Hi I am in the northeast, has anyone had any success growing potatoes ?.

     I've known several people why have tried. Quite simply the answer is no, I've never heard of any successful attempt. I think the Isaan soils are not suitable.

I had 1 successful potato growing attempt, sadly that was over 12 years ago in Prakonchai.

I have tried several times here south of Khonkaen, but no luck.

When i did grow them successfully, i planted tubers in november, each tuber in a shovel full of buffalo s++t, and ridged them up, result was pretty decent potatoes, not too big but tasted ok, before somebody tells me not possible, jipp99 can verify what i have just posted.

Climate more than soil is the issue I suspect. Aren't they a cold-climate crop? My amphur in Sisaket province (Kantharalak) has some great soils, courtesy of volcanic activity many moons ago, and a wide variety of fruit & veg is intensively grown and some (durian, mangos, rambutan) are renowned nationwide*. Never seen anyone growing potatoes and the supermarket price suggests to my non-farming but ex-accountant's mind that there would be money in it if they grew successfully.

 

*Chantaburi still no 1 though.

I always buy thai potatoes from the royal project shop....they have farms all over thailand.

I had 1 successful potato growing attempt, sadly that was over 12 years ago in Prakonchai.
I have tried several times here south of Khonkaen, but no luck.
When i did grow them successfully, i planted tubers in november, each tuber in a shovel full of buffalo s++t, and ridged them up, result was pretty decent potatoes, not too big but tasted ok, before somebody tells me not possible, jipp99 can verify what i have just posted.

We're they any good for chips??

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2 minutes ago, roo860 said:

We're they any good for chips??

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Yes i used some of them for chips and they tasted ok, bit small but ok.

4 hours ago, mirage said:

Hi I am in the northeast, has anyone had any success growing potatoes ?.

We are in the NE, Udon to be precise, we get a good potato crop every year, have to plant at the right time, after the rains have finished and the cooler weather comes, they wont grow when it is too hot.

5 hours ago, SantiSuk said:

and the supermarket price suggests to my non-farming but ex-accountant's mind that there would be money in it if they grew successfully.

Probably not as they usually sell in my local market for 30-35bht/kg

What about beans as in baked beans. I can't believe the price of a tin of beans here. Mushrooms are a joke too. Those Thai mushrooms just don't cut it.

thought potatoes were a typical Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai fare, cooler climate

 

 

Around here (Buriram) anything in the solanaceae family is difficult to grow/impossible. This includes tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, aubergines, and a few others. That's due to the soil. Weather also plays a role, too much rain or too hot. 

Any seed potatoes bought will have been treated with weed killer (really) to stop them sprouting, so initially difficult to get going.

I might try again sometime, the last lot I tried didn't even sprout.

Personally I prefer to grow herbs and fruit and buy stuff like potatoes at BigC, but I do understand why people would want to grow spuds, I was a champion grower of spuds and onions back home, now grow ginger, turmeric, beans, passion fruit,pineapples and figs.. Thailand is ABROAD....

I was driving south from Kanthararom on 2125 a week or so back and saw a field of potatoes growing. They looked like healthy plants from a distance. It's the first time I've seen them grown in that area.

18 hours ago, colinneil said:

Yes i used some of them for chips and they tasted ok, bit small but ok.

falang flies - if one has a chip on his shoulders 

6 hours ago, Rc2702 said:

What about beans as in baked beans. I can't believe the price of a tin of beans here. Mushrooms are a joke too. Those Thai mushrooms just don't cut it.

I find Brook baked beans good. As for mushrooms they sell great Portobello mushrooms at Macro. Have them for breakfast every morning.

6 hours ago, Farma said:

I was driving south from Kanthararom on 2125 a week or so back and saw a field of potatoes growing. They looked like healthy plants from a distance. It's the first time I've seen them grown in that area.

Sure they weren't sweet potatoes? They do grow well, and are frequently grown, around here (only 40km south of Kanthararom down 2360/2125 then a bit of 221). 

 

Perhaps my belief that the two types look similar above ground is misplaced - as a non-farmer perhaps I shouldn't be questioning the judgement of someone whose TV monicker is "Farma". Feel free to be rude!

11 hours ago, Rc2702 said:

What about beans as in baked beans. I can't believe the price of a tin of beans here. Mushrooms are a joke too. Those Thai mushrooms just don't cut it.

Yes, those B32 beans, absolutely extortionate, the large tins at B43 are even more of a rip-off!

4 hours ago, mirage said:

I find Brook baked beans good. As for mushrooms they sell great Portobello mushrooms at Macro. Have them for breakfast every morning.

That's the aus beans u thibk. Too hard I thought. To be honest I thought they were awful.

Import/transport costs of a low volume sale item?

Thais don't eat baked beans as a generality. I'm just glad they are sold more generally than the usual falang-food suspects of Tops/Foodland, though my local Tesco seems to have stopped selling Brooks (but they are cheaper x3 tins at Makro anyway).

I find Brook baked beans good. As for mushrooms they sell great Portobello mushrooms at Macro. Have them for breakfast every morning.

Defo Brook

 

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3 hours ago, SantiSuk said:

Sure they weren't sweet potatoes? They do grow well, and are frequently grown, around here (only 40km south of Kanthararom down 2360/2125 then a bit of 221). 

 

Perhaps my belief that the two types look similar above ground is misplaced - as a non-farmer perhaps I shouldn't be questioning the judgement of someone whose TV monicker is "Farma". Feel free to be rude!

They were more a bush than a vine and looked the same as we grew on the farm as a kid. The people I was with pointed them out to me and said "mun farang" so to me that's a potato rather than yam. 

A friend in Khon Kaen city had a lovely potato plant growing in a pot - grown from a sprouting Tescos spud I gave him - and was taking super-good care of it so he could enjoy the results of his hard work.

 

He weeded it, kept it in the shade, watered it every day - treated it like a kid. One day, I suppose he must have watered it a bit later in the day. The hose pipe had been laying in the sun and the water inside must have got hot. I think he boiled his spuds before digging them up. Of course, the plant died and his wife won't let him grow any more.