farmerjo

I will let you know the feedback from the sunn hemp trial around end of April. Hemp would be similar. The guy wants it green,not harvested stalks as i presume it will break down quicker as a fresh plant. So i will grow until it starts to flower 45-60 days.I don't have a forage harvester so was just going to run it though my rice harvester to smash it up a bit and get a 20 kilo sample.

If you could do it online here it would work out much cheaper. For my Aussie passport,pay for passport,4 flights(mrs,me)4 taxi's,2 meals,fuel and parking in Khon Kaen = 27,000 baht.

Just to add because they are community based projects. 3000 rai,200 farmers so that's an allocation of 15 rai per farmer.

At this stage i think not CLW,others may know better. When i look around it tells me sugar is out performing growing napier otherwise these plants would be popping up everywhere. As i mentioned earlier it is good for communities but your coming up against EGAT,a state owned enterprise. In a feesability study i just read said Packchong variety is favoured as can grow up to 70-80 ton a rai per year with 5-6 cuts at 60 days. Also the garanteed price was going to be 300 baht/ton. That is to good for any farmer to pass on so something is amiss.

Hi KS Those engines come in at about 20 million baht each so at a guess i would think the whole infrastructure commissioned would be around 150 million. The size of the quarry which i didn't visit could use at a guess again 1 MW with crushers etc.no idea how many houses. From my rough calculations if going by the renewable energy sub forum here and getting 2 baht a kilowatt from PEA they could turnover a 1 million baht a week. There is a bit of napier grown but without the go ahead i think farmers are still waiting. Once again guessing where it is located,EGAT have a hydro dam 40 km's away. The area is full of sugar so dealing with the big boys to get a slice of the pie may be difficult looking from the outside in. They should of built it on our side of town as we have a smaller quarry too. The two guys on site besides the gate man looked like a project manager and a chemical engineer. I mentioned i grow sunn hemp so they are welcome for me to take a sample and they will run it through the lab there to see how it stacks up against napier and maize for methane. On the napier grass he said you only have to plant it once every seven years but i guess that is in the ideal world.

If no one is interested in peace. Let's see what the Chinese have. It will be either good or bad.

On a follow up from this well informed post from KS i decided to visit a biomass plant i had heard about 28km's from home. 1st thing learnt,biomass is what the sugar companies do with agricultural waste,burn,heat,steam to create power. The place i visited is a biogas plant fed by napier grass(and possibly maize later) to produce methane that runs(don't laugh)2 x german submarine engines coupled to 1.5 MW genies to feed the PEA power grid. It is set up in parallel with 2 digesters that agitate vertical, horizontal(mix of napier grass and water with heat supplied from the engines) and a dome for methane storage =1.5 MW so two sets of equipment enabling 3 MW production. Impressive,just one problem.It was built six years a go and is positioned next to a large quarry but hasn't even been commissioned for operation yet. Talk about red tape,got to be careful as it's a public listed company. The handling of materials(napier grass) is sub contracted and the plant buy it at 450 baht/ton off sub contractor so don't know exactly how much the contracted farmers would make. I think the guy said the plant could handle 350 ton a day but dont quote me on that as was bit overwelmed taking it all in. Anyway an interesting day and by the size of the pile of napier fermenting under a tarp someone must have a cow shed not far away.

Just a follow up for those interested. Chase your passport. I applied on 23rd november and have been patiently waiting, Today i called embassy and was put through to Aus who said it was sent on 16th december. Then i called consular services in Bangkok who said passport is there for collection and Aus should of notified me. What a <deleted>eshow,i only ask one thing from the government and they can't even get that right. Rant over.????

Yep too cold this dry season KS. I guess that would be a hybrid seed designed for a longer growing season.

It's that long a go i forget what we used before plastic. Was it trees?

Good article on why it is happening in agriculture. It looks like they are shutting a few parks as well. https://www.nationthailand.com/thailand/general/40025001

And add another 2-3 million for tractor.rake and baler. For a Thai to invest that sort of money in a seasonal business you would want a solid plan. It can and is being done at tip toe speed.(give it 10 years) When that is solved we come to national parks. There is a lot of lightning here. Just ask Australians what happens when you don't have yearly controlled burns. It's a trade off to protect citizens although most would debate otherwise.

Yes good win by your boys KS,my boys thought they were playing baseball and payed the price. The scalloped disc helps but being a 3 point linkage frame it's a bit light and needs extra weight to penetrate the trash evenly. Also i've learnt being on 9" spacings it would be better on 7.5" spacing for better weed control. Hopefully pulling the seeder will help keep the offset disc at a consistent depth the way i've set the drawbar arrangement up. Have done a quick trial and seems to work ok with the Ford 6610 having 200kg of ballast over the front end for traction.

For that to happen you would require more machinery and less labour.

Not sure how to read that.

Was pinning my hopes on some rain this weekend to no avail Last week started to do a second pass with offset disc but conditions not quite right.(80% ok) That with getting lazier with age to sit on tractor for long periods it was back to the workshop to do some modifications to couple the offset disc to seeder so can seed in one pass when the rain eventually comes. To fill in a bit more time put all the sunn hemp seed back through the seed cleaner and doing a germination test. Ready to rock n roll,6mm of rain will get me started. In the meantime,back to the cricket.

Fantastic in Hyde and Seek.

In this area you talk of it started last season and has increased this year. Where i live west of Chumphae we have a biomass plant scheduled to be built for electricity. Somchai might have a different view to many on here like why can't i burn one day a year when all these people drive around in vehicles 12 months a year.

I find having a messy workshop with tools spread everywhere works for me in Thailand. That way the correct tools for the job are hard to find for others to take and improves my safety. Having a good vice to hold jobs in is most important to me.

I always have a jar of tiger balm handy for insect bites,stings. I do feel for the fella,hope he gets some enjoyment from the rest of life after the pain endured.

What product is the sand mortar,an adhesive type? Also will the roof area be scabbelled for the paint to stick.

Is it law to have stamps transferred or is it ok to carry two passports?. Now they have screwed us over not issuing 64 page passport. I would prefer not to lose two pages for transfer on 32 page passport.

How long did you have to wait for new passport.

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Well you can cross his name off as the voice