Rubber Trees

[thaiguzzi]

As Steve said, ploughing/tilling till 3 years old is acceptable. I would let them get one crop out of their "man - sapalang", hoik it all out, and tell them in no uncertain terms -THATS IT - NO MORE. Do you want rubber or cassava? You ca'nt have both. I'd be well pi##ed off. Unfortunately, the price of cassava/tapioca is very good at the moment, and i see a lot of it up here, also intercropped. But it aint a lot of good for your rubber plantation.

Mike.

[wijar]

As Steve said, ploughing/tilling till 3 years old is acceptable. I would let them get one crop out of their "man - sapalang", hoik it all out, and tell them in no uncertain terms -THATS IT - NO MORE. Do you want rubber or cassava? You ca'nt have both. I'd be well pi##ed off. Unfortunately, the price of cassava/tapioca is very good at the moment, and i see a lot of it up here, also intercropped. But it aint a lot of good for your rubber plantation.

Mike.

Mike, I agree with you, I am trying to avoid any intercropping as I am looking at 10 years time, not today. It aint easy, but still we try! At least we can say we tried to get the best out of the ground and hope we can eat from the fruits of (our) the labour! willem

[Scheduler]

Thank you gents,

The trees are spaced 4 meters X 6 meters on 7 rai so we have about 500 trees.

I am still working so I have a good income to build a farm correctly (I hope).

This would be a second income for us in my
golden ok maybe tarnished silver years.

We also have an adjacent 8 rai with trees that are 5.5 years old.

I am currently negotiating with a company to work in Seoul, a project that will last 4 to five
years. Working in Seoul will allow me to visit my home and farms in Thailand
more often. I am still learning the Thai culture, family and local politics a
side project that will take me the rest of my life. But I do enjoy the people
and country.

As mentionedin earlier entries on this forum I plan to put in an irrigation system this
spring or fall before we plant the next 10 rai. When finished with this plot of

land I will have 25 rai in a nice rectangle shape. The land has a gentle slope
from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. If all goes well I may buy another 25 rai
across the road from ours if the prices do not get to high.

The photos below are the 2 year old tress, the 5.5 year old trees and the 10 rai yet to be planted.

FBrunhoff

[scotbeve]

Thank you gents,

The trees are spaced 4 meters X 6 meters on 7 rai so we have about 500 trees.

I am still working so I have a good income to build a farm correctly (I hope).

This would be a second income for us in my

golden ok maybe tarnished silver years.

We also have an adjacent 8 rai with trees that are 5.5 years old.

I am currently negotiating with a company to work in Seoul, a project that will last 4 to five

years. Working in Seoul will allow me to visit my home and farms in Thailand

more often. I am still learning the Thai culture, family and local politics a

side project that will take me the rest of my life. But I do enjoy the people

and country.

As mentionedin earlier entries on this forum I plan to put in an irrigation system this

spring or fall before we plant the next 10 rai. When finished with this plot of

land I will have 25 rai in a nice rectangle shape. The land has a gentle slope

from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. If all goes well I may buy another 25 rai

across the road from ours if the prices do not get to high.

The photos below are the 2 year old tress, the 5.5 year old trees and the 10 rai yet to be planted.

FBrunhoff

Hi FB,

Yes, I can see you're reasoning for irrigation.... you will need it. Slow but sure dude.... Only way to go. Tell all and sundry involved to OHT-TONE... be patient with their "new/improved" tapping ideas.... I simply would not allow ANY tapping done until I said it was okay. I went out there to each plantation, assessed every tree, and tagged them accordingly. A time consuming hobby turning into my retirement (in 2 years).

[Mobaan]

Weak trees

Our trees are 21 month old .

Originally we started with 251 , but most replantings ( about 40 % ) were done with 600 variety ( could not find tall 251 's.)

Had to stake all tree with bamboo poles . Now some are quiet tall (6 plus meters ) and strong to stand up by themselves . Howevere there are perhaps 25-30 which would fall over and kiss the ground , would I take the stakes off .

Nobody else in the entire area staked trees and those are all standing up alone . What went wrong ?

To much fertilizer and compost at planting ?

Puzzled in Udon

[thaiguzzi]

No idea, but 21 month old trees that are 6m tall is DAMN HIGH! As i've said before, stick to 20-10-12 as a fertiliser, possibly try 18-4-5 as a one off. Perhaps they've been over-pruned, but without "being there" or photos i dunno.

Mike.

[wijar]

No idea, but 21 month old trees that are 6m tall is DAMN HIGH! As i've said before, stick to 20-10-12 as a fertiliser, possibly try 18-4-5 as a one off. Perhaps they've been over-pruned, but without "being there" or photos i dunno.

Mike.

Can't see a tree growing 6 meters in less than 2 years and still be healthy. Elephant shit mixed with some special goo, or some hormonal treatment may do that, but ......................, willem

[Mosha]

Weak trees

Our trees are 21 month old .

Originally we started with 251 , but most replantings ( about 40 % ) were done with 600 variety ( could not find tall 251 's.)

Had to stake all tree with bamboo poles . Now some are quiet tall (6 plus meters ) and strong to stand up by themselves . Howevere there are perhaps 25-30 which would fall over and kiss the ground , would I take the stakes off .

Nobody else in the entire area staked trees and those are all standing up alone . What went wrong ?

To much fertilizer and compost at planting ?

Puzzled in Udon

Search this topic for fertiliser. You'll find the info

[IsaanAussie]

I have two issues I would like to add to this thread. One is about the current discussion on fertiliser, and the other is about a pile of fertiliser recently dumped on a good friend of mine.

So let me address the second one. Today I spent a day on a passion, woodwork and I made a Teak Door. The description went something like this ...

The issue for any site that hosts forums for "interested" members is almost chicken and egg. Ultimately the sites exist to generate income. I have no issue with that, we all have to eat. But in order to attract sponsers, the membership contributions must generate traffic. No traffic, no sponsers.

So with Jim's situation as an example, I think there is a little back to basics needed by those who have their fingers in that particular rice bowl. Reality says you cannot sell what you no longer have. You cannot sell the rubber if you don't tap the tree.

On the fertiliser side of things. I would really like to find a reference site to try something "different". I am making organic fertiliserfor sale. Go on blow the trumpets, crawl out from under the bridge, tell me all about your bank balance. But I am serious. Consider this. Recently sugarcane cane bagasse was incorporated with EM back into a sugar plantation here and independantly also in Australia. Both sites increased the next years yields without any chemical fertiliser. What I need to know is with labour so shortand getting expensive, is there a way to achieve "sustainable" rubber and save money?

[cobbler]

We are still going in this area..Guess this means we are going to have a very short closed season this year or a very late start next season.Had rain 3 days ago.Seads coming now,so not long and we'll be closed,as will be the rest of this area.

[Mosha]

We are waiting on our tapper returning.

[cobbler]

We are waiting on our tapper returning.

Did he go back for Mon day?

1 Of our husband and wife teams went back,but left a very nice cousin to tap while they were gone

[Mosha]

No they want their son to go to school in Burma.. Mon Day?. It's Fri Day and they still are not back

[IsaanAussie]

No they want their son to go to school in Burma.. Mon Day?. It's Fri Day and they still are not back

Very funny

Hot Sun Day, so some poetry I copied from another place:

There once was a boy who lived up the shrubbery,

His future had always been rubbery,

Then a virtual chat got out of hand,

And the lad got himself banned,

But that site and its sponsers can go to buggery

[Mosha]

1st tapping tonight

[scotbeve]

1st tapping tonight

Up our way in Chiang Mai (near Fang), the trees are almost leafless. Had a couple of good rains so far for the upside look of things! Usually 2 1/2 months of no tapping this time of year.

[Mosha]

Sod's law. Its pissing down

[kwonitoy]

Strange conditions this year,

Hotter than the hubs of hell, rain stopped 1st week of September and other than last weeks storm and much needed day of rain it's dry as a bone around here, east of Ban Muang.

But the older trees that usually drop all there leaves have only shed a little and have remained nice and green and leafy

A week of resonabaly cool weather and the furnace is back full on.

Can't expect any real rain for 2 more months

Ken

[Shawnncoco]

Can any help by educating me or telling me more on how I could sell my cup rubber latex for a higher price ??? Like a simple refining to be done or ??? And how to do it ... Please give me your advise and many thanks in advance . Newbie in rubber farming

[Mosha]

Turn the fresh latex into sheets. You'll need a couple of rollers and depending on the size of your land, a nibbler. Our tapper uses a piece of pipe filled with concrete.

[Shawnncoco]

I have about 500 rubber trees . The tapper is my newly married thai wife's uncle ... They sort of like have the heck care attitude . But when I look at it , I was like thinking , hey , I think I can do something better out if this . But I am a newbie to all farming . I live in singapore , where its more like a city country . I knew nuts about farming. Can you tell me more about how to turn it into sheets and how the process goes . Thanks a lot for replying

[thaiguzzi]

Plenty of info out there on the net and in books, and read the previous 71 pages on this forum. Having said that, 500 trees aint gonna net a big income, regardless of which process you use. 5000, now you're talking, and then you can earn.

Mike.

[Mosha]

I know one of our neighbours have about 700 trees. (You need at least treble what you have, and that's with another source of income.) They are too old to tap themselves, but it's not enough for a Burmese family either. Go to You Tube and search James Collister.

[Shawnncoco]

Thanks a lot really ... Seems like I have to physically count the tree myself and hope I stop at 700 and not 500 info provided by my wife

[Mosha]

How many Rai is there?

[Shawnncoco]

6 rai by the side and 6 or 10 rai to the back

[Mosha]

If it's a total of 12 Rai then you could have around 670 trees if its 16 Rai about 1200. Even with the latter, you'll need a second income.

[Shawnncoco]

I don't know how the calculation goes .

There are only a few confirmed detail that I know , they sell their collection of cup latex on the 1st and 16th of every month to a so called government collector for rubber sap or something like that .

The earning for each " sales is amounting to about 17,000฿ per sales. Amounting to about 32,000฿ per month.

Pardon me for my poor info , because my wife favorite answer is ' I don't know ' . Making a newbie in this field struggle even more when seeking help here in the forum

Additional info , pardon me for my previous wrong info .

It's 100% sure to be 9 rai in the front , 6 rai or 9 rai to the back ...

[Shawnncoco]

If it's a total of 12 Rai then you could have around 670 trees if its 16 Rai about 1200. Even with the latter, you'll need a second income.

Ironically , the family of 4 adult , 2 children are able to leave on this collection of latex . Funny but true . But I am very sure they sell they latex without any refining or anything like this

[Shawnncoco]

And the trees are about around 20 years old