Planting Trees

[worriedgary]

hI FOLKS,

IM JUST ABOUT TO BUY 20 RAI FOR THE PURPOSE OF GROWING TREES, POSS EUCALYPTUS OR TAGO. MY BROTHER IN LAW HAS JUST TOLD ME THE GOV HAS PUT A BAN ON THE CUTTING OF FORESTERY TREES? SURLY NOT? HOW CAN THEY INFORCE THIS WHEN SO MANY MILLIONS OF TON ARE PRODUCED FOR PAPER AND WOOD. ANY ADVISE PLEASE?

[loong]

First a bit of advice re your post - many people will not respond to a post fully in capital letters. I'm sure that it's a mistake as the first h is small case

As far as I know there have been various bans on cutting trees for as long as I've lived here - even on your own land. I've known people plant teak only to find that it is against the law to fell them when they reach a certain size!

If you want to grow teak, you have to register as a teak farm. Not sure of all the details.

I don't know what Tagu is, but the bottom has fallen out of Eucalyptus around here even though there is a paper mill nearby. A neighbour recently sold some eucalyptus. The purchaser had to fell and transport the trees. They were all at least 100mm diameter and he received the princely sum of 15 Baht each. Yes that is per tree, not per metre.

Previously the paper mill was paying 1 baht per kilo, but the seller had to fell and deliver!

Anything to do with trees planted for logging, paper making, do your research and find out if the land can be registered as a farm for the production of logging trees.

Also, as you are not Thai, you are undoubtedly not buying 20 Rai of land, if you are a foreigner, then you cannot own land. It sounds like you are paying for the land as a gift for your brother in law or wife.

My advice, forget the land, forget the trees and keep your money in your bank. If you have no experience of farm/forestry management why would you think that you would be successful?

Thais cannot make money from the land by growing trees, otherwise they'd all be doing it. Have you ever seen a Thai shy about using other peoples successes as a model?

I've no doubt that money can be made, but as with most things, only by people with experience, knowledge and prepared to research the market.

My Father-in-law owned a fair amount of land once growing sugarcane - a business that he knew. Somebody else was making a success growing pineapples and so he borrowed money and planted pineapple. He lost the land, his house and everything. All because he changed from a business that he knew well and had good experience to something that he knew nothing about.

[Beardog]

Good advice Loong. Before going into any type of business period you really need to do the footwork & line up your buyers. And even if you get a commitment on any order with an agreed price, be aware when it comes time to sell that price might get haggled to next to nothing for a very wide range of reasons. I thought in 2004 I would start a small farm of fruit trees & later switched thought to growing more of a niche market. This year my niche market collapsed in Pattaya area as many suppliers thought of the same thing also. On the plus side- I am able now to purchase most of the bushes trees & vine plants much cheaper & do not have to make runs next to the Cambodian border. But that also means that the going price just went down. Even with farming to try to make funds you have to be flexible & be able to change crops trees or whatever your into (Quickly) or take it in the shorts.

Never put any more into a project than you are willing to part with. If you raise fish as some do on this forum what would you do if the thieves steal your prize crop? Recently in Bang Sare there have been thieves harvesting trees on other peoples land(mainly for making coal) even dirt has been swiped & sold to developers while the owner is away.

There are a lot of good reasons for getting in & a lot more to not get in.

Now I am content to shift to self sufficient (vegetables) & grow bananas & coconuts for later sale. I waited 3 years before deciding to grow coconuts till I had buyers & even by doing this I know it wont bring in hordes of cash.

Sometimes not replying to your own post will give you an edge on getting tips. And if you have some humorous things going on we all enjoy a good laugh. This is a great forum with some of the people I have the utmost respect for them taking their time out to share what they know! Good luck.

Beardog

[jubby]

Any Tree including Uca is a long term proposition. If your only interest in Planting Trees is for profit and if your going to definately need to see a return on your investment in a given number off Years then its very risky. There's a lot of time and effort needed to keep land tidy , and even cutting the grass is going to eat into your projected profit. I've planted thousand of trees over the years, the Land was cheap and we needed to do something with it. I hope its an investment for the Children or Grandchildren but my main reason is simply I like Trees and its sort of a hobby. Watch something Grow and hopefully help the environment sort of thing. If the time comes when I want to fell some and there happens to be a Ban then so be it. A Ban is not going to stop someone stealing them though