Canada

Get a good well. In thai they call them a "big well" or an "air well" as the rigs use air to remove the dirt and rock, not water.

Cost of the well will be about 30,000 to a depth of about 60 meters. Then you'll have the cost of a good submersible at about 18,000 for a Mitsubishi 1-1/2 hp 4" pump.

Best way to go if you don't want headaches in the future.

If you don't care about the headaches because they will be someone else's, you can cheap out on the well for about 15,000, he'll drill to about 30 meters, he'll use the lightest casing he can buy, the size of the hole as it gets deeper will get smaller so that in the end your 4" will be lucky to get a 3" submersible down it, or worse than that, you will only be able to get a 2 " pipe down it and have to pump with a surface pump which will probably run dry during the dry season as the static water level of the well drops. The surface pump will run you 4000 baht and you can use some farmers iron buffalo to run it.

I have both kinds of these wells and wells in between these so I know what I am talking about. We drilled 7 wells last year and used 5 contractors.

Probably a 5kw would do it if starting the mixer empty. I've got a 5kw KwaiTong. It works well for most things. I also use it for small welding work (a dc inverter welder), which it is not recommended for. You could step it up a bit as IMHO says and get a Kwai Tong that has a welder built in. The 5kw on it's own was 18,600 baht a year and a half ago. The one with the welder as well was close to 30,000 if I remember correctly.

I also have a 5kw generator that runs off of a 10 hp Kubota. It will not support the welder at all. The Kubota will run my 2 hp submersible, but the Kwai Tong will not.... go figure..... Well it will , but not well.

Check this thread in another section.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/674653-drip-irrigation/#entry7741951

Hello All, this is just WESCO's W-S fertilizers, you can alter the NPK of

any of theses to suit your needs. See pic.

If you are having a problem figuring how much W-S-Fert to an area of

land, you might try calling WESCO and talking to them, the one guy we

use for Hydro speaks good English and very knowledgeable.

rice555

Thanks for that.

Damn!! That looks so easy. I've got the venturi already.

What area are you farming in Rice555? And where are you buying your Wesco fertilizer?

Your hp needed will depend on the size of subsoiler you have. I use a subsoil fertiliser applicator. Only two legs, but my 90 hp will pull it pretty deep pretty easily in 4wd. If only 2wd, wheels start to slip usually at about 18 " deep. Depends on the field too. Normally I don't fertilise too deep for sour sugarcane, but I've sunk it pretty deep just to see what my tractor would do.

I've used it to break up a hard field before. Works well, but I needed to add weight to the implement to get it down in the first place. Dirt was like a parking lot.

@ Red Bull. How many ponds do you have? And how big are they length, width, depth? How much land do they consume?

Do you feed only "fish food"? Or do you supplement with restaurant scraps as well?

Thanks.

9 ponds on 11 rai land, 8 rearing ponds and 1 pond for water reserve. Another 4 ponds (rental) on 10 rai land, 3 rearing pond and 1 pond for water reserve. Smallest 25m x 25m x 2m (water depth @ 1.5m-1.8m), medium 1000sqm, large 1.5 rai - 2rai.

Only commercial pellet feed... grade A and grade Premium only. Betagro or CP feed only...

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

oh. I thought you said 500,000 off of 2 rai. Does that mean that you are earning 500, 00 per 2 rai of water? or what? I'm a bit confused now.

Why do you have a reserve? Can't you just pump out of a well?

Thank you. How long have you been at this?

Hi...don't be confused...i said 500k+ off 2 rai/year NETT. Confirmed.

You asked how many i have ? The above post stated my operations size. I made about 1.2mil per year on my property alone, if i add rental ponds, plus addition 400k per year... total is 1.6mil/year NETT.

Wells are not reliable... I would very much like to cash in on the reserved ponds...wouldn't i ? But safty net come first...learnt from experiance. Save me many time...

Since year 2000 untill now...full time started on year 2007 March...

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Wells. Submersible pumps in wells are reliable if you have a good well to start with. I'd just have 2 wells rather than lose on the ponds that are being used for water reserve. Just my opinion.

Question: is there a thread/topic where you go into detail about your operations? I would like to know more, but don't want to bother you if you've already posted it all up.

Thanks again.

DR

Thank you.

@ Red Bull. How many ponds do you have? And how big are they length, width, depth? How much land do they consume?

Do you feed only "fish food"? Or do you supplement with restaurant scraps as well?

Thanks.

9 ponds on 11 rai land, 8 rearing ponds and 1 pond for water reserve. Another 4 ponds (rental) on 10 rai land, 3 rearing pond and 1 pond for water reserve. Smallest 25m x 25m x 2m (water depth @ 1.5m-1.8m), medium 1000sqm, large 1.5 rai - 2rai.

Only commercial pellet feed... grade A and grade Premium only. Betagro or CP feed only...

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

oh. I thought you said 500,000 off of 2 rai. Does that mean that you are earning 500, 00 per 2 rai of water? or what? I'm a bit confused now.

Why do you have a reserve? Can't you just pump out of a well?

Thank you. How long have you been at this?

Hi...don't be confused...i said 500k+ off 2 rai/year NETT. Confirmed.

You asked how many i have ? The above post stated my operations size. I made about 1.2mil per year on my property alone, if i add rental ponds, plus addition 400k per year... total is 1.6mil/year NETT.

Wells are not reliable... I would very much like to cash in on the reserved ponds...wouldn't i ? But safty net come first...learnt from experiance. Save me many time...

Since year 2000 untill now...full time started on year 2007 March...

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Thank you for your info.

@ Red Bull. How many ponds do you have? And how big are they length, width, depth? How much land do they consume?

Do you feed only "fish food"? Or do you supplement with restaurant scraps as well?

Thanks.

9 ponds on 11 rai land, 8 rearing ponds and 1 pond for water reserve. Another 4 ponds (rental) on 10 rai land, 3 rearing pond and 1 pond for water reserve. Smallest 25m x 25m x 2m (water depth @ 1.5m-1.8m), medium 1000sqm, large 1.5 rai - 2rai.

Only commercial pellet feed... grade A and grade Premium only. Betagro or CP feed only...

Sent from my GT-I9190 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

oh. I thought you said 500,000 off of 2 rai. Does that mean that you are earning 500, 00 per 2 rai of water? or what? I'm a bit confused now.

Why do you have a reserve? Can't you just pump out of a well?

Thank you. How long have you been at this?

And yes, those are the venturi's that I am talking about. Got one, but afraid to use it.

Hello All, Canada the venture injectors work great, I've used two, 3/4" & 1", the

1" I used on 2 rai field, OP field corn(Hickory King). I think I got good even fertilizer

coverage with a simple device.

You can go with the Mix Rite(Super Products) of the Dosatron(have their local info

if anyone is looking, they were at Hortiasia2013), Dosatron is used in Hydro.

You figure out the amount of fertilizer you need, fill up your drip tapes, start the

injector and run to it's used up, keep the water going for 20 mins more to flush the

tapes out, stop the pump.

Remember, a FILTER before the tape/lines. the 3/4" was set up with village water

and well water. The 1" was well-2,000L tank.

The banana plantation is done with venture(NaanDan-Metzerplas).

rice555

Hmmm. That's kind of how I figured it would have to be done. But to ensure even distribution, I thought you'd have to dilute the fertiliser as well. My thought was to fill the system, dilute the fertiliser in the amount of the system (1700 litres) and then run water after that, as you say. Diluting the fert for the entire capacity of the system means that you don't actually need a venturi device. Just pump from the well first, then from a 2000 litre tank with fert, then switch to the well again. I think that would ensure even distribution.

Thoughts on that?

Can you buy easily dilatable NPK fert? or Urea?

Thanks

I do all my drip irrigation shopping at GB in Udon, or Khon Kaen, recently in Chiang Mai too, but that's just a small system for home. They all stock the same parts of the same brand. For the price, there is good value actually.

@ rice555

Do you have experience applying fertiliser through your drip system? This is something that we are wanting to do next, but have no experience. I want even, accurate distribution. We are going to do about 2-3 rai per application as that's all that our system will pump right now. Works out to a system capacity of about 1700 litres, including header pipe and all runs of drip tape.

Global does have in the catalogue for "drip parts" a metering valve that is adjustable. It will regulate the fertiliser application as a percentage of flow. The largest one runs about 23,800 baht. I think this is what I need. The other end of the spectrum is an 800 baht "venturi valve" that you just fit inline and stick it in a bucket of fertiliser. I fail to see how this method could be done with any accuracy or consistency.

Any tips?

@ Red Bull. How many ponds do you have? And how big are they length, width, depth? How much land do they consume?

Do you feed only "fish food"? Or do you supplement with restaurant scraps as well?

Thanks.

If you have water year round, try fish farming. I farm Clarias catfish... 2 rai = ฿500'000+/year.

Is that "plah duk" in Thai?

I've seen a lot of your posts over the years about your fish farming. I'm interested. We need to start to diversify. I have one small 5 rai piece with a house that we have a well on, 31/2 rai of cane, a large dog kennel (15x20 metres), which we may convert to a pig sty and about a rai of treed area.

Question. Are you close to a heavily populated area? i.e.. Where do you sell your fish?

Your figure of + 500,000 per year. Is that gross or net? If it is gross, how much is net profit on that figure?

Thank you.

Global stocks all that you need for drip, spray, or sprinkler. But I don't know about global in Bkk

From the op's opening post, I gather (my mistake) that he is not focused on money. He is more focused on the "farming experience". He does come from a farming background, but it seems like the field end of it, and not the office end of it. "a little of this and a little of that" and maybe some of this...and some of ????" doesn't sound like a person focused on earning money or like a good plan on how to make money out of it. If he'd said I am going to farm pigs. And I know how to do that. I'll use 2 rai for pigs and 2 rai for a hobby farm.....hmmm, that sound a little more focused.

I'm not saying that Pigeon Jake cannot earn off his land. I'm just saying that in my estimation, this person is a long ways from that at this point.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a guy with no farming background, 100 rai, a house on a farm now, drive my own tractor, do every job on my farm....because I decided that I wanted to do that. First time i drove a tractor in my life was at the dealer when I bought it. I ploughed and planted 50 rai in my first year. So I am pretty clear about learning curves.

I love my wife and trust her 100 percent. In the beginning we bought land and attached usufructs. Now we don't and we've removed some of the usufructs. This is more than half the battle. If you cannot trust your wife, don't invest in her name. Period. It'll add up to a headache and then some.

Just my opinion, which is what it seemed like the OP was asking for. In answer to his main question....soil testing...hmmm....it's on my list of projects for this year, to figure that one out. But it's been answered already, so thanks.

Good luck to the OP in pursuing the dream.

Just a few words.

Check around at prices of a lot of different pieces of land. Thais will stick it to you if they can. Beware. Get knowledgable about the price of land before you buy anything.

Consider anything that you do buy "not yours" because there is a high probability of it being that way if things go south with you and your gal.

Give up the idea of 4 rai producing enough to live on and enough to purchase more land with the prices that you are quoting. You'll be lucky to survive on 4 rai IMO.

You can do a lot (I do) without interference from authorities. Always keep informed about law and what you can and cannot legally do here. It COULD" come down to that.

I farm here. It is nothing like I thought it would be. Growing shit and selling shit are different animals. If you don't have a market for your product and a way to sell it without getting hosed by someone in the middle, you are just another poor Thai farmer.

If you truly love the land like you say, then do it for love. I'd keep money out of it without a good well thought out plan of how you are going to profit.

I've got a hundred and three rai of planted sugarcane, a tractor, a house, all the irrigation equipment that you would need, in Isaan that I would sell tomorrow if I could. Interested?

just a missing comma or semi colon...not too tough if one wanted to figure it out

Never heard of having to prime a submersible pump.

Hi. Is there any Kendo in Chiang Mai? I see on Facebook, that there used to be...but the group has not been active (at least on FB) since 2011.

Thanks

My understanding of usufruct is that wifey could sell the land, but nobody would want it with an usufruct registered on it. So I think it would be possible to that.

hmmm.

The usufruct agreement is between her and I. How could she still honour the agreement if she sold the land? I'm not so sure now. Any clarification on this?

Mine are above ground. Many reasons I guess. I lived in a hut on this property while I built on it. First job was wash house. It made perfect sense to raise the tanks and use gravity to flow water to our toilet and shower in the wash house directly underneath the tanks. That's not your situation. However, with all the mucking around with waterworks, pumps etc., I would not put mine underground without having a large room to house them along with my pumps and filters. I pull out of a well, to the tanks, then pump to the house.

Now, our water house is the outdoor washroom for workers, and also houses our pressure washer for cars and the tractor and stuff like that. I also send water to the dog kennel from it and it serves as our dishwashing station. ( We only have small sink indoors, not a big house.)

Personally, I could not shower with water that was kept underground. It would be too cold for me. Our tanks are shaded by trees, but the water is great in the heat of the day. Makes for a perfect shower. Not hot nor cold.

I've heard the same. Black dogs taste better.

You're a better man than me I guess (or slower). If it were me, the dog'd be dead already. Good luck with it.

I like geese. I'd be right pissed.