America, but said the issue with them would be a diesese free certificate if imported live to Thailand.

Tim

MF found a site with food conversion and specifics on growth rates etc for Yabbies. The URL is really really long and am unable to 'fix' it. Google Yabbies, then click on images and click on the BLUE Yabbie shown. Think you'll find it interesting, cycle time for brooders is quite fast if temp is right.

b

well, thats a bit of interesting news, too bad i dont get the bangkok post (u can scan and send?)...

will check figures here for Tnuva (the official israeli dairy old fashioned style, i think they do goats as an industry, but they specialize in cows)

most of the goat herds here are still 'boutique' farms and 'label' cheeses , like boutique wines... i.e. all are pastured goats with supplements such as soy powder, cracked corn, crushed oats, alfalfa hay and probably some do the propelene glycol additives (like randoms urea additive to help the cow or goat utilize roughage to the utmost, depending on the type of hay)... and production is limited, usually the people doing the goat thing are also organic types, or 'natural' and animal quality of life oriented, so they dont do intensive farming....the cheeses cost a fortune... and almost none of these dairies will sell milk , only cheese and the clientel is not 'the people' but the yuppy/hiso etc types since a dinky piece of french style cheese costs and arm and a leg....

all dairy producing ruminants must get additional calories /carbohydrates... usually kilo of grain to a liter of milk , and free eating hay or lactating goat/cow pellets (18% protein)

30,000 boggles the mind. some of the larger herds i know about here are only going towards 1000 head (not including kids)!!!.. he's not pasturing i dont think (how much is a rai to a dunam?)... and he may cycle one and a half pregnancies to a year (150 day pregnancy) and tropical goats can cycle again so: half a year lactation, then one month flushing towards pregnancy, etc...) plus he will use sponges and hormones for inducing pregnancy and getting twins... the kids are moved straignt away to bottled colustorum (no johnnes disease etc), and males at 7 months would go to slaughter, etc....milking is machine i guess ...

actually i would be really curious to learn more about that farm etc.... maybe by the time i can if ever get to thailand, i can open a boutique organic goat cheese shop/farm... or maybe raise buffalo and make thai mozerella......

as for drugs: most big places use sulfa for coccidiosis before turning out to pasture, before birthing, and before weaning if kids are nursing (for meat goats); or some additive to the pellets if they are feed lot kids (again for meat goats) just like chickens, etc ., etc... to my knowlege growth hormones arent given to dairy herds since bigger body mass does not make better udder... actually there is a ratio for udder size preferable/optimal... and meat goats put on body mass very quickly (chekc out boer south african meat goats if anyone is interested)

and then of course, there is the problem of the ozone (dont new zealanders have a problem with ozone due to sheep gas?) no joke

how much does a bottle of this milk cost??? who are the clientel?? why would somebody go so intensively in to dairy goats??? in thailand??

plachon, the only positive thing is that the goats waste is slightly more managable then cows' waste due to the nature of the shit: pellet vs. patty

someone good at math can work out this:

The ISGBA(israeli goat org. which doesnt include beduin goat herds) incorporates also 28 goats farms with appx. 5,000 lactating animals which have, during 2000, produced about 3.5 million litres of milk.

so this thai goat guy must be very very very rich, or very bored , or something....

Very very rich his appropriate, he owns Bangkok Golf Club in Pathum Thani. The dairy is on the premises but not 3000 goats. Looks to be a small outfit, but new and high tech

I came across a study that might interest catfish farmers. The asia Institute of Technology in Pathumtani did an experiment in which they reused the waste water from catfish tanks to supply tanks with nile talapia. The talapia receieved no food other than nutrients present in the catfish waste water. With proper care this seems to be viable. There were problems with one experimental procedure but their conclusion was:

"If these two species could

be cultured in the integrated systems with appropriate stocking ratio, nutrients released to the

environments could be reduced while production cost also largely reduced as no additional

inputs of feed and fertilizers is required for Nile tilapia culture.

The present experiment demonstrated that Nile tilapia can be cultured in an integrated

recycling system to recover nutrients from wastewater, and suggested that the ratio of hybrid

catfish to Nile tilapia can be lowered through either reducing the stocking density of hybrid

catfish or increasing culture area for Nile tilapia in order to allow Nile tilapia to reuse more

nutrients contained in hybrid catfish wastewater. The integrated recycling system is

technically feasible, environmentally friendly and economically profitable."

http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/ista/ista6/ista6web/pdf/755.pdf

Haven't read the study but I will. All of our ponds drain to a single settling pond. I have stocked that pond with catfish, pla suwai, pla nin, pla thap thim, and soon will be adding some pla jeramet. We don't feed the fish in this pond at all. They only get waste water from the other ponds. This pond is where I relax at the end of the day with a cold Chang and occassionally a fishing rod. I have pulled out catfish that weigh more than 4kg!!

This is probably not effective for catfish, but it does work for Talapia. While visiting the Special School in Phuket, I noted they raised chickens for egg consumption and sale ( 50/50). The chicken pens were directly over the fish tank. The droppings from the chickens fed the Talapia. No other food was inserted at all. Between the eggs and fish the school, with 600 special ed students reduce food costs substantially.

With a garden, a few chickens and some Talapia you have a fairly rounded diet.