I am looking to contact commercial Red garlic growers in Thailand for possible export, and to visit in mid January

You are not giving a lot away, where in Thailand, are you looking ,garlic likes cool weather ,you are coming in January, by then almost the end of the cool season ,come to mid-February starts to warm up ,garlic will not grow ,unless you are on top of a mountain in the North of Thailand .and most of the harvested crop would have been sold ,or in store waiting to be sold. 

Most of the Garlic in my area is white garlic, as the wife said they is no red garlic in Thailand, we have purple garlic, you do not mean the red shallots type onions.

 

thank you for getting back!

 

https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Thai_Garlic_7818.php

 

i would agree with you about the mountain scenario, as that would seem the most likely possibility of the garlic being vernalised, so as to grow.  i am not interested in the conventional soft- neck purple or white garlic with lots of cloves.   the variety spoken of in this article is a porcelain hard neck which produces a scape, and has 4-9 larger cloves.  North and mountains make sense  - Chaing Mai?   indeed it could be purple - not red or blue.   Soil chemistry has so much to do with  the shade of colour as well as everyone's own specific perception.         again if it were north and mountainous   it would probably need to be planted  before december.    we finish planting here in september oct.        and i am interested  in red shallot onions as well       thank you again   - your comments and help are very much appreciated!!

50 minutes ago, Orwin said:

thank you for getting back!

 

https://specialtyproduce.com/produce/Thai_Garlic_7818.php

 

i would agree with you about the mountain scenario, as that would seem the most likely possibility of the garlic being vernalised, so as to grow.  i am not interested in the conventional soft- neck purple or white garlic with lots of cloves.   the variety spoken of in this article is a porcelain hard neck which produces a scape, and has 4-9 larger cloves.  North and mountains make sense  - Chaing Mai?   indeed it could be purple - not red or blue.   Soil chemistry has so much to do with  the shade of colour as well as everyone's own specific perception.         again if it were north and mountainous   it would probably need to be planted  before december.    we finish planting here in september oct.        and i am interested  in red shallot onions as well       thank you again   - your comments and help are very much appreciated!!

Most garlic here in Thailand is planted in our autumn, harvested in January /depending on where you are, in my area Lopburi ,we have a big festival near her in February, known for selling garlic and the red shallots onions. often just harvested.

One problem with Thailand is that they are very conservative with a big capital C, meaning that like the same things all the time, as I said the white garlic is mostly used, the garlic you want not so much is grown ,finding growers that grows it might  not be easy ,your best way would be contract  growing ?,finding farmers willing to grow the crop.

The big problem would be as you said, is the soil chemistry or lack of, Thai soil is not that fertile, soil organic matter being the main biggest problem but as most garlic is grown on 2-3 rie ? plots that could be overcome, the carrot on the stick, would be saying to the farmers you would pay them a bit over the odds to grow your crop, but you would have to know about growing cost etc. to work a budget out.

Have a word with AN's drtreelove, he is our soil expert, and he lives up in Chang Mie.