Container Gardening advice needed

[Kanada]

Samoeng Northern Thailand mountains.

I have two concrete containers so far and filled both with 1/3 small sticks and decomposed leaves etc. and 2/3 with a mixture of soil from directly under big 50 year old trees/ some old and dry cow poop and a small amount of sand. One with beans and onions/garlic is doing very well and the one with half kale and half cilantro is a disappointment! Looks like they might do better in a drier season...the rains seem to be too much for them?

Thinking I might dig this up and replant with onions and garlic or maybe some peas ??

Anyone advise on what else might do well in the rainy season?

[RocketDog]

What rainy season? In Hua hin we've seen appreciable rain more than a spit only 3 times in the last six months.

More on topic, I've tried gardening in large black plastic pots for three years with disappointing results. I think part of the problem is the roots getting too hot in the pots.

 

A few months ago I planted directly in the ground and got a bumper crop of USA tomatoes that were fantastic. They stopped bearing in the extreme heat of March though.

 

I gathered seeds from many of them. If anybody wants some let me know.

 

At least in Hua Hin the growing season is from September to March for most veggies.

[Kanada]

On 6/24/2021 at 3:48 PM, RocketDog said:

What rainy season? In Hua hin we've seen appreciable rain more than a spit only 3 times in the last six months.

More on topic, I've tried gardening in large black plastic pots for three years with disappointing results. I think part of the problem is the roots getting too hot in the pots.

 

A few months ago I planted directly in the ground and got a bumper crop of USA tomatoes that were fantastic. They stopped bearing in the extreme heat of March though.

 

I gathered seeds from many of them. If anybody wants some let me know.

 

At least in Hua Hin the growing season is from September to March for most veggies.

Wonder if the “black” plastic is soaking up the heat in that case...because of the color?!

I am using large concrete rings readily available anywhere in Thailand and really cheap too!

im in the mountains so ground soil is poor at best so the big pots allow me to get up off the ground and some of the bugs etc.

Beans are growing wild...aphids and a few others are doing their best but can’t beat them! By the way I’ve been experimenting and the homemade insecticide mixture of dish soap and water works better if you add some vinegar to the mix.

It rains almost everyday here and most times really hard so I think my kale and cilantro might do better in the drier months ????

[Dante99]

1 hour ago, Kanada said:

It rains almost everyday here and most times really hard so I think my kale and cilantro might do better in the drier months ????

you might check with a few neighbors, many folks grow cilantro

 

Also consider adding a lot of sand to the soil for drainage, could be your container does not drain well

[Kanada]

7 minutes ago, Dante99 said:

you might check with a few neighbors, many folks grow cilantro

 

Also consider adding a lot of sand to the soil for drainage, could be your container does not drain well

Cilantro is healthy...just seems really slow compared to other things!

I added sand to the mix on top six inches of soil but who knows....

[RocketDog]

3 hours ago, Kanada said:

Wonder if the “black” plastic is soaking up the heat in that case...because of the color?!

I am using large concrete rings readily available anywhere in Thailand and really cheap too!

im in the mountains so ground soil is poor at best so the big pots allow me to get up off the ground and some of the bugs etc.

Beans are growing wild...aphids and a few others are doing their best but can’t beat them! By the way I’ve been experimenting and the homemade insecticide mixture of dish soap and water works better if you add some vinegar to the mix.

It rains almost everyday here and most times really hard so I think my kale and cilantro might do better in the drier months ????

Thanks for the reply. I hope we can revitalize the gardening forum and share more information. The planting I'll do in August of tomatoes, peppers, beans, cukes, etc. will be documented and I'll post it on the forum.

 

I would like the cooler mountain climate but practically grew up in the ocean near my house in South Texas. I'm a water baby, and love the small Sai Noi beach 15 minutes from my home outside Hua Hin.

 

No doubt the black plastic is heating the roots. I'm convinced that it is impossible to grow most common American vegetables here from March to August; just too dammed hot. Most plants don't like hot roots, but tomatoes and okra like it warmer. Still, there's a limit. I have a large greenhouse at home in Colorado, and grew everything in 5 gallon pots, with automatic watering. But after three years of trying that here, I'm abandoning that approach. This year I harvested dozens of pounds of tasty, large, beautiful tomatoes grown directly in soil. It was once pineapple fields years ago, and the soil is pretty good. I'm adding compost regularly though. I've seen the large concrete rings, and thought about doing that, but was unwilling to make the investment in time and energy until I could prove that tomatoes would grow here at all. I grew the tomatoes in a row, 5-6 plants and trained them on a trellis. I use a soaker hose for watering because it works well on the low pressure community water line.

 

Containers are a good idea if you get that much rain, if they can drain themselves. My pots in Chaam were flooded during heavy rains.

I've used dish soap/water mixture for years, and vinegar on cucumber wilt, but never combined the too. I'll give that a try. I was worried that too much vinegar would kill the plants. Diatomaceous earth is good against many insects and can be had from Lazada, but is relatively expensive. In desperation I finally used cypermethrin powder diluted in water for the tomato pests, especially those insidious tiny white tomato worms that destroy the fruit from the inside. I want to find an alternative this year, but am willing to use it if I have to in order to have the tomatoes I love so much. Now that I know I can grow peppers and tomatoes here successfully, I'll invest more time and effort into the soil and green pesticides. I use magnesium sulfate from Lazada to boost flowering of the tomatoes. It helps with many veggies too.

 

Planting in containers makes the plants more vulnerable to over watering and fertilizing. Planted directly in the soil also provides water for a longer time, especially with heavy mulch, which I always use. My garden area has a slope and is well-drained.

 

I tried hay bale gardening for the first time two years ago, and it was a flop.

 

I also had good luck with bell peppers this year, so will grow more next year. Cukes did good, but heat finally got to them too. I've had limited success with beans. I'll keep trying different seeds throughout the year to find their best growing season empirically. Sad that there is so little information from the government here on vegetable growing. Okra is a total no-brainer here, and I love it, especially with tomatoes. It grows and bears all year.

 

Again, I have literally thousands of tomato seeds from the harvest this year, several varieties mixed. All of these are third generation American varieties grown in Thailand, Hua Hin area. Anybody can PM me if you want seeds.

[Kanada]

6 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Thanks for the reply. I hope we can revitalize the gardening forum and share more information. The planting I'll do in August of tomatoes, peppers, beans, cukes, etc. will be documented and I'll post it on the forum.

 

I would like the cooler mountain climate but practically grew up in the ocean near my house in South Texas. I'm a water baby, and love the small Sai Noi beach 15 minutes from my home outside Hua Hin.

 

No doubt the black plastic is heating the roots. I'm convinced that it is impossible to grow most common American vegetables here from March to August; just too dammed hot. Most plants don't like hot roots, but tomatoes and okra like it warmer. Still, there's a limit. I have a large greenhouse at home in Colorado, and grew everything in 5 gallon pots, with automatic watering. But after three years of trying that here, I'm abandoning that approach. This year I harvested dozens of pounds of tasty, large, beautiful tomatoes grown directly in soil. It was once pineapple fields years ago, and the soil is pretty good. I'm adding compost regularly though. I've seen the large concrete rings, and thought about doing that, but was unwilling to make the investment in time and energy until I could prove that tomatoes would grow here at all. I grew the tomatoes in a row, 5-6 plants and trained them on a trellis. I use a soaker hose for watering because it works well on the low pressure community water line.

 

Containers are a good idea if you get that much rain, if they can drain themselves. My pots in Chaam were flooded during heavy rains.

I've used dish soap/water mixture for years, and vinegar on cucumber wilt, but never combined the too. I'll give that a try. I was worried that too much vinegar would kill the plants. Diatomaceous earth is good against many insects and can be had from Lazada, but is relatively expensive. In desperation I finally used cypermethrin powder diluted in water for the tomato pests, especially those insidious tiny white tomato worms that destroy the fruit from the inside. I want to find an alternative this year, but am willing to use it if I have to in order to have the tomatoes I love so much. Now that I know I can grow peppers and tomatoes here successfully, I'll invest more time and effort into the soil and green pesticides. I use magnesium sulfate from Lazada to boost flowering of the tomatoes. It helps with many veggies too.

 

Planting in containers makes the plants more vulnerable to over watering and fertilizing. Planted directly in the soil also provides water for a longer time, especially with heavy mulch, which I always use. My garden area has a slope and is well-drained.

 

I tried hay bale gardening for the first time two years ago, and it was a flop.

 

I also had good luck with bell peppers this year, so will grow more next year. Cukes did good, but heat finally got to them too. I've had limited success with beans. I'll keep trying different seeds throughout the year to find their best growing season empirically. Sad that there is so little information from the government here on vegetable growing. Okra is a total no-brainer here, and I love it, especially with tomatoes. It grows and bears all year.

 

Again, I have literally thousands of tomato seeds from the harvest this year, several varieties mixed. All of these are third generation American varieties grown in Thailand, Hua Hin area. Anybody can PM me if you want seeds.

Peppers ???? do well on this land....we grow mint well right here....pumpkins also do well...a year ago I grew some great peas planted directly in the ground and we are literally in corn and garlic farming area....farmers do really well with it!

I went to container gardening to get away from weeding so much...my knees don’t take well to up and down etc any more and also for my wife but she looks at them like they might bight her????

You don’t need much vinegar in the mix of soapy water to make a difference...also tried a couple spoons of vegetable oil to make it stick better but didn’t work out!

the plants seem to withstand the vinegar mix really well and the aphids are dead almost immediately with the ants running for the hills....they hate the smell of vinegar and I used it to wipe our kitchen counters when we had an ant infestation and they vacated immediately!

I’ll look up the mix for you

[Kanada]

6 hours ago, RocketDog said:

Thanks for the reply. I hope we can revitalize the gardening forum and share more information. The planting I'll do in August of tomatoes, peppers, beans, cukes, etc. will be documented and I'll post it on the forum.

 

I would like the cooler mountain climate but practically grew up in the ocean near my house in South Texas. I'm a water baby, and love the small Sai Noi beach 15 minutes from my home outside Hua Hin.

 

No doubt the black plastic is heating the roots. I'm convinced that it is impossible to grow most common American vegetables here from March to August; just too dammed hot. Most plants don't like hot roots, but tomatoes and okra like it warmer. Still, there's a limit. I have a large greenhouse at home in Colorado, and grew everything in 5 gallon pots, with automatic watering. But after three years of trying that here, I'm abandoning that approach. This year I harvested dozens of pounds of tasty, large, beautiful tomatoes grown directly in soil. It was once pineapple fields years ago, and the soil is pretty good. I'm adding compost regularly though. I've seen the large concrete rings, and thought about doing that, but was unwilling to make the investment in time and energy until I could prove that tomatoes would grow here at all. I grew the tomatoes in a row, 5-6 plants and trained them on a trellis. I use a soaker hose for watering because it works well on the low pressure community water line.

 

Containers are a good idea if you get that much rain, if they can drain themselves. My pots in Chaam were flooded during heavy rains.

I've used dish soap/water mixture for years, and vinegar on cucumber wilt, but never combined the too. I'll give that a try. I was worried that too much vinegar would kill the plants. Diatomaceous earth is good against many insects and can be had from Lazada, but is relatively expensive. In desperation I finally used cypermethrin powder diluted in water for the tomato pests, especially those insidious tiny white tomato worms that destroy the fruit from the inside. I want to find an alternative this year, but am willing to use it if I have to in order to have the tomatoes I love so much. Now that I know I can grow peppers and tomatoes here successfully, I'll invest more time and effort into the soil and green pesticides. I use magnesium sulfate from Lazada to boost flowering of the tomatoes. It helps with many veggies too.

 

Planting in containers makes the plants more vulnerable to over watering and fertilizing. Planted directly in the soil also provides water for a longer time, especially with heavy mulch, which I always use. My garden area has a slope and is well-drained.

 

I tried hay bale gardening for the first time two years ago, and it was a flop.

 

I also had good luck with bell peppers this year, so will grow more next year. Cukes did good, but heat finally got to them too. I've had limited success with beans. I'll keep trying different seeds throughout the year to find their best growing season empirically. Sad that there is so little information from the government here on vegetable growing. Okra is a total no-brainer here, and I love it, especially with tomatoes. It grows and bears all year.

 

Again, I have literally thousands of tomato seeds from the harvest this year, several varieties mixed. All of these are third generation American varieties grown in Thailand, Hua Hin area. Anybody can PM me if you want seeds.

As promised

 

A mix of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts of water with a few drops of mild dish soap can help to control garden pests. Spray it on roses, vines and vegetables that have had an infestation of aphids, caterpillars or stink bugs. The soap will suffocate the bugs, and the vinegar will repel future attackers for a short time.Oct 10, 2562 BE

[RocketDog]

10 hours ago, Kanada said:

Peppers ???? do well on this land....we grow mint well right here....pumpkins also do well...a year ago I grew some great peas planted directly in the ground and we are literally in corn and garlic farming area....farmers do really well with it!

I went to container gardening to get away from weeding so much...my knees don’t take well to up and down etc any more and also for my wife but she looks at them like they might bight her????

You don’t need much vinegar in the mix of soapy water to make a difference...also tried a couple spoons of vegetable oil to make it stick better but didn’t work out!

the plants seem to withstand the vinegar mix really well and the aphids are dead almost immediately with the ants running for the hills....they hate the smell of vinegar and I used it to wipe our kitchen counters when we had an ant infestation and they vacated immediately!

I’ll look up the mix for you

Thanks . I'll add a couple of teaspoons to my mix. Worth a try, and I can try on aphids immediately. It's not like I can't find any.

Your knees don't scare the ants or aphids!?

 

I want to grow bell peppers. I know the small red/green hot chili peppers do well and grow wild all over LOS. I did grow a single bell with seeds from one I got at Makro, but planted too late. I did get  a few off the single plant before the sun took it. I'll plant more when I start tomatoes in late August. In my area I know for sure September is the time to transplant tomato seedlings .

 

Any tips for growing the peppers?

 

Let's all work to revitalize the TVF gardening forum. Apparently lots of folx have tips for growing here.

 

Thanks

[Kanada]

On 6/27/2021 at 7:29 AM, RocketDog said:

Thanks . I'll add a couple of teaspoons to my mix. Worth a try, and I can try on aphids immediately. It's not like I can't find any.

Your knees don't scare the ants or aphids!?

 

I want to grow bell peppers. I know the small red/green hot chili peppers do well and grow wild all over LOS. I did grow a single bell with seeds from one I got at Makro, but planted too late. I did get  a few off the single plant before the sun took it. I'll plant more when I start tomatoes in late August. In my area I know for sure September is the time to transplant tomato seedlings .

 

Any tips for growing the peppers?

 

Let's all work to revitalize the TVF gardening forum. Apparently lots of folx have tips for growing here.

 

Thanks

No I do t n km is much about growing the larger peppers...I love them soaked in olive oil and bbq’d but my wife doesn’t like them at all so they’re on the back burner!

we are going to grow some different hot peppers here soon and don’t know what to expect!

I would be happy to have some of your tomato seeds for the larger sized tomato if you’d care to throw a dozen in an envelope and send to me I’d be appreciative!

Yes...happy to help keep the gardening section of TV up and running...there are a few good people left out there I’m sure!

Sure ran into my share of jackasses in the tourist sections but had good laugh with them! Gardening group is almost always a good group of guys ????