Blueberries and blackberries in Thailand

[berries thailand]

Hello

 

I am new here at Thaivisa, and I wonder if someone else is growing blueberries and blackberries in Thailand.

 

We started growing blueberries and blackberries last November. This did not go smoothly at all. many problems with the acidity of the water and the many insects and termites.

Does anyone have any experience with growing berries?

[djayz]

Hello Berries in Thailand. 

Currently my better half is growing raspberries (from seed) in Korat. Where are you? She started a few months ago and they seem to be doing just fine - fruit is beginning to form as I write this.

 

Re black and blueberries: she just bought a few plants recently from a Thai bloke on FB so it's too early to report on how they're doing. Honestly, I have my doubts as it just doesn't get cold enough here for dormancy to kick in. I'm happy to post an update here in a couple of weeks re their progress. 

 

Would you mind telling me where you got your blackberry and blueberry plants? 

 

Good luck and happy growing. 

 

[berries thailand]

Hello

 

We have our farm in Mae charim NAN.

We have bought our plants in USA and have them fly over(officially imported via customs).

At the moment they are doing well. We have reasonably good fruits on the blueberries. We have tried raspberries too but they have not survived the summer last year.

 

 

If you prune the plants well you can bypass the dormancy if you have a good plant variaty offcourse.

 

 

Obtaining plants is not really the problem, but give them the right fertilizer, adjust the pH of the water and soil, etc. This is all done by hand, and in the Thai way. 

 

if you would like to grow blueberries. you should buy a PHmeter first. and do a soil and water analysis. if your soil ph is higher them 5.5 do not grow them. becouse they gonna die.

 

good luck

 

 

 

 

[JungleBiker]

You can find blueberries and raspberries at the Singha Park near Chiang Rai, owned by Boonrawd Breweries. They grow them in pots in polytunnels. You can find photos on the web. 

 

Blackberries you can find in my garden here in Laos. 

 

All 3 crops prefer higher altitude areas and protection from summer rains using plastic (e.g. polytunnels with open sides for ventilation). 

 

For blackberries and raspberries, it is best to grow primocane varieties. 

 

For blueberries, best to grow low-chill varieties and grow them using the evergreen system (don't let them go dormant). 

 

[berries thailand]

some picture from our plants

 

 

[djayz]

6 hours ago, berries thailand said:

some picture from our plants

 

 

Looks like a great set up!

 

May I ask, just out of curiosity, why did you leave so much space free between rows? 

[JungleBiker]

Hi Berries Thailand,

What varieties of blueberry and  blackberry are you growing? 

JB

[berries thailand]

11 hours ago, djayz said:

 

 

Itwas our first try out, and we thought this was more demanding to mow the grass in the rows with the tractor. But that is done by hand.

in the initial phase we also had a lot of growth and little flowers, when the plants were up to 3 meters tall, and then we had luck that the rows were big, otherwise we could not walk in between them. Now we have better control of growth and the rows can actually be closer together.

it was a huge learning process.

 

[berries thailand]

7 hours ago, JungleBiker said:

Hi Berries Thailand,

What varieties of blueberry and  blackberry are you growing? 

JB

Hello JugleBiker

 

The blueberries is Biloxi and the blackberry is something i find in JJ market but dont know the variety

 

[JungleBiker]

On 13/12/2017 at 9:26 AM, djayz said:

 

Re black and blueberries: she just bought a few plants recently from a Thai bloke on FB

 

Hi Djayz, Can you share the FB link please? Thanks. JB.

[JungleBiker]

On 15/12/2017 at 1:20 PM, berries thailand said:

Hello JugleBiker

 

The blueberries is Biloxi and the blackberry is something i find in JJ market but dont know the variety

 

Hi Berries Thailand, 

 

How are your berries doing now? Based on your photos of 28 November, I think your blackberries may now have stopped fruiting. If so, I reckon you should cut the old canes down to the ground so that new canes will replace them and produce more fruit (similar to banana plants). 

 

At what altitude (metres above sea level) is your farm located? 

 

Do you have a name, contact number and address for the seller of the blackberry plants in JJ (CC) market?

 

How much did the blackberry plants cost? 

 

Thanks.

JB.

 

[berries thailand]

On 15-2-2018 at 3:49 AM, JungleBiker said:

Hi Berries Thailand, 

 

How are your berries doing now? Based on your photos of 28 November, I think your blackberries may now have stopped fruiting. If so, I reckon you should cut the old canes down to the ground so that new canes will replace them and produce more fruit (similar to banana plants). 

 

At what altitude (metres above sea level) is your farm located? 

 

Do you have a name, contact number and address for the seller of the blackberry plants in JJ (CC) market?

 

How much did the blackberry plants cost? 

 

Thanks.

JB.

 

Hello JB

 

The blackberries and blueberries are doing great.

The blackberries are still flowering and having fruit.

and the blueberries are becoming ripe.

we are located at a atitude off 400 meters above sea.

 

no i do not have a name from the seller. i went in jan again to look for more or different variaties but there was nobody who sell blackberries or blueberries.

i think we paid about 300 bath for the plants. (Pheng)

 

Regards

 

 

[JungleBiker]

Thanks BT. Wow, they look good. That's very impressive, especially at only 400m asl. 

 

I hope they taste as good as they look. 

[berries thailand]

They taste even better than they look.

we are trying to propogate them now and planted 800 plants more.

so next year we have enough production to deliver to bangkok.

and at this moment we are looking for new variaties off blueberries 

but that is more difficult to get them in thailand.

 

regards

jan

 

 

[DumbFalang]

On the subject of Blackberries - the Prime-Ark varieties are fruiting all over Thailand. My wife propagates and sells Karaka Black and several other varieties none of which have fruited for us in Chiang Mai. A customer sent a photo yesterday of Karaka Black with fruit at 600m ASL in Chiang Rai - so it is possible. A friend of ours in Lamphun has Loch Ness and Loch Tay fruiting and I think it may be down to the way they are pruning (we are obviously doing it wrong).

[berries thailand]

You must try to get the plant out of its vegetative growth by pruning or feeding
the best way to do this is by adding cytokinin
if you give them kelp, this is a seaweed and naturally contains growth regulators.

and do not give the plant much N (nitraat)

 

regards 

 

[berries thailand]

8 hours ago, DumbFalang said:

On the subject of Blackberries - the Prime-Ark varieties are fruiting all over Thailand. My wife propagates and sells Karaka Black and several other varieties none of which have fruited for us in Chiang Mai. A customer sent a photo yesterday of Karaka Black with fruit at 600m ASL in Chiang Rai - so it is possible. A friend of ours in Lamphun has Loch Ness and Loch Tay fruiting and I think it may be down to the way they are pruning (we are obviously doing it wrong).

You must try to get the plant out of its vegetative growth by pruning or feeding
the best way to do this is by adding cytokinin
if you give them kelp, this is a seaweed and naturally contains growth regulators.

 

do not give them much N (nitraat)

[DumbFalang]

Thank you very much for the tips. I have been focusing on propagation too much and now it's time to focus on fruit production, so I will try what you suggest. I am not familiar with Cytokinin - is it available 'off the shelf' in Thailand?

 

Please confirm - Are you saying it is good to give them kelp/seaweed?

[berries thailand]

2 hours ago, DumbFalang said:

Thank you very much for the tips. I have been focusing on propagation too much and now it's time to focus on fruit production, so I will try what you suggest. I am not familiar with Cytokinin - is it available 'off the shelf' in Thailand?

 

Please confirm - Are you saying it is good to give them kelp/seaweed?

 

Yes, Kelp/seaweed you can find in thailand.

we order it online.

Its very black and looks like oil.

you mix it with water and spray it in the evening over the plants 

we do it every 10-14 days.

if you look on the internet you can find a lot off information about spraying kelp.

 

if you would like to work with cytokinen (chemical) you have to be very carefully because you can kill the plant, if you do not apply it correctly.

and i do not know if it is available in thailand (never look)

we only use kelp because if the persone who sprays do something wrong (never happens in thailand) my plants not gonna die.

 

[djayz]

A few of the missis' berries coming along nicely. 

[berries thailand]

1 hour ago, djayz said:

A few of the missis' berries coming along nicely. 

 

 

 

hello djayz

 

They ara looking very good

 let me know is they taste sweet.

 

 

[The manic]

Bilberries are the English equivalent of blueberries. They may be worth exploring. 

[Fulvio65]

On 13/12/2017 at 4:02 PM, JungleBiker said:

You can find blueberries and raspberries at the Singha Park near Chiang Rai, owned by Boonrawd Breweries. They grow them in pots in polytunnels. You can find photos on the web. 

 

Blackberries you can find in my garden here in Laos. 

 

All 3 crops prefer higher altitude areas and protection from summer rains using plastic (e.g. polytunnels with open sides for ventilation). 

 

For blackberries and raspberries, it is best to grow primocane varieties. 

 

For blueberries, best to grow low-chill varieties and grow them using the evergreen system (don't let them go dormant). 

 

Hi,

 

can you explain me what is the "evergreen system", does it fit with other kind of plants ?
I made some unsuccessfully experiments with figs in Prachuap area, after a couple of seasons the plants become weak and die.
Any chance to grow up blueberries in such a hot region ?

 

Many thanks 

 

[JungleBiker]

On 09/04/2018 at 4:53 AM, Fulvio65 said:

Hi,

 

can you explain me what is the "evergreen system", does it fit with other kind of plants ?
I made some unsuccessfully experiments with figs in Prachuap area, after a couple of seasons the plants become weak and die.
Any chance to grow up blueberries in such a hot region ?

 

Many thanks 

 

 

Blueberries normally go dormant in the winter. In the evergreen system you don't let them go dormant. This is achieved by a combination of a suitable variety, growing in a suitable climate, hard pruning and fertiliser, particularly nitrogen to promote vigorous new growth after each fruiting cycle.

 

I was told that the location of the Boonrawd blueberry trial was on the warm side; not cool enough. Better to plant at a higher altitude. 

 

Where I am here in Laos, at over 1,200m above sea level, is better. (Though here, as in Chiang Rai, I will need to cover the crop with a plastic roof to keep the foliage dry during the rainy season). So if you are talking about a lowland area then I would say, "there is no chance to grow blueberries in a hot region". Unless you want to grow in an air conditioned environment and then it would be very expensive and probably not viable unless you were getting crazy prices for your fruit. A company in Japan is growing strawberries indoors using LEDs anf full climate control but they are getting many dollars per fruit in the high-priced Japanse gift market. 

 

[JungleBiker]

On 02/04/2018 at 2:19 AM, The manic said:

Bilberries are the English equivalent of blueberries. They may be worth exploring. 

 

I did already consider this. They need some chilling. You would have to grow the plants in pots and then put them in the cold store for a minimum period in order to get them to flower. I have this approach in mind for some other temperate fruits that are better known in this part of the world. 

[berries thailand]

Finaly we have some production of blackberries

.and next year we can deliver bangkok

 

[ladboy]

to berries thailand, hello there, which part of chiang mai are you growing the berries? 

do you allow farm visit? thanks!!

[anon2736434]

There are a lot of plants that no matter what you do will just not grow/produce in thailands tropical enviroment. This includes most berries.

[djayz]

22 minutes ago, Notagain said:

There are a lot of plants that no matter what you do will just not grow/produce in thailands tropical enviroment. This includes most berries.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but my missus is growing  a few different berries in Korat. Admittedly, she only started approx. 6 - 8 months ago, but she has raspberry and blackberry plants which bear fruit. 

I think it depends a lot on the time of the year... I'm dying to know how many, if any, of her plants survive the ultimate test - hot season.

 

[Durio]

Are they a yellow cultivar of Raspberry Djayz?  They look impressive.  Are you guys in Korat city or up in the hills away from Korat?