Growing Cassava In Thailand

[Mikki]

Hi Maipasathai........... I saw a bargraph but what i remember of it it didendt show any "golden month" to harvest . My guess is that global demad has a big effect on the cassava price , due to the big export . russias problems with their crops maybe was the factor that peaked the prices a coupple months ago, but the bargraph showed nov/dec was most year good months to harvest. and i think it can be differences between areas in thailand as well to consider,

ill harvest half in march/april and the other half in dec next year . Btw has any seen Chanat S op in real giving the fertilizer on the leafs of the cassava

Regards MikkiB)

[maipasathai]

Hi Mikki...Think what I also observed, no golden momths. If people run on the bandwagoon and think December is a good month to sell the supply could be so high that it will keep the price down. Think I go for October or November.

maipasathai

[Khonwan]

I’m attaching a spreadsheet here in reference to the thread, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/400631-how-can-i-make-money-in-rural-thailand-isaan/

It may be of use to others here to help you compare your own costs.

Rgds

Khonwan

Cassava2010(RentEverything,ExpensiveArea1yr;RentEverything,KhonwanArea1yr;RentEverything,KhonwanArea2yr).xls

[soidog2]

I’m attaching a spreadsheet here in reference to the thread, http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/400631-how-can-i-make-money-in-rural-thailand-isaan/

It may be of use to others here to help you compare your own costs.

Rgds

Khonwan

Khonwan, I have some questions for you, If you would like to answer.

By coincidence, at the moment I am also cultivating about 160 rai, have been doing it for a while.

I find some of the prices you mention in your spread sheet and the land prices you mentioned in this thread : , very different than what I am used to, some are too high some are way too low .

Can you give your approximate home area ?

Can you clarify how much do you pay per day, per person for : planting, spraying, picking.

Do you have your own truck & crew for picking, do you hire a complete group including truck, or do you hire individual workers & a truck.

If you hire a complete group for picking, do you pay them based on weight recovered or by the day or job ?

For spraying, do you pay them by the rai, job or day ? Does it matter if spraying fertilizer of herbicide ?

How many times per growing season do you weed and apply fertilizer , roughly how many workers per job ?

How much per gallon do you pay for pre-emergence herbicide and Glyphosate ? do you use recommended quantities ? do you put any home made additives to enhance the weed killing ?

Per rai per growing season ( 9 month or more ), how much do you spend on fertilizer, is it granular , spray or mixed ?

Do you own your tractor ? if not, how much per rai do you pay for deep plow ( 3 disk ) , for smoothing , (5 or 7 dish plow).

Do you raise furrows ? if yes, how much per rai.

The tractor, how big is it , I mean horse power, the three dish plow , what diameter is it ?

The soil in your area; can you give a brief description. What about water availability in the dry season ?

I know this are a lot of questions but it will clarify cassava growing in your area for a lot of people.

Best regards

[Khonwan]

Soidog2, I may offer answers to your very long list of questions when I have time, but may I point out that 99% of the answers are already in my posts (many repeated)in this very Farming Forum, with most of them in this thread. In fact, many specific answers are even detailed on the latest spreadsheet I've just attached. For example, I specify MY own figures in Sheet 3 (except for the fact that I own my land and have never yet rented land and that I have always used my own Ford 6600 79hp tractor during the past 10+ years.) and specify exactly how much of each herbicide I use per rai and when, and how much it costs. Even your labour questions, cost plus productivity are itemised in the spreadsheet. Why don't you simply read it?? I have to confess here though, that my labourers are more productive (up to twice as much) than my published figures in terms of rai planted per person and weight of tubers harvested per person.

I mean, for god's sake, I specifically state (in this spreadsheet) my use of 15-5-35 this year at 950 baht per 50kg! Where have I EVER mentioned my use of liquid fertiliser?? I regard liquid fertilisers as a complete scam in terms of their cost v. their N-P-K content.

I will be much more inclined to repeat myself by supplying this info in your Q&A format should you be will to spell out the differences you allude to, i.e. put some effort into this and I'll play the game. Better still, publish your own spreadsheet showing YOUR costs.

Khonwan

[Mikki]

Hi Soidog2 Yes prices are not similar , it vary from area to area.

are there lots of people,lots of tractors /lack of tractors etc.... lots....then the prices are lower maybe...you farang=big moneyB)

and how keen are people to work? Lots of parameters to consider. an example. i rented land for 650bh/trai/year from a person who wanted money "leo leo" and going rate are around 800/1200 thb for similar land. so you must do some really good recon in your own area to get close to the best numbers.

Regards Mikki

[somo]

Hi Khonwan

Have you been canonized? You certainly have the patience

[soidog2]

Soidog2, I may offer answers to your very long list of questions when I have time, but may I point out that 99% of the answers are already in my posts (many repeated)in this very Farming Forum, with most of them in this thread. In fact, many specific answers are even detailed on the latest spreadsheet I've just attached. For example, I specify MY own figures in Sheet 3 (except for the fact that I own my land and have never yet rented land and that I have always used my own Ford 6600 79hp tractor during the past 10+ years.) and specify exactly how much of each herbicide I use per rai and when, and how much it costs. Even your labour questions, cost plus productivity are itemised in the spreadsheet. Why don't you simply read it?? I have to confess here though, that my labourers are more productive (up to twice as much) than my published figures in terms of rai planted per person and weight of tubers harvested per person.

I mean, for god's sake, I specifically state (in this spreadsheet) my use of 15-5-35 this year at 950 baht per 50kg! Where have I EVER mentioned my use of liquid fertiliser?? I regard liquid fertilisers as a complete scam in terms of their cost v. their N-P-K content.

I will be much more inclined to repeat myself by supplying this info in your Q&A format should you be will to spell out the differences you allude to, i.e. put some effort into this and I'll play the game. Better still, publish your own spreadsheet showing YOUR costs.

Khonwan

As I said, your answers are voluntary.

If you are too busy or you feel it's intrusive just ignore me !

I do know you posted separately many of the answers, having them all on one page on a per rai basis, makes it easy to compare and understand.

Something does not apply, ignore it.

For example: we make and spray our own liquid fertilizer with truly excellent results.

The idea is to highlight the many subtle ways your bottom line can be affected when growing cassava.

Best regards

I will sound like you now; but yes, as soon as I find some time, I will write down this years production costs from start to finish on a per rai basis.

Will detail operating profit, and net return on capital investment.

[somo]

soidog.

Would be great if you could tell us how you make your own liqid fertilizer with quanties used and costs.

Steve

[Khonwan]

Thanks Mikki, that’s exactly my reason for providing 3 worksheets with different figures.

Somo, …sorely tested; I feel my halo slipping!

Soidog2, you have ignored contributing to this thread until now, previously only snipping at my advice (via other threads) in very indirect ways without being specific. Despite the fact that I read, some time ago that you were growing 100 rai of cassava in addition to growing (I can’t recall how many rai of) rice but now say you have been growing 160 rai for a while, I accept you at face value as a significant and no doubt experienced cassava grower. As such, I welcome your contribution to this thread in the hope it adds value to what I consider an educational resource…and that is my sole reason for expending time on this forum. But, having gone to the bother of trying solely to help other people (no, I don’t give a dam_n about cyber-ego…and yes, I have a great many other ways to enjoy my life here rather than writing stuff on ThaiVisa.com), I only ask you to do me the courtesy of reading my posts properly before challenging me.

My figures in my original opening post spreadsheet AND my most recently posted spreadsheet DO list my costs PER RAI! Check out the title of column E: “per rai (Baht)”.

Please find your questions below in blue and my answers in black.

I find some of the prices you mention in your spread sheet and the land prices you mentioned in this thread : http://www.thaivisa....an/page__st__50 , very different than what I am used to, some are too high some are way too low . Which prices? This latest spreadsheet has three worksheets in order to address your very point here that prices DO vary; I have used my prices in two sheets clearly marked as my area plus another set of figures to illustrate potentially higher figures in other areas since I have become aware since my O.P. just how variable these costs can indeed be between different areas in Thailand.

Can you give your approximate home area ? Nakhon Sawan, as stated in my profile("Khonwan" is a recognised abbreviation for Nakhon Sawan); you can dig up my district within my posts (mentioned on a few occasions).

Can you clarify how much do you pay per day, per person for : planting, spraying, picking. “I pay 160 baht per 8-hour day (not 150)but the rest of my costs are as indicated in my second paragraph for my area except that I own my land (ok, my wife does) and my Ford 6600; I am now moving to contract out my harvesting this season.” You responded to this post so you must have read it. I use the figure of 150 baht in the 2 worksheets titled “...KhonwanArea...”: 150 baht per 8-hour day is the daily rate in my area for all normal farming work including planting and harvesting – I, as indicated above, choose to pay a further 6.67%, viz. 160 baht. “Contract labour (own equipment & fuel): B200 per 200 litres; 600 litres sufficient for 10 rai” appears in my comment labels in my two “...KhonwanArea...” worksheets, and I have already indicated in post 3917369 above that I pay these area rates. In case this is not yet crystal clear, the contractors that I hire provide their own equipment, fuel and labour. I have indicated in my original O.P. spreadsheet the labour rate I was paying for “picking” or harvesting – to update this, I was paying 150 baht per 8-hr day last season. As indicated in recent posts & spreadsheets, I am now going to be contracting out the harvest. The price of this, which includes finding, providing, transporting, looking after, and paying the labour plus providing transport of tubers (inclusive of fuel and drivers) was 250-300 baht per tonne (as weighed at the point of delivery), depending on the distance to my chosen processor (there are many near me). My only other harvest costs are the clearance of the “2 year” trees plus fuel for my tractor to uncover the tubers – a quick and easy job if good ridges have been raised at propagation.

Do you have your own truck & crew for picking, do you hire a complete group including truck, or do you hire individual workers & a truck. Answered above (and elsewhere).

If you hire a complete group for picking, do you pay them based on weight recovered or by the day or job ? Answered above (and elsewhere).

For spraying, do you pay them by the rai, job or day ? Does it matter if spraying fertilizer of herbicide ? Answered above (and elsewhere).

How many times per growing season do you weed and apply fertilizer , roughly how many workers per job ? My spreadsheet comment labels clearly indicate 2-3 applications of fertiliser: “50kg 1 month after planting, or half this before ridging plus half 1 month later” plus “50kg 3 months after planting.” Again, the spreadsheet indicates 1 pre-emergence and 2 post-emergence applications of herbicide, with my comment labels detailing the specific herbicides used, their current costs, my dilution rates, and my coverage rates: “B550 for 100g flumioxazin; mix 66 gram per 200 litres of water; 600 litres sufficient for 10 rai.”, “B450 for a 5-litre bottle paraquat; mix 1.5 litres per 200 litres water; half-litre per rai sufficient but slow application rate due to risk of damage to cassava at this early stage (just prior to fertilising) may result in consumption of up to double this”, and “B450 for a 5-litre bottle glyphosate 48%; mix 1.5 litres per 200 litres water; 5 litres glyphosate 48% sufficient for 10 rai.” My spreadsheet indicates I budget for 1 person per 8 rai per day to cast fertiliser.

How much per gallon do you pay for pre-emergence herbicide and Glyphosate ? Answered above (and elsewhere). I’ll let you convert my litres to your U.S. gallons (or did you want imperial gallons as used in U.K.?).

do you use recommended quantities ? Yes – always.

do you put any home made additives to enhance the weed killing ? No – never.

Per rai per growing season ( 9 month or more ), how much do you spend on fertilizer, is it granular , spray or mixed ? As indicated above (and elsewhere), whether one-year-cycle or two-year-cycle, I always apply a total of 100kg per rai of granular fertiliser (previously used 15-7-18 but now use 15-5-35) in the first 3 months (nothing thereafter). 15-5-35 cost me 950 baht per 50kg bag equal to 1,900 baht per rai this year.

Do you own your tractor ? As stated countless times, yes!

if not, how much per rai do you pay for deep plow ( 3 disk ) , for smoothing , (5 or 7 dish plow). As indicated above, I don’t rent BUT...the usual rental rate in my village for a Ford with a 7-disk plough/harrower is 220 baht per rai. I have not heard of anyone in my village renting a Ford with a 3-disk plough but the price would likely be 400 baht per rai. I do not rent out my Ford – I did for the first month when I purchased it some 10 or so years ago but quickly realised that my village rates made this a non-starter.

Do you raise furrows ? if yes, how much per rai. Yes (have you EVER read ANY of my posts??????????????????); yes, I raise furrows but no, I don’t rent so the question does not apply.

The tractor, how big is it , I mean horse power, 79hp.

the three dish plow , what diameter is it ? I’ve never measured the diameter and have never heard of anyone who refers to this! I know by sight the correct diameter when I replace the disks, and my suppliers all know the correct size as used by a Ford 6600.

The soil in your area; can you give a brief description. Fields in my farm: mostly sandy-loam; some with too much stone; some with too much sand; very little clay. Elevation: approximately 200m; undulating land.

What about water availability in the dry season ? None, other than my pond – though I am currently completing the installation of a 90m borehole for my pond (for recreational purposes) and may irrigate a small field with this. Therefore, my cassava has never, to date, received any irrigation other than rainfall.

Now I look forward to seeing your detailed costs, methods and results.

[soidog2]

OK , I'll give you some quick figures.

First , property is ours, located in lower Buriram province.

Parcels are divided in to several pieces for management purposes.

Last year the trees were affected by the mealy bug epidemic, we decided not to harvest. Sold the healthy trees for a good price ( 0.75 B to 1 B per tree )

Cut down all the infected ones. The healthy trees covered all our operating expenses up to that time & some profit.

In the beginning of the rainy season; applied a light mixture of 15/15/15 & Urea to encourage new growth. The new trees ( mostly 81 & some CMR ) are very nice, will be good for planting.

Two year anniversary is coming up early next year, we are planning to start harvesting late Nov.

Initial costs are based what I paid two years ago, somewhat higher now.

Plowing : the larger the disk diameter; you get better and deeper results, not really needed in sandy soil but we need it.

We do not own a tractor, most years we hire the same one , 95 hp Kubota.

Cost 250 B per rai per pass, usually two.

Planting : we hire a self contained group that does everything needed @ 300 B per rai regardless of how many workers show up ( many )

Weeding : Glyphosate in 20L containers B 1850 per. Good for 25 rai or more depending on how bad the weeds are.

Pre emergence: Mix with above 4 packets in 5 L of Glyphosate , One Box, 10 packets B 330 , Started using it not that long ago, I may be paying too much.

Labor, there are many choices; we hire a group @ 100 B per rai, for us it gives better results than daily workers.

Most years @ 4 times per cycle.

Fertilizer : It changes from year to year, we use mostly spray, granular only on if really needed.

Every two three years we also put chicken manure @ roughly B 17.000.00 per large truck, per 20 or so rai.

Spray, for increased yield, up to last year we used an imported Belgian powder " Ultrasol " 5-10-40.

Cost B 150 for 10K , use roughly 1K per 5 Rai. Noticeable results.

Applied four times per cycle. Must spray under wet humid conditions.

For vegetative growth, we use mostly home made spray fertilizer, we try to mix it with other applications to avoid the extra labor cost.

Tree cutting & bundling before harvest: B 100 per 1000 trees bundled & roped

Picking : we always hire a complete team, workers & truck @ B 0.18 per kilo recovered & sold.

I am out of time , that's all for now.

[Khonwan]

Soidog2, I presume from above that you are using a 7-disker for both ploughing and harrowing – never use a 3-disker to plough? I recommend the use of a 3-disk plough every second planting cycle to prevent hardpan and improve both drainage and water capacity – I find that extra depth allows for much better ridges and greater yields.

Each of your listed costs has been higher than mine to date. That’s not to say that you could or should reduce your costs – each area dictates its costs to a certain extent based on what the neighbours are paying.

We have a small band of dedicated workers from the village adjoining ours – they are all Isaan folk and work better than the central Thais of our village. My wife speaks fluent Isaan also but they all speak Thai when I’m socialising with them at other times. We lend money to them, which also helps keep them dedicated to us. Our day-labour rates are 160 baht per 8-hour day – we pay 20 baht per hour for actual time worked.

Contract planting is available to us at 250 baht per rai but we do it at normal day-labour rates for much less – usually works out at 80 baht per rai.

Your cost of 180 baht per tonne for contracted harvesting (I presume you do not pay for fuel) is cheaper than I can obtain. I presume that your farm is virtually next to your tuber purchaser or that you have only a short distance on surfaced roads in order to get that price (that price is available to farms in my general area but only under such conditions). We have previously used our own vehicles and day-labour, which worked out at around 107 baht per tonne for labour, so have always been cheaper than this but we are moving to a contract basis when we next harvest in a couple of months. Our day-labourers want to undertake the contract for us – we will be happy for them to do so as long as they are no more expensive than other teams in my area.

If I understand correctly, you normally fertilise a total of 4kg of 5-10-40 per rai per cycle, which is a very small fraction of the nutrients consumed by cassava. Makes no difference to the plant’s absorption ability whether granular or liquid; the CIAT warn that spraying liquid fertilisers may be contributing to mealybug infestation by causing damage to the leaf making the plant more susceptible. You sometimes also add a little granular fertiliser to this and you add a truckload of chicken manure per 20 rai every 2-3 years. It would be more useful to know how many tonne this equates to per rai. On the face of this information, you appear to me to be providing much less nutrition than I do (100kg of cassava formulated granular fertiliser per rai). What are your results? And how long have you grown cassava continuously on the same soil at these levels of nutrition?

You have not specified your glyphosate concentration as purchased: I buy it as 48% but 16% is also available, which requires one third of the water used with 48% but costs more per gram of active ingredient. If 48%, our costs are similar per litre.

You haven’t specified what your pre-emergence herbicide is but it is more expensive per rai than mine.

I have been personally very physically active in all stages of cassava farming in recent years but am now leaving all the physical work to my much younger wife and her merry band of helpers. I still manage the overall strategy including all timings, choice and rates of fertiliser, solution rates of herbicide, etc. I now spend more time swimming in my 80m-long-pond, trying to emulate turtles!

Thank you for your information – I look forward to seeing more when you have time. We are not in competition with each other – it makes sense for us all to share our info on costs, results and methods. I would like to see more detailed information from other cassava growers being posted in this thread. I too must rush off now as my youngest daughter is trying to drag me down to the pond for a swim.

Rgds

Khonwan

[soidog2]

soidog.

Would be great if you could tell us how you make your own liqid fertilizer with quanties used and costs.

Steve

Please note, in Cassava growing areas, every family has their own recipe and they swear theirs is better than yours.

This fertilizer is used mainly to increase vegetative growth, meaning nice strong trees for planting.

We start with a large ceramic pot holding approximately 150 Liters of water.

Get one liter bottle of "EM" and one bottle of liquid sugar, available anywhere.

Your barrel or whatever you plan on using should be 3/4 full and have, preferably, an air tight cover.

Now comes the fun part, dump the sugar and the EM in the barrel along with all of your SOLID, ORGANIC, daily kitchen refuse.

For example, fruit peels, left over meals, spoiled produce, anything that can ferment. Some people go and collect road kill !!!!

Try and fill your barrel to the top as soon as possible. Once full, let it sit for one month, make sure is well covered, if not, the smell will knock out everybody and anything around.

If you put enough sugar, EM and solids, after a month, you are ready for action. As you use it, you need to replenish the solids, EM and sugar.

The longer it sits , the more concentrated it gets.

Now for the nasty part, you need to filter the liquid before use. We use a fine strainer to avoid clogging the sprayers.

Start by putting a full cup of liquid in a 20L sprayer, practice around your garden. If you did your homework correctly, leafy plants and vegetables will show increased vigor in a matter of days. Your fertilizer should be blackish, slightly oily. not watery.

As you gain experience, it will become very useful. Keep in mind sprays are effective only in wet conditions. Heavy dew will also do.

Regards

[soidog2]

Soidog2, I presume from above that you are using a 7-disker for both ploughing and harrowing – never use a 3-disker to plough? I recommend the use of a 3-disk plough every second planting cycle to prevent hardpan and improve both drainage and water capacity – I find that extra depth allows for much better ridges and greater yields.

Each of your listed costs has been higher than mine to date. That’s not to say that you could or should reduce your costs – each area dictates its costs to a certain extent based on what the neighbours are paying.

We have a small band of dedicated workers from the village adjoining ours – they are all Isaan folk and work better than the central Thais of our village. My wife speaks fluent Isaan also but they all speak Thai when I’m socialising with them at other times. We lend money to them, which also helps keep them dedicated to us. Our day-labour rates are 160 baht per 8-hour day – we pay 20 baht per hour for actual time worked.

Contract planting is available to us at 250 baht per rai but we do it at normal day-labour rates for much less – usually works out at 80 baht per rai.

Your cost of 180 baht per tonne for contracted harvesting (I presume you do not pay for fuel) is cheaper than I can obtain. I presume that your farm is virtually next to your tuber purchaser or that you have only a short distance on surfaced roads in order to get that price (that price is available to farms in my general area but only under such conditions). We have previously used our own vehicles and day-labour, which worked out at around 107 baht per tonne for labour, so have always been cheaper than this but we are moving to a contract basis when we next harvest in a couple of months. Our day-labourers want to undertake the contract for us – we will be happy for them to do so as long as they are no more expensive than other teams in my area.

If I understand correctly, you normally fertilise a total of 4kg of 5-10-40 per rai per cycle, which is a very small fraction of the nutrients consumed by cassava. Makes no difference to the plant’s absorption ability whether granular or liquid; the CIAT warn that spraying liquid fertilisers may be contributing to mealybug infestation by causing damage to the leaf making the plant more susceptible. You sometimes also add a little granular fertiliser to this and you add a truckload of chicken manure per 20 rai every 2-3 years. It would be more useful to know how many tonne this equates to per rai. On the face of this information, you appear to me to be providing much less nutrition than I do (100kg of cassava formulated granular fertiliser per rai). What are your results? And how long have you grown cassava continuously on the same soil at these levels of nutrition?

You have not specified your glyphosate concentration as purchased: I buy it as 48% but 16% is also available, which requires one third of the water used with 48% but costs more per gram of active ingredient. If 48%, our costs are similar per litre.

You haven’t specified what your pre-emergence herbicide is but it is more expensive per rai than mine.

I have been personally very physically active in all stages of cassava farming in recent years but am now leaving all the physical work to my much younger wife and her merry band of helpers. I still manage the overall strategy including all timings, choice and rates of fertiliser, solution rates of herbicide, etc. I now spend more time swimming in my 80m-long-pond, trying to emulate turtles!

Thank you for your information – I look forward to seeing more when you have time. We are not in competition with each other – it makes sense for us all to share our info on costs, results and methods. I would like to see more detailed information from other cassava growers being posted in this thread. I too must rush off now as my youngest daughter is trying to drag me down to the pond for a swim.

Rgds

Khonwan

We do use the 3 disk, the price should be different but the man is our friend.

The 5-10-40 is used to increase tuber size and it does work in the quantities listed.

The chicken manure supplies needed nutrition.

Glyphosate 48%, same pre-emergence as yours.

As for the higher costs, cassava properties ( all SPK ) around here sell for a minimum of B 60.000- 80.000 per rai or more.

That in turn raises costs for everything including the cost of living.

[Khonwan]

Soidog2, you haven’t addressed my questions. I have Thai neighbours who regularly use a few 15kg bags of chicken manure per rai rather than chemical fertiliser in the wrong belief that fertiliser is fertiliser but theirs is cheaper – absolutely wrong, of course, but we all know that this is down to their lack of education (which is a criticism of the Thai system [?] of education). Plants don’t consume numbers on bags, nor are they concerned about cost or origin of their nutrition. 2+2 ALWAYS equals 4, never 5 just because someone says it does on their part of the world.

Plants all have specific nutritional requirements measured in kg in relationship to their yields. Each unit of N or P or K or zinc, magnesium, etc. consumed by the plant MUST be replaced by the farmer unless there is already a very healthy reservoir of these already in the soil. And any such reservoir SHALL be depleted to the point of nil unless the farmer provides sufficient nutrients to meet the plant’s needs. Pretty basic stuff! You can find cassava’s requirements via Google...or by searching my previous posts.

I could easily go into more detail but I think you are taking the piss here by making a request of information from me that had ALL been already provided, and usually many times, which then caused me a considerable amount of time to trawl out my figures and present them to you in the specific way you requested. Now, when I ask you for some sensible information, along the same lines, you write this childish crap.

Unless you are prepared to put in more effort and respond properly, I will no longer respond to your posts. Just one more point: now that you’ve demonstrated to me how uneducated you are with regards cassava, I would ask you to stop sniping at me with superiority-complex comments like, “and now back in the real world”.

And if any moderator thinks my comments are too strong, do me a favour and ban me please!

[somo]

soidog.

Would be great if you could tell us how you make your own liqid fertilizer with quanties used and costs.

Steve

Please note, in Cassava growing areas, every family has their own recipe and they swear theirs is better than yours.

This fertilizer is used mainly to increase vegetative growth, meaning nice strong trees for planting.

We start with a large ceramic pot holding approximately 150 Liters of water.

Get one liter bottle of "EM" and one bottle of liquid sugar, available anywhere.

Your barrel or whatever you plan on using should be 3/4 full and have, preferably, an air tight cover.

Now comes the fun part, dump the sugar and the EM in the barrel along with all of your SOLID, ORGANIC, daily kitchen refuse.

For example, fruit peels, left over meals, spoiled produce, anything that can ferment. Some people go and collect road kill !!!!

Try and fill your barrel to the top as soon as possible. Once full, let it sit for one month, make sure is well covered, if not, the smell will knock out everybody and anything around.

If you put enough sugar, EM and solids, after a month, you are ready for action. As you use it, you need to replenish the solids, EM and sugar.

The longer it sits , the more concentrated it gets.

Now for the nasty part, you need to filter the liquid before use. We use a fine strainer to avoid clogging the sprayers.

Start by putting a full cup of liquid in a 20L sprayer, practice around your garden. If you did your homework correctly, leafy plants and vegetables will show increased vigor in a matter of days. Your fertilizer should be blackish, slightly oily. not watery.

As you gain experience, it will become very useful. Keep in mind sprays are effective only in wet conditions. Heavy dew will also do.

Regards

Recipe has many similarities to the soup they cook in my village but without the chilies. No real need for road kill as you can get a fresh dog in exchange for a plastic bucket and throw that in.

You may however find it more convenient to buy 10 kilos of NPK for about 200 Baht and just dissolve that in water. End result would be about the same. No smell and no waiting and no risk of the workers steeling it for their supper.

[Mikki]

hi im also wondering where your numbers are soidog2 ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,you throw in some and a lot of smoke as it seems to me. and the soup you are suggesting if you do +100rai your roadkills must be elephants or a heard of waterbuffalos at least,,,,,,,,,,,,,

this have been a pleasent forum an very informative so lets hope it will stay that way

Regards to you all cassavafarmers and others that have contributed to this forum Mikki

[Khonwan]

My wife attended a village meeting this afternoon with our amphur agriculture officer. He said the government is increasing the current guarantee price for cassava from B2,500/t to B2,600/t and that the government expects the actual market price to reach B3,500 this season.

You can check guarantee prices, drought/flood compensation prices, etc., of all major crops by telephoning 1569. This is a computerized recorded Thai language message system; press 2 for guarantee prices. We’ve just tested it - the message still reports a guarantee figure of B2,500 for cassava until 15th November (i.e. not yet updated).

Rgds

Khonwan

[Robroy]

Not a mention of mealybugs for some months now.

Can I assume that no-one is having any problems...?

[Mikki]

Not a mention of mealybugs for some months now.

Can I assume that no-one is having any problems...?

Hi Robroy i have no problems with mealy bugs at the moment. But we had 4 wild pigs in one field . Anyone know about gunpermits in LOS

Mikki

[Khonwan]

Robroy, we don’t usually expect to see them at this time of the year; if I recall correctly, they start to appear around February.

Mikki, we too get wild boar digging up the tubers at time; had bears do the same last year. My BiL saw a big buck deer a couple of days ago coming out of our cassava just 100m in front of our house – no damage though. Rats are the worst – I bought 10 rat trap cages and encourage any of the locals to borrow them for use on our land to catch their supper!

How’s the price where you are? Currently 3,000 baht/t here in my part of Nakhon Sawan. I’ve 65 rai of “2 year” cassava awaiting harvest as soon as I think the price has near enough topped out – should fetch 2 million baht.

[gotlost]

Robroy, we don't usually expect to see them at this time of the year; if I recall correctly, they start to appear around February.

Mikki, we too get wild boar digging up the tubers at time; had bears do the same last year. My BiL saw a big buck deer a couple of days ago coming out of our cassava just 100m in front of our house – no damage though. Rats are the worst – I bought 10 rat trap cages and encourage any of the locals to borrow them for use on our land to catch their supper!

How's the price where you are? Currently 3,000 baht/t here in my part of Nakhon Sawan. I've 65 rai of "2 year" cassava awaiting harvest as soon as I think the price has near enough topped out – should fetch 2 million baht.

Same price over in Surin 3,000baht/t

[zoiz]

Thanks Khonwan & all contributors, the information here help me a lot.

I am an Indonesian, and am starting my cassava farm for the first time. I might need your guidance in the future.

So thank you in advance.

Best regards,

Jackson

[catwho]

Robroy, we don’t usually expect to see them at this time of the year; if I recall correctly, they start to appear around February.

Mikki, we too get wild boar digging up the tubers at time; had bears do the same last year. My BiL saw a big buck deer a couple of days ago coming out of our cassava just 100m in front of our house – no damage though. Rats are the worst – I bought 10 rat trap cages and encourage any of the locals to borrow them for use on our land to catch their supper!

How’s the price where you are? Currently 3,000 baht/t here in my part of Nakhon Sawan. I’ve 65 rai of “2 year” cassava awaiting harvest as soon as I think the price has near enough topped out – should fetch 2 million baht.

Hi Khonwan,Be interested to see what tonage you get per rai from that,and my FARANG B.I.LAW,said the stems were no good for planting after 18 months,is this true?he got the info from TV,

the best price here in shkui now 3.45,6/8 weeks ago down to low of 2.20,from a top of 4.80 mid year,as said before a lot of competion for cassava here.

All crops around here are healthy no bugs...we just put in 9 rai of cassava,using sticks the mrs brought [3mts tall and straight as]i asked what name they are called ,but as usual she did'nt ask,[any idea?]the other farmers wanted some too,but none left,cost us 2,400bt enough for 15 rai gave papa the left overs.

thanks ..cat

[Khonwan]

Hi Jackson, and welcome to the forum. We’ll look forward to your Indonesian perspective in due course.

Hi Cat

If the tree portion has not previously been harvested, stems that are 18 months old should be considered too risky to plant but many of my “2 year” trees ready for harvest now were cut around 6 months ago – the re-growth is therefore only around 6 months in age. These are exactly the same as stems taken from trees planted around 6 months ago; better actually since they have been fed by their tubers and are therefore already of the size of 12-month stems. Remember, all trees coming from we farmers are clones rather than from seed – age the stems, not the trees.

Your new cassava stems sound like Rayong 9 illustrated here: You got them at a good price.

[Khonwan]

Climbing by the day here: now B3,050/t.

[Nawtier]

The roots make a nice drink....can you send me some

[Khonwan]

The roots make a nice drink....can you send me some

What kind of a drink? I’ve read that a type of beer is often made from cassava in Africa but I believe our heat makes that difficult here.

[Mikki]

Hi the price in Bueng Sam Phang are 3000 bht / ton but i have no harvest untill march. So ill hope the prices are around the same as to day. The exportprice on starch has gone slowely but steady upwards.

Regards Mikki

[Nawtier]

The roots make a nice drink....can you send me some

What kind of a drink? I've read that a type of beer is often made from cassava in Africa but I believe our heat makes that difficult here.

Oops.....I gots me Cassava's and me Kava's mixed up....