Sesame Seed

[hadders]

Gentlemen, my first post here, so please be gentle..!!

I have used the search facility on TV and have come up blank with any information on the growing of Sesame Seed (Ngah) in Thailand. We were considering using it as part of our crop rotation as I believe it is reasonably easy to grow and can be harvested after 90-120 days.

Do any BM have any experience in this crop ? Best time to plant, crop yield etc.

Any info would be appreciated.

[esbkk]

All the info you need!

http://www.jeffersoninstitute.org/pubs/sesame.shtml#How to Grow

[hadders]

Thanks esbkk will take a look.

However, does any BM have any experience of growing it in Thailand?

[WatersEdge]

The vegetable seed company boss in Chiang Mai

told me he would source Sesame seed from a grower in Kanchanaburi.

Just as a point of conversation about a year ago

I have seen it growing in my farm area,

north of Mae Sot, Tak province

and it seems to get very little attention

which is why the farmers like it.

It seems to be almost like a useful weed.

Having just rented an additional 25 rai of dry season ground,

I'm watching this thread as well,

hoping some smart people share their experience.

Thanks for the link already provided.

I'm told the price of Garlic is now B60 / kg.

And will probably go higher as the harvest is typically in March / April.

The other side of that story is that every year during harvest the market falls to around B15,

and at one point heard of farmers leaving it in the field,

as B2 wasn't worth the trouble to bring it in.

[slapout]

Garlic was a decent cash crop until Chinese garlic started flooding the market a few years ago. The price has edged upward recently but what the real price at harvest time will be is out of my magic balls reach. My observation has been, a drying shed to handle your crop can make the difference between profit and loss as the buyers assume you need money bad if your selling right out of the field and it becomes seller beware.

[Pond Life]

My wife grew a little sesame in a garden plot.

Seeds came from the market for eating.

Threw them on a weeded bed.

covered it with straw.

Grew good with no attention or chemicals.

It was grown in rainy season mixed in with mung beans.

[Westering]

I'm just this evening harvesting a small experimental garden plot of black sesame which my wife and I are interested in for nutritional/medicinal use. I found it to be surprisingly vigorous and trouble free to grow (heights up to 2 meters). We can see that the seeds separate themselves from the pods naturally but harvest timing is crucial. Waiting until the pods dry out on the stalk is a mistake because they open and drop their seeds quickly. I'm cutting the green plants and drying them on a smooth floor so that we can easily collect the seeds when the pods open. The mature plants have a very nice sesame smell. This seems to be an encouraging sort of plant to grow; no weed or insect problems at all, no need to water often, it was even very easy to transplant. Thumbs up for black sesame!