Anyone planted Ashoka tree's on their land in Thailand?

[advancebooking]

My tree planting knowledge is minimal and thus asking for help here

 

We want to plant Ashoka trees to get privacy on our land. The last photo shows how high they can grow. We dont want gaps like that though but want full coverage

 

A plant shop offered to sell us 3m high Ashoka 450 baht each (top photo). In the middle photo are waste height (middle photo)

 

Am I better to plant the small ones or the 3m high ones? I can see they have support poles for the 3m ones. I was thinking myself what would happen during a huge storm. 

 

I think planting the smaller ones there will be no issues like that but I have to wait much longer for them to grow high. 

 

What would you advise. We want to block out the neighbours sooner rather than later

thanks

[CharlieH]

Off topic removed.

[bradiston]

I was told they tend to make ideal nesting trees for all manner of furry animals. They're called Telegraph pole trees in Philippines.

[Foxx]

What you're seeing in Thailand is almost certainly False Ashoka (Monoon longifolium), rather than Ashoka (Saraca asoca) which is a rainforest tree.

[jcmj]

3 meter tall ones are fine and should root well pretty quickly especially with rainy season. They are pretty stable but make sure set them in well. Good luck. 

[Grusa]

Don't do it. They are fast growing, messy, and  bend over when wet in a storm, then can't straighten up. They are a maintenance nightmare both for you and your neighbour!

[Will B Good]

We put in Korean Banyan trees.....seem to a good job......almost maintenance free.....grew quite quickly.

[MalcolmB]

Put in the smaller ones, they will grow stronger and not bend. They will grow over a meter per year anyway.

 

They can also be cut at the top to make them a uniform height which looks good. 
 

Plant 80 cm from the boundary, as they get older they will fill out a bit. So you need to give them this space.

 

Only downside is they will stop the breeze.

 

Good luck. 
 
The are known as Indian Asoke in Thailand.

 

[advancebooking]

49 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

We put in Korean Banyan trees.....seem to a good job......almost maintenance free.....grew quite quickly.

Hi. May I ask how high do they grow? I saw a photo and they look good. But we need really high coverage for privacy. thanks

[advancebooking]

57 minutes ago, Grusa said:

Don't do it. They are fast growing, messy, and  bend over when wet in a storm, then can't straighten up. They are a maintenance nightmare both for you and your neighbour!

would you agree with malcom B comment below? planting the smaller ones and no bend

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, advancebooking said:

Hi. May I ask how high do they grow? I saw a photo and they look good. But we need really high coverage for privacy. thanks

 

 

We planted some next to the car port ...1m high ? two years ago......they are now close to reaching the roof

[advancebooking]

40 minutes ago, MalcolmB said:

Put in the smaller ones, they will grow stronger and not bend. They will grow over a meter per year anyway.

 

They can also be cut at the top to make them a uniform height which looks good. 
 

Plant 80 cm from the boundary, as they get older they will fill out a bit. So you need to give them this space.

 

Only downside is they will stop the breeze.

 

Good luck. 
 
The are known as Indian Asoke in Thailand.

 

hi. Thanks for your comment. Years ago with my parents they always planted the smaller ones as well. I think you are right in that its better bc they will be more established and grow so fast anyway in this climate. Im definitely concerned about planting the 3 to 4m ones which can fall over

[advancebooking]

1 hour ago, Grusa said:

Don't do it. They are fast growing, messy, and  bend over when wet in a storm, then can't straighten up. They are a maintenance nightmare both for you and your neighbour!

The 3rd photo in the above post shows the trunk being quite thick. I cannot see how that mature tree will bend. If I plant them at 1m high then have a good chance to be strong until maturity?

[Will B Good]

5 minutes ago, advancebooking said:

Hi. May I ask how high do they grow? I saw a photo and they look good. But we need really high coverage for privacy. thanks

 

Coverage/density does vary......oddly enough they seem thicker in the dry season.... but we do have an automatic sprinkler that waters them every night.....in the wet season we don't bother watering....so maybe they lose their leaves more readily.

 

 

[MalcolmB]

34 minutes ago, advancebooking said:

hi. Thanks for your comment. Years ago with my parents they always planted the smaller ones as well. I think you are right in that its better bc they will be more established and grow so fast anyway in this climate. Im definitely concerned about planting the 3 to 4m ones which can fall over

The 3 meter ones will be pot bound to a certain extent.

 

Better off with smaller. They like being fed, if you don’t feed them or have good soil they will be weak and stringy.

Easier to look after than the Korean tree which need more maintenance to keep looking neat.

[Grusa]

2 hours ago, advancebooking said:

would you agree with malcom B comment below? planting the smaller ones and no bend

These trees are in our neighbours yard. They have

 

 

been there at least 15 years. They grew too high and bent over, so were cut back to 5 foot high stumps, about 5 years ago. Now they are back to our roof height, 3 stories +. Look what has happened:-

[pacovl46]

If you want no gaps then you'll need to plant two rows. The second row will be planted in between, but in front of the trees of the first row. Just like the white and black tiles on a chessboard. 

[advancebooking]

6 hours ago, Grusa said:

These trees are in our neighbours yard. They have

 

 

been there at least 15 years. They grew too high and bent over, so were cut back to 5 foot high stumps, about 5 years ago. Now they are back to our roof height, 3 stories +. Look what has happened:-

oh crap. Now I dont know if I want to plant it. I was wondering yesterday when they are that tall and thin how do they stay upright...

 

One shop told me to plant in zigzag formation. I dont know why. 

[advancebooking]

3 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

If you want no gaps then you'll need to plant two rows. The second row will be planted in between, but in front of the trees of the first row. Just like the white and black tiles on a chessboard. 

Hi. Thanks for your comment. The shop today selling them told me to plant in zigzag formation which is I think what you are suggesting by having 2 rows. 

 

Have you planted Ashoka before? Did you see the photo above where it has fallen over? 

 

Now I dont know what to do. Should I be looking at another option ie bamboo?. They also fall over sometimes as well. 

 

Can you please offer me advice?

[kickstart]

5 minutes ago, advancebooking said:

Hi. Thanks for your comment. The shop today selling them told me to plant in zigzag formation which is I think what you are suggesting by having 2 rows. 

 

Have you planted Ashoka before? Did you see the photo above where it has fallen over? 

 

Now I dont know what to do. Should I be looking at another option ie bamboo?. They also fall over sometimes as well. 

 

Can you please offer me advice?

You could try Bamboo, that will not fall over, quick growing, and you can eat the young shoots when they grow.

One problem with bamboo is the leaves, when they fall, they get everywhere, but you could say the same with most trees.

Make sure you get the right type of bamboo, not the 40-foot job, look at Pi-Leeung โผาลียง In Thai, and it has no thorns.

[pacovl46]

11 hours ago, advancebooking said:

Hi. Thanks for your comment. The shop today selling them told me to plant in zigzag formation which is I think what you are suggesting by having 2 rows. 

 

Have you planted Ashoka before? Did you see the photo above where it has fallen over? 

 

Now I dont know what to do. Should I be looking at another option ie bamboo?. They also fall over sometimes as well. 

 

Can you please offer me advice?

Yeah, zig zag is what I meant. I didn’t see the photo with the fallen over tree, but that’s always something that can happen when you plant trees because their roots need time to grow in. You can put two poles in the ground and use some rope to tie the tree to the poles so it can’t fall over. You have to make sure periodically that the rope isn’t cutting into the tree, though and after one to two years you can remove the poles. I’ve never planted them myself, but friends of mine have some. I’d rather go for the pencil trees than bamboo because bamboo isn’t really non-see-through unless you plant a little forest and it also grows like hell, so you’ll need to manage it constantly. 
 

If privacy is your top priority I’d go for gabions. It’s those stone/pebble filled metal mesh cages used to build garden walls. They’re definitely not see-through and you can plant them with evergreen plants that will cover the entire wall over time. That’s probably your best, but also most expensive option and I’m not sure whether they’re available in Thailand, but any metal shop could make them for you. They would need to be Zink coated afterwords or Zink powder coated and then powered coated with a regular paint to prevent them from rusting away.
 

Alternatively you could just put a couple of stainless steel poles in the ground and connect them with stainless steel wires and then plant that heavily with evergreen climbing plants.