thoongfoned

hi scotbeve,

we have two plots 11 rai which is almost 4 years old and 30 rai which is almost 2 years old. we are approx 70 km east of udon thani.

thoongfoned.

I see some of you are close to Udon and possess many rais of land. How do you acquire land as a foreigner ? Were able to do it because you are married to a thai national ? Thru creating a business ?

Also is there any way(official organism) to evaluate farm land to its right value ? I have been looking to buy a few rais of rice fields in Udon but the prices seem verx high and probably leveraged by the "farang effect". A friend is contacting thr land owners but no way to hide the white man for long.

What price range for a rai of land where you guys live ?

Any advise on the above will be much appreciated.

regards

Taktan

hi can only speak for myself - most of the land we are farming my wife owned before i knew her, and the little we have bought just goes in her name. i think we could put it in the childrens names - but they will get it latter any way.

price is up to the seller, so you have to find something that you are happy to buy.

the trees in the early years need a lot of work - the older the trees less maintance - but always work to do! alot of people plant 3m - 7m or somthing like that, straight rows. do some reseach loads of different planting set up's ect.... again up to you. if you just plant and forget the trees will do little or nothing. for me i would not plant on less then 10 rai - this is an easy area to keep controll of too.

hi, we also have tree's not that far from you and can relate to your problems. tree's also at diffrent ages.

i was also told that too much vits make the tree's grow too quick (ie height) and are more at risk to the high winds. family and vits sellers told me this.

i used to buy our vits from a seller in udon thani and he gave me a application spread sheet give application at age ect.... over time i have now changed where i buy and now use a guy in ban dung. i feel that i get alot better info from these guys, they even saved me money by telling me that i was going to apply too much fertilzer. these guys have large area's producing rubber and have been at it for a along time.

the brand we use is called "top one" by the company called mosaic. i think this year we applyed 400g per tree on five year old trees (1st application this year). i think that the mosaic spread steet said around 500g per tree. three year old tree's got 200g per tree. i think the spread sheet said around 350g. the best five year old tree's are about 36 - 40cm round at about 1.5m from bud union.

booked with airasia for the end of march the other day, 184 pounds all in, one way from bkk. only time will tell if any good! but at that price its good for me cos booking a open return has got a bit expensive at the mo. flight down to kl cost me 58 pounds (payed in bahts) i found that not using the baht was alot better for the pocket! the pound tothe MYR aint to bad.

hi,

ive also been looking at the yields for a couple of years in and around the village. this year peole are getting around 250kg per rai. yesterday someone took sticky rice to the buyer (in town) they got just over 6 baht a kg. forgot to say this was hand cut, hand planted and machine threshed the day before/cut day before.

over the years most people i see only average 200 - 300kg per rai. all of this is hand planted, vits added but to what extent i do not know.

hi,

next week im going to look at some old tractors with a veiw of bring them over to thailand in the near future. (from uk)

am i right in thinking that if the tractors were broken down ie engine taken out ect... i would get the reduced import rate at the dock? what would the rate be? i know that if you import say a second hand car from X you could pay 200/300% some where i have been told that broken down farm machinery only incures a small duty charge?

if this went ahead the tractors would be mainly for personal use, with maybe one or two being sold on.

thanks.

hi,

i brought my fathers ashes over from the uk in jan 08,brought them over in the plastic jar with paper work.(all in english)

went london-dubia-bangkok-udonthani. tryed to check them in in london but was told to carry them in hand luggage. did not even get stopped or questioned once.

the airline told me (on phone)to check the ashes in, but was told justto carry on.

hope this helps.

hi,

saturday afternoon i managed to book return to lhr on eva air (direct) 40,500 baht plus 3.5% for payment with visa card. coach class/ open 6 months.

company name thaioverlander 022584778 in bkk. on the phone it can be alittle hard work, ok english spoken but have been in the shop before and good service.

try the thai visa agency found them good too.

hi stone man,

the trees sound good (good sizes) and to have them all around the same size is very good, your man must be good at his job!

after looking around many working plantation i have seen some really small trees being tapped i think is why when you talk with people you tend to get crazy diffrences in what people are yeildind from there trees.

thanks.

hi stone man,

10% thats alot to loose.

now that your trees are at 6 years do you notice alot of diffrence in growth. ie the tapping area? we have some trees that are just 4 years old, the biggest around 32/33cm around and the smallest are 14/16cm. i would say that the larger trees are about 40% of said land with the rest coming above the smaller numbers ie 14/16cm.

the younger trees that we have planted (different plot) 2 years younger are alot more advanced (compared too in age) thwn the older plot. having said that we have let these tree form the first crowns around 2.5/2.8m, some later but have not gone with what i was first told by the family/farmers that the first crowns should begin around 3.5/4m.

just interested in what you have found?

hi mcgbilly,

only going from what i have seen read and done: one person per day will clear approx 200sq metre of ok weed growth and add vits. (seen over the years) the first 2 years are the most labour intensive. again have to look all the time to keep on top of prunning first yaer or two. up to you really when the first crown start to develop on each tree, can wait for it to happen or induce it. increase the vits every year, again up to what you think/told/read????

loss i would say from looking that termites are the worst around our area but there are diffrent pests that attack the roots and leaves. 25% loss i not sure but i had a high percentage loss in mind when i planted the second lot of our trees, hence the denser stand. good to hear from producing people. got to think too thatsome trees just dont grow thatwell and in the end you will take these out!

money i think that you could throw loads at the trees but you gotta think about how and when it gonna come back to you, like any "money making sceam" you gotta know when enough is enough.

hi,

the spacing is some thing that has always bugged me. we have a long way to go before tapping but this is what we have done.

on the first plot we went with what the thai people told us 3x7 and on the second 2years later i told the works to do 3x4, but in the end it is more like 4x4.

the 3x7 is alot easyer to get the tractor in and work cos it leaves loads of room between the trees.

the 3x4 (4x4) we got the tractor in the first year to turn the land, but now i choose to not to because of the root structure.

the way i see it is that you will lose trees to for any number of reasons and also some trees just dont grow that well so when you get nearer the tapping time you will be thinnning the trees out. the closer spacing that we have tryed lets us lose trees and in the end we should still have a good number to tap.

one of the only books i could find (in english) is "the tropical agriculturalist" isbn: 0 333 68355 2. in the book it refers to "village" size and "industrial" sized plantations. it says that on village size plant up to 700 trees/ha (very dense), plan to plant 500/550 trees/ha to ensure that 400 come into tapping. the book mainly refers to the GT1 clone. oh yes i bought the book in the uk.

only time will tell.

hello sing,

those are very good yields! ibet you are very happy with the results of your trees.

did you find that after the 10/12 year period the yeilds started to pick up alot?

hi rito,

have you been to the shop across the road from the robbinson shopping centre in udon, in the past i have bought a play station there, not sure about the diffrent size models (for the children). they have adverts inthe widow for play stations and have loads of other toys and stuff. the play stations are all chipped (play copy games) so if you have not tryed here i would give it a go.

hi,

have a look around your area and try to find some other rubber farmers, and ask them where and what trees they have planted. also have a look around you city and try to find a good fertilzer shop who could advise you on what they think is best for you. everyone has there brand they want to sell.

have the land turned over and if you can add some manure, but again its up to the person. try and claer the land of trees and burn all the cr*p. work out the planting density and then make out the lining and either get people to dig and plant or get a tractor and auger otmake holes. try to make hole around 50cm deep. if i were you a would put some phosphate in the hole when planting.

in the first six months make sure you keep the area around the trees weed clear. keep an eye out and prun all thelateral branches (make the tree grow straight up) try and fertilizer twice a year. once in the beginning of the rainy eason and then towards the end.

thats alot of land you have! have athink and maybe do a trail run of a small percent and see how you do. good luck anyway! try and talk to some local people and see what they have done, and if they can advise you on do s and donts.

hi joe,

my 2 bahts worth.

in the past five years in the village where i spend time (east of udon thani) the "village paddy" has gone up by around 500%, but if you are family its still VERY cheap. (loads of non thai people buying land, so this land expensive) some people will hold out for many years and will get a good price but not crazy money like a 500% increase. this is land to build house on. farm rice paddy land has gone up but you will always get people who want loads of money any where in the world. example: around five years ago a thai lady i know wanted around 500,000 baht for around 55 rai of paddy on a "concrete road", 1 km from the village, electric ect all on tap. the land was used for rice and had about 100 trees here and there. over the years the land went up by 100.000 each and every year. this year the said lady sold the land for 900,000. result!! another thai person bought the land. (they have a very well paid job)

every other month i hear about farm land coming up for sale and if people are not to crazy about the selling price i would say most plots go for between 10,000 and 20,000 per rai with full land title, sorry forgot to say the previous land is full canalote. like i said you will always get people who want the "earth" for what they have for sale but this applies any in the world to any product.

around 10 yaers ago (makes my wife sound old!) my wife bought a peice of land around 35 rai with full canalote for 7,000 per rai. yes a result as i did not even know her then!!!!

both of the last two sentences arebased on rice paddy within 2km of the village and have no main line electric running tothem.

i would say that farm land is going up in price but it is only worth what youthink its worth to you. myself i would not think of paying more that 15,000 per rai for rice paddy even if it backed onto the back of my house with main line electric ect... having said that if it had a workable crop sown into the land i could maybe pay more but not that much more. i know of two familys that are tryinf to sell some good rice paddy land for 10,000 baht a rai for opening talks.

at the end of the day you can not make a fortune farming in thailand at the moment, so what ever you pay for your land you must br happy with it.

hi scotbeve,

we have two plots 11 rai which is almost 4 years old and 30 rai which is almost 2 years old. we are approx 70 km east of udon thani.

thoongfoned.

hi,

i live out in the country side and for some time i have had either a mouse or rat come and sleep in the engine bay of my truck. before this was not a problem but now they are starting to nor at cables and end small bit of plastic here and there.

i have cleaned the garage out and have set traps here and there bit no luck. i have dogs so do not want to put poison down. i have spoken with many thai people and they all say they have the same problem but do not have a solution. tonight i will try and spray some sort of chemical in the engine bay to try and put off the little pests.

if any one has a good idea how to get rid of these pests please post a reply.

cheers.

hi,

im from uk on non O 90 day visa, based on marriage, issus vientiane. just got new pass port back from bangkok (no pages left, old book) have i gotta transfer the "in stamp" into new book? or can i exit with old pass port?

cheers.

hi,

is anyone in the north east tapping trees? if so what yeilds are you getting, ie: per tree per year or per rai per year?/ what age? if per rai, how many trees?

having looked around (web/books) spoken to afew farmers the average is crazy different.

any info, cheers.

hi,

yeah gotta say that im 100% for the child seat but after looking it is hard to find a decent seat that is within cost range. yes i know what is the range?? but like people have said 25-35 thousand is crazy, for what standard of seat?

only seen them in robinson and the wife thinks im crazy to even look at them. (little one hardly ever in car) but for me we must buy! anyone got any info where they sell a good seat? (im around udon thani)

cheers.

hi,

had a look around afew shops yesterday and looks like i will go for the 4 stroke honda. around b8000 with a years "garentee".

saw some of the robins about, but all were 2 stroke and around b10000. was also told that makita has taken over the company. makitas mostly around the b10000 also.

cheers.

hi

thanks for advice.

in the end went with what was already on their. bridgestone dueler rt 689. 15/265/70. b4450 balanced fitted... the dearest price that i was given was b5000.

cheers.

yeah sorry should have said. machine will be worked on the farm so will need to run all day.

hi,

im on the look out at the mo for good quality/strong strimmers. had a look around the shops and everyone (including mrs) says HONDA. last year i bought the hino brand, and to say the least they are not good!

any thoughts?

hi,

gota buy a new set for my truck 4wd. got bridgestones on at the mo the high wall type.265/70/15. i bought a pair of these a while back and paid b4500 each, at the time i thought it was a bit expensive,what do you think?

anyone got any advice good/bad cost ect...

cheers.