Mulch (a Key Component To Growing In The Tropics)

[drtreelove]

You don't have to shred the straw, if you can get it to lay flat. attached photos from my friend's organic farm in Mae Rim district of Chiang Mai.  Rice hulls and coconut fiber are some other common materials for mulching.

 

I don't know about cane, but others may know more about what's  available. 

[clarky23]

At home i'm currently using grass cutting, dried leaves and cut up banana/pattaya leaves that have dropped off.   Trying to build up a nice layer of mulch from recycling within the garden.

[MambaJamba]

I use rice straw. I am getting it for free from my wife's relatives and my own rice field.  A lot of rice fields everywhere here. After they collect rice you can get it very cheap and a lot.

[djayz]

On 2/21/2009 at 6:14 PM, jandtaa said:

gypsum

Hi. Do you have any photos of the packet? Where do you buy it? Know what it's called in Thai? 

Thank you. 

[kickstart]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:47 PM, djayz said:

Hi. Do you have any photos of the packet? Where do you buy it? Know what it's called in Thai? 

Thank you. 

In Thai แร่ยิปซั่ม,Rare-Yipsum ,where to buy Nana Garden,has sold it,Farmerjo got a truckload from a place near Phraputhabart in Saraburi provence .

Ask locale someone might know.

[drtreelove]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:47 PM, djayz said:

Hi. Do you have any photos of the packet? Where do you buy it? Know what it's called in Thai? 

Thank you. 

Best Garden State on FB.  Its not listed in their products yet, but call for availability and pricing.  

Anywhere else, be sure what you are getting is Calcium sulfate and not Calcium oxide or some other variation of a Calcium product.

The difference is profound in affect on soil chemistry and on the beneficial soil biology that we should be trying to protect and cultivate.

Misrepresentation and mislabeling is common.  And sample quality before buying a quantity.  I have bought a 50 kilo sack of gypsum from Limsakdakul Chemi in Chiang Mai. I'm confident it was gypsum, and it was cheap, but it was a crude, brown, unscreened lumpy mined product that took a hammering to break up the large, rock-hard clods before I could use it. 

[drtreelove]

19 hours ago, drtreelove said:

Best Garden State on FB.  Its not listed in their products yet, but call for availability and pricing.  

Anywhere else, be sure what you are getting is Calcium sulfate and not Calcium oxide or some other variation of a Calcium product.

The difference is profound in affect on soil chemistry and on the beneficial soil biology that we should be trying to protect and cultivate.

Misrepresentation and mislabeling is common.  And sample quality before buying a quantity.  I have bought a 50 kilo sack of gypsum from Limsakdakul Chemi in Chiang Mai. I'm confident it was gypsum, and it was cheap, but it was a crude, brown, unscreened lumpy mined product that took a hammering to break up the large, rock-hard clods before I could use it. 

Off topic from the Mulch discussion, but since gypsum is being discussed, here's some background that some readers may find useful in making decisions.

 

Gypsum as an Agricultural Amendment: General Use Guidelines (usagypsum.com)

 

For strict Soil Food Web - Regenerative Agriculture standards, gypsum is a concentrated substance that can be harmful to the beneficial soil biology. But in an early stage of soil improvement, it can help to bring the major cations into balace and aid in leaching excesses, without significantly impacting pH. 

 

Heavy metals are a concern with some sources. 

 

From The Ideal Soil by Astera

 

If a large area is to be balanced and cost precludes applying the full amounts of all of the needed minerals, start with the most important cation minerals, Calcium and Magnesium. They are fully as important in the soil as they are in the human body and the least expensive to buy. In a very loose and sandy soil with a low exchange capacity you will want about 60% Ca saturation and 20% Mg saturation, in a heavy clay soil with a high exchange capacity, 70% to 80% Ca to 10% Mg. This is because the higher the ratio of Calcium to Magnesium, the looser the soil gets, and as the Magnesium portion gets higher, the soil gets tighter. A higher level of Mg will pull a loose sandy soil together; a higher level of Ca will open up a dense, heavy soil. 

 

Calcium sources: Agricultural sweet lime (Calcium carbonate) and gypsum (Calcium sulfate) are the preferred sources of calcium. Gypsum supplies readily available Calcium, and is also a good source of Sulfur, an element that is seriously lacking in most agricultural soils. Agricultural lime supplies Carbon as well as Calcium. Carbon helps make a soil less sticky. If you already have plenty of Carbon in your soil as organic matter, but are low on Sulfur, gypsum is a better bet. The various rock phosphates and regular superphosphate also contain significant Calcium, but their Calcium content is chemically bound to Phosphorus and is not available in exchangeable form, so should not be considered as part of the Calcium being added to balance the CEC ratios.

 

As a rule, don‘t use Dolomite lime, regardless of what you may have read in various gardening books, unless you are sure that you need Magnesium. Dolomite is a high Magnesium limestone. Using dolomite will tighten the soil, reducing air in the soil and inducing anaerobic alcohol fermentation or even formaldehyde preservation of organic matter rather than aerobic decomposition.

[blackprince]

Nice thread.

 

Despite living mainly on an organic farm for a long time now I know nothing about farming. I'd always assumed (probably from the sound of the word) that mulch was wet mucky stuff. Now I know from this thread that it can take many forms, including the rice straw that we (not me personally lol) put on the ground to retain moisture and to protect seedlings from birds.

 

A quick google tells me you can even buy it from lazada (if you're on chrome, right click and translate to English)

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/organic-100-2-i1948160165-s6602182579.html?exlaz=d_1:mm_150050845_51350205_2010350205::12:13920044294!125392363912!!!pla-294682000766!c!294682000766!6602182579!269882269&gclid=Cj0KCQiA-qGNBhD3ARIsAO_o7ylng2N5rjygWxVv7AryPoBS3Cd9W1lJwF98EaEWKXxYZkYFD47CF5kaAndJEALw_wcB

[Reginald Prewster]

Cheers @drtreelove to giude me to this post.

 

Unfortunately many people found out about the quality of a good mulch and with 17 rai bare soil after I designed my food forest, this high demand of soil building mulch and raising prices I do not accept.

 

I shifted a few gears down and rented rice fields (10 rai)

On these I let my family do what they did since ever. Growing Rice, peanuts, Beans .....

 

They can have the main income, but the straw is all for my land.

I guess fair deal isn't it?

 

I have seen on your turf some "huge" piles of Coco husks and rice bran. 

I am still looking around, but all I can find is people selling it by the bag.. (too expensive) 

 

For so long I stick to plan B..

Has also a good side. 

The Vetiver Grass barrier should be tight enough no to float the built up soil away

and the first cut of Vetiver Grass gives another few centimeters on top of the mulch mix... 

(Vetiver Grass I planted about 70.000 stalks all along the river, lake and island..)

[drtreelove]

On 5/29/2023 at 7:12 PM, Reginald Prewster said:

Cheers @drtreelove to giude me to this post.

 

Unfortunately many people found out about the quality of a good mulch and with 17 rai bare soil after I designed my food forest, this high demand of soil building mulch and raising prices I do not accept.

 

I shifted a few gears down and rented rice fields (10 rai)

On these I let my family do what they did since ever. Growing Rice, peanuts, Beans .....

 

They can have the main income, but the straw is all for my land.

I guess fair deal isn't it?

 

I have seen on your turf some "huge" piles of Coco husks and rice bran. 

I am still looking around, but all I can find is people selling it by the bag.. (too expensive) 

 

For so long I stick to plan B..

Has also a good side. 

The Vetiver Grass barrier should be tight enough no to float the built up soil away

and the first cut of Vetiver Grass gives another few centimeters on top of the mulch mix... 

(Vetiver Grass I planted about 70.000 stalks all along the river, lake and island..)

Consider an economical, cost and labor saving alternative to importing mulch material,  which is "green manure" cover crops.  See the Regenerative Ag discussion on this forum for links to info on the incredible benefits of cover cropping for modern 'Soil Food Web' based soil restoration, soil aggregate structure building, photosynthate root exudates that nourish beneficial soil biology and nutrient cycling.  

  

I don't know if the land dept still offers free cover crop seeds, but that was a great service when my wife and I were managing our orchards. We went to the local land dept office and filled out some simple paper work, and went home with sacks of jack beans and black beans for legume cover cropping. I spread the seeds by hand onto bare ground at the beginning of the rainy season (now), let it grow for two months or so, and before the plants get woody and go to seed I would cut and leave lay (aka chop and drop) as mulch. 

 

For agroforestry there is also the option of perennial cover crops. For field crops there are other cover crop management techniques like roller-crimper machinery discussed in the Regen Ag thread and in the book Organic No Till Farming. 

 

Bare ground is an "oxidation" factor for Redox-oriented soil management. Mulching, cover cropping, shading of soil surface are "reduction" practices that should be emphasized for best soil and plant health. 

[Reginald Prewster]

10 hours ago, drtreelove said:

Bare ground is an "oxidation" factor for Redox-oriented soil management. Mulching, cover cropping, shading of soil surface are "reduction" practices that should be emphasized for best soil and plant health. 

I see we are actually speaking the same language and we are both deep into the Permaculture farming.

All these things I try to get implemented BUT when the cat has left the house, the mices are dancing on the table.

 

I have left 15th February to my Job in Taiwan and try my best to get my wife directed but all I hear is.

Rain must first come, 

Seeds die because one day rain and 3 days dry

erosion does not get corrected, wait for more rain to plat Vetiver Grass 

 

BUT, the lake is made last winter 125 x 60/45 x 7 meters deep and I told her to wait at least 2 Ammonia Spikes are measured.

But no: water level reached 1.2 meter and now the lake is stocked with huge carps, catfish, white fish, perches... in an amount way out of balance. (I was long years in a fishing club where I was responsible for the surrunding growth and stocking rate based on catch reports... )

 

There is a lot going not the way I want to have it.

 

A BBQ sponsored ended up with 2 Goats delivered alive and nobody wanted to kill them, now one oif them is even pregnant. 

 

I think it's time for NO MORE MR NICE GUY! 

 

I will continue my posts on my tread, but you are right @drtreelove you are speaking my words but I am 4000 Kilometers away to excecute the tasks necessary.

End of October my job goes in a winter break and then I will swing the hammer big time...