canopy

when used as posts the underground section rots or gets eaten within months and so has to be replaced. Any suggestions for treating the bamboo so that it will last longer without leaching harmful substances into the soil?

Just good drainage can allow posts to last for years. Here is some tips I have learned along the way:

1. Instead of being at grade, make the ground at the posts higher than the surrounding area to minimize water making them soggy.

2. Instead of packing the posts with dirt, use rock. Smooth rock rather than coarse is ideal for drainage. This helps keep the posts dry and strong.

3. For dramaticially good results, have a good cover like a roof over the posts so they don't get wet or sun weathering.

4. Select more mature hard bamboo rather than new, young stuff which is softer and favored by termites

5. Cure the bamboo before use. I have yet to do this as the process can take a year so plan in advance. The more curing the better. To cure, keep them in a totally dry, shaded area off the ground.

6. The base of the bamboo is the strongest and most durable part so use this for posts.

This is not for powering a house, but just powering surveillance equipment. There is no grid possibility there, hence the stand alone requirement.

I need just a kilowatt hour, or could make do with even less per day. Light load, off grid to make a 220V outlet.Does anyone sell a complete, practical system for this? Or is there a DIY system anyone has found to be good? Web links aren't turning up much that is tangible and current.

I have not lived in central Thailand too long, but have been long enough to observe rampant inflation in the rural area where I am. Is it normal to see surging inflation year over year? Some examples:

20% inflation: thatch went from 10 baht to 12 baht. The cost of goods walking to get some bamboo and grass certainly is 0 and thatch is made by old people on the side and sold in front of their house.

25% inflation: A little bag of 4 small tomatoes at the market used to be 5 baht. Now they only put 3 small tomatoes in the bag.

50% inflation: Asking price of land of no interest to anyone last year has inexplicably gone up this year and still of no interest to anyone.

60% inflation: A bunch of bananas roadside has gone from 5 baht a bunch to 8 baht. These are forest bananas picked from peoples yards which have 0 cost of goods.

for the sake of completeness:

4. Ceramic floor tiles with a simulated wood pattern.

5. Bamboo flooring

WatersEdge: The area in question is enormous so I wish to avoid irrigation as part of the solution. If in the end I have to lay kilometers of PVC that would be a real shame to me environmentally speaking. I am hoping there is a more practical solution.

drtreelove: excellent pdf. On that list aloe just might be the right choice as I have seen that it can do well year round without water here. The one puzzling thing about that pdf is the end says "The shrub cover should not exceed 30% of your defensible space landscape." However, it does not seem to specify the makeup of the other 70%. The pictures aren't really legible which might shed some light on this so a color scan would be helpful in illustrating what they are discussing. But I got a lot of good information out of it already none the less.

Good info and I love agapanthus, though I wonder if the plants mentioned could survive the dry season of Thailand and if so would provide some fire resistant during the dry times? I can't think of a way that would keep such a large and non-uniform area irrigated deep enough into the dry season when they would be needed. I sure would like to know more about the research that has taken place so I don't end up repeating the same mistakes and recreating the wheel so to speak.

One idea I am contemplating is planting vetiver (หญ้าแฝก): pics info. My thinking is this is pretty tough stuff useful on steep terrain and can scythe it down going into the dry season and it will spring back in the wet for weed protection. Experiences or comments welcome.

I am in an area that is prone man made forest fires set by hunters to flush game that go out of control. What are ways to protect land from getting burned to ashes? One approach seems to be to use a tractor each dry season to plow under a large swath around the perimeter. That approach in this case is impractical due to the rugged nature of the area. I am wondering if there might be something that can be planted that might stop fires from spreading across them as sort of a green firewall. Or any other tehcniques welcome.

Yes you may get a phone that can do it but why not get the right tool for the job.

I couldn't agree more. That is why I am absolutely not interested in a home brew job sorting out a mess of ip camera, network topogology, computer, surveillance software, drivers, infrared, setup work, debugging, and more. And then the unacceptable downsides like turning off or repairing the computer killing the surveillance system.

It is surprising no one has managed to recommend a simple, elegant and standalone device designed for surveillance. Such devices do exist outside of Thailand such as minisimcam.com.

Any IP camera should be able to do what you need... but that's maybe not what you want.

Wow, I didn't know that any IP camera can send SMS messages and have infrared. Thank you for your thoughtful post.

Are there phones available that work in day and darkness at night with infrared included that send an SMS picture when motion is detected?I ran across the Nokia PT-6 which seems a good fit, but it seems to be discontinued.

Thailand has very strict laws against such noise so most likely what they are doing is very illegal. There is a government department in Bangkok you can call that will come out, monitor the noise, and if it is over the standard get the noise issue solved at the source. I know someone who had good results with this in the past. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the department so hopefully someone else knows it or has the phone number if you can't find it. Let us know how that works out, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

A good read all. I too am dedicating several rai to a forest of various organically grown fruit trees in the Phetchabun mountains. This year I started with small 1 gallon trees and spaced them far apart so when mature the trees can have plenty of space so right now they are sort of like needles in a haystack of weeds. Most everything is doing well save the citrus leaves are being eaten seemingly by caterpillars. The weeds in the area left unchecked grow 3 meters tall and some are thorny. Currently just scythe the weeds periodically to keep them low and away from the trees. I wish to displace the weeds with a green mulch. Does that sound like the right approach? If so, what would be a good choice? If it is something close to optimal that has any edible parts (wing beans?) that would move it to the top of the list. And where should I look to find what I need for sale?

As far as I have seen, the movies at the Tesco theatre are dubbed in Thai. Be aware that save for high altitudes in the mountains, the weather in Phetchabun is hotter than Bangkok. Most days you will be looking at 90 or 100 degrees depending on time of year and many days hover around 105. Being single and new perhaps a good location would be near the university to be among Thai's with more english language.

Sorry, that should read heartwood, not hardwood.

Depends on the teak. First off, teak needs to be from trees about 15+ years old to have developed enough oil to resist termites. Younger than that and termites will eat it. Then you have two types of wood in the tree. The white to yellow colored part from around the outside of the tree is called sapwood. They eat that. The orange to brown part from the inside of the tree is called the hardwood. They don't eat that. So what you want is hardwood from mature trees.

Will look at those options. Have been getting coached that Honda would be a good one for reliability. So among the Honda line anything somewhat suitable to throw in the mix? By the way, dirt/mud roads would be light usage but I listed that as I don't want to end up with something suited for city streets that can't handle a little country driving.

I would like to get a scooter for the wife short distance usage. We are in mountainous terrain where there are very steep roads. Occasionally need to go over gravel and dirt/muddy roads. Are there any bikes that stand out as being practical choices for this?

Plenty of disadvantages of Khao Kho, no question there. In my estimation Khao Kho has 3 distinct advanages over other areas of Phetchabun: weather, weather, and weather! It is substantially cooler, breezy, and rainy. It is telling that the weather difference allows planting of many types of fruits and vegetables that are not workable at the lower, hotter altitudes. I also looked at land in the "khao kho" of Loei, namely Phu Ruea, but to my dismay even crazier higher prices abound there.

Portland cement is not environmentally friendly thus Conwood claiming as much is a marketing gimmick. Doubtful they would compare themselves to real environmentally friendly products but instead just solid cement. Also be careful because usually the only thing teak about teak oil is the name. Most likely there is little or even no teak oil in the product at all. It's just a name they slap on to get people to buy it.. Check the content list.

I looked at numerous properties in Khao Kho a year ago so have considerable and recent experience. The good news is the area you are interested in has an abundance of chanote, but the bad news is you pay for it. Chanote and NS3 tended to go for 400K/rai or substantially more if it was right on the highway. Weaker titles a tenth of that. If you are in Khao Kho I can introduce you with a local Thai who knows lots of chanote spots for sale in the area you are interested in. Great area by the way. Anyone interested can PM me and I can give you more leads on properties than you can shake a stick at. There is lots of land for sale out there, trouble is finding them and there are few buyers.

Been there. Like so many others, no response from thorzen.

I am interested in using tung oil as a natural finish for a new, untreated teak house. I've read the archives, chased leads on search engines, and visited various stores to no avail. Is tung oil available somewhere? If not, how about linseed oil? Any other natural alternatives? Thanks a bunch if you can help.

For a clay tile roof I would prefer to have cement in a more similar color to the tiles than gray. The tile manufacturer recommends painting the cement but to me that is not appropriate on longevity grounds and the fact I plan to do water catchment. I was reading getting red sand is a very good way to go. Is this available in Thailand? If not, how about cement dyes?

As many know, honey in Thailand tends to be nothing more than sugar water. My understanding is fish sauce tends to be fake as well, though not sure what the substitutes are; I would guess cheap soy sauce with a chemical flavor additive. Some fish sauce labels make a point of stating genuine (eg: แท้!), but like honey I doubt it really means anything. This could explain why fish sauce is so cheap. It's all about making a cheap product these days, not a genuine one and I don't think the average consumer really cares.