I have a small stand of Sak trees in a corner of the garden. Over the summer I planted a variety of things (flowers, veggies)  under them that would benefit from partial shade. However, while none of those plants died, neither did they grow well. I've since dug them all up and moved them elsewhere and they are doing fine. I'm not sure if it's just the soil in that area or whether the sak trees alter the ph or something. A bit of googling indicates that interplanting under teak farms works well. Anybody have any local knowledge of this?

We have a teak tree in the garden, and nothing grows near it, ok ,the soil is not  good ,and need feeding , have now given up .

I would say it could be 3 things .

You have a stand ,is they to much shade ,for anything to grow , those teak leaves are big , shading  out other plants .

Is the land light or heavy, light land the trees would take all the available water , leaving other plants short.

I would say the same would be true with plant nutrients.

Thai soil is well known for being short of all types of nutrents ,you could  try a small area to grow some  more plants , water and feed them well ,see what happens ,some lime would not go a miss .

Better grow icecream bean tree's if you want a tree which provides shade and nutrients for underneath plants. They fix nitrogen and also give nice fruit.

 

If teak takes all water and nutrients you should water it more plus add a thick layer of leaves/organic material under the teaktree.

On 12/3/2017 at 8:53 AM, kickstart said:

We have a teak tree in the garden, and nothing grows near it, ok ,the soil is not  good ,and need feeding , have now given up .

I would say it could be 3 things .

You have a stand ,is they to much shade ,for anything to grow , those teak leaves are big , shading  out other plants .

Is the land light or heavy, light land the trees would take all the available water , leaving other plants short.

I would say the same would be true with plant nutrients.

Thai soil is well known for being short of all types of nutrents ,you could  try a small area to grow some  more plants , water and feed them well ,see what happens ,some lime would not go a miss .

These are important observations. The poor health of underlying plants is most likely to be shading, root zone competition for water and nutrients, soil nutrient deficiency and/or imbalances. I have never heard of teak having "allelopathic" properties like black walnut. (But that doesn't mean much, I am always learning new issues.) 

 

Caution about recommending lime; it is only appropriate for acidic soil or imbalance indicated from a soil test. Adding lime to an alkaline soil will drive the pH up and make some plant nutrients like iron less available for uptake and metabolism. It's best to know exactly what you are doing with soil amendments.