Growing teak

[Lolothai]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm not a farmer but I have a nice 2 rai garden and when we bought the land 3 years ago they were already some young Eucalyptus planted on it.

I let them grew and I cut them to build some shelters and furniture, I didn't know that this trees were made for paper mill so I struggled a bit with the warping and all but I managed to get something decent.

Now I'm planting teak instead, since my wife said that it's authorized now. 

At the shop they say that this is a modify specie that grow faster.

I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this tree, how fast can it grow?

Mine are 10 months old with a girth at 1.5m of 11cm (3.5 cm diameter), how big could they get in 3 years?

Euca were huge 4 years after plantation, I made boards up to 30-35 cm large. However they are very destructive of the land.

[thoongfoned]

got teak trees spread over the "gardens" of 2 houses, mostly grown from seedlings from some small trees we bought years ago. just measured the one by the front porch its 59cm around @ 1.5m this was just some seed pods thrown on the land around 5 years ago. some of the ones that we bought (very small around 10cm high, 20/25 baht each) around 8/9ish years ago are very big, at a guess about the same size as my waist 34/36 inches around, just rain feed never any shop bought vits, if you were to "feed" them would be massive.... 

i used to buy finished teak furniture afews years back from indonesia, had a walk a round afew plantations over there, at 25 plus plus years they used to have massive trees/logs, some are left till 50 years old...

like you say we have some massive euca trees around too, just grown from the wind/seedlings around 7/8 years old, always getting asked to sell them to the guys that cut the euca.

[carlyai]

got teak trees spread over the "gardens" of 2 houses, mostly grown from seedlings from some small trees we bought years ago. just measured the one by the front porch its 59cm around @ 1.5m this was just some seed pods thrown on the land around 5 years ago. some of the ones that we bought (very small around 10cm high, 20/25 baht each) around 8/9ish years ago are very big, at a guess about the same size as my waist 34/36 inches around, just rain feed never any shop bought vits, if you were to "feed" them would be massive.... 
i used to buy finished teak furniture afews years back from indonesia, had a walk a round afew plantations over there, at 25 plus plus years they used to have massive trees/logs, some are left till 50 years old...
like you say we have some massive euca trees around too, just grown from the wind/seedlings around 7/8 years old, always getting asked to sell them to the guys that cut the euca.

I saw some really old teak in Indosesia, about 100 yrs old. I visited a teak furniture making factory where they had about 700 workers. All with no shoes on. Even the ones in the sawmill had no shoes on. Absolutely fantastic. They were making furniture for the Japanese Royal Family, Disney Land etc. Had several 'gun' carpenters who would make a copy of a royal chair, sitting on the floor with his tools, then it would be put on a table and the other carpenters would sit around making the order. Management Canada and Australia tree people. Tolerance of furniture was within mm's.[emoji3]

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[Bandersnatch]

I purchased a couple of rai to build a house and garden from a few rai of teak trees. I put in a drip feed irrigation system powered by a solar pump. There is a big difference between the teak trees on my land and the neighbour's teak field. He has dug some swales to save some water, but when they dry up the teak trees go dormant. All the trees you see in the picture below are 10 years old. The bigger ones on my land have really benefited from regular watering. 

 

[wombat]

22 hours ago, Bandersnatch said:

 All the trees you see in the picture below are 10 years old. 

 

 

er....im having trouble seeing ten year old trees in the pic ?

[Bandersnatch]

5 minutes ago, wombat said:

er....im having trouble seeing ten year old trees in the pic ?

Where the swales are is the original teak tree field. Where the fence posts are is my land. The teak trees were planted and left to fend for themselves 10 years ago. The lines of trees on the path to the pond have been drip irrigated for 12 months and are now 3 times as big. They have grown more in the last 12 months than in the previous 10 years. 

[TKDfella]

One of my lab jobs was in a timber lab and Teak, Tectona grandis, was always sought after.

I think the largest girth tree at present is in Myanmar, around the 8 meter, but when I was working in the lab there was one one much bigger. Though in general Teak is highly resistant to infection (hence it's value) there is one breed of termite that can attack it (forgotten the name but I think locally known as 'dry 'something' termite) and the infestation is clearly visible on the outside, a growth not consistent with the rest of the tree. So if you are growing Teak deliberately you might want to check that out. Teak contains a lot of natural oils and doesn't need much maintenance (that is, if you intend to use the wood). In fact, sanding it down or using preservatives could damage it. For characteristics Teak is king.

[Stevemercer]

I had some young teak, but there was 10 cm of flood water covering them for a few weeks after heavy floods and they died. Similarly, as another poster has observed, they go dormant if water supply is lacking. In my experience they need good water (go dormant if using bore water with a little salt). They are most sensitive when first planted and need some care (at least in Isan where drought and floods are the rule).

 

Anyway, I started off with about 12. After 4 years only one is still alive.

[dj2018]

As a long time wood worker, I implore everyone to grow as much teak as possible. We need more teak. Stop chopping down rain forests, grow teak on a farm as a profitable business. The planet will thank you for it.

[TKDfella]

8 minutes ago, Stevemercer said:

I had some young teak, but there was 10 cm of flood water covering them for a few weeks after heavy floods and they died. Similarly, as another poster has observed, they go dormant if water supply is lacking. In my experience they need good water (go dormant if using bore water with a little salt). They are most sensitive when first planted and need some care (at least in Isan where drought and floods are the rule).

 

Anyway, I started off with about 12. After 4 years only one is still alive.

Ah, that's a shame. You may know this already but if you want to grow more in the future look up the Myanmar forestry service. I understand they are the experts S.A Asia. They may have some modern techniques that might help. 

[TKDfella]

4 minutes ago, dj2018 said:

As a long time wood worker, I implore everyone to grow as much teak as possible. We need more teak. Stop chopping down rain forests, grow teak on a farm as a profitable business. The planet will thank you for it.

Well, I don't know about profitable business because I think there is some kind of 'teak institution' that sets up standards by which main Teak plantations refer to. In addition, just like Mahogany, there are cheaper African alternatives to teak, one being so called 'African Teak' or Iroko. Iroko is also durable and like Teak Timber doesn't need much attention...but is harder to work than Teak (you probably know that already).

[Lolothai]

That's very encouraging. I will plant around 100 trees in my garden for my personal use. How soon is it possible to cut and use the wood? I read that teak tree mature only after 13 years and before this they don't produce the oil that make them so special.

So if I cut after let say 4 years would my wood be total <deleted>?

 

I would also like to buy lands and make teak farm. If I was cutting my own Lumber, could I get a better price out of my trees? would I find buyers?

[Lolothai]

Here is my 10 months old teak trees. I systematically cut their branches and it seems that it was a bad idea, so from now on I will let them make more leaves. 

Two months ago my garden was full with euca trees, I sold them and my garden is getting greener since.

The teak trees probably didn't appreciate the presence of the euca too.

 

[Tondidi]

they look really good for an age of 10 months!!! When do you plant the 100 trees? And - at what space will you plant them ??

Last August, we planted 70 teaks at a distance of 2.5 x 2.5 m - just when the delayed rainy season started. Until December, we lost 5 trees. Just before Christmas 2019, we installed a water pipe and a hose, and they get watered twice a week. From March on - beginning of the hot season - we will water them every 2nd day.

If I understand you right - teak trees do not like to live near eukas??? Is it correct?