Cassava, Tiptoing Into Farming

[loong]

bottleymike.

With the amount of manure I estimate you have added your soil will probably good for another 5 growing seasons

I hope your right, as because this 3 rai is in the village center, we are limited to what we can grow there.Sugar canes out because of burning the canes before you cut them.

Pineapples are not economical to grow at current prices,and as the patch is one that eventualy could be used to build a house or business on, we don't want to stick rubber trees on it, in case we later decide to either sell it,. or develop it.

You don't have to burn sugarcane before harvest, it just makes the harvest easier. I would like to see a total and enforced ban on burning the cane. It is terrible around here, blow your nose and it comes out black, smuts and dust settle on everything inside the house. It's a real health hazard!

[bottleymike]

Your correct.You don't have to burn sugar cane, but the small size of the land, and its location near houses makes sugar canes a less than ideal crop,so I think we will stick with other crops.

We do grow sugar cane elsewhere, and this year for the first time we had a guy come in with a cane cutting machine. Its kind of like a combine harvester for sugar canes. It cuts the canes unburnt,and spits short lengths of about 6 inches into a truck that drives alongside as it cuts.Then that lorry drives to the cane factory when full, and another empty lorry takes over being loaded.

It is quicker,cleaner and needs less staff. (No manual cutting and burning gangs needed).The costs for cutting either way work out much the same, but the unburnt cane gets a bit higher price at the factory ( about 50 baht a tonne from memory).The other advantage is the speed of return of the lorries from the factory.

Lorries of unburnt cane go into a seperate queue to those with burnt cane in.This queue ( this year anyway) was much smaller.

So the lorries back in you field quicker getting reloaded with your canes.

But the machine can only work in flat fields that have no hidden rocks or tree stupms etc. It cannot handle hillside fields, so these still get cut manually, and the cutting gangs burn first to make their job easier.

[loong]

You may remember the previous tenant wanted to sell his young crop to me for 5,000 Bt?

Well he decided to harvest it and got 3,800 Bt! Not sure if that was after paying for haulage to the mill or not

[somo]

You may remember the previous tenant wanted to sell his young crop to me for 5,000 Bt?

Well he decided to harvest it and got 3,800 Bt! Not sure if that was after paying for haulage to the mill or not

Seems you did the right thing not buying it

[loong]

You may remember the previous tenant wanted to sell his young crop to me for 5,000 Bt?

Well he decided to harvest it and got 3,800 Bt! Not sure if that was after paying for haulage to the mill or not

Seems you did the right thing not buying it

Apparently the owner has been nagging them to harvest, they paid her 500 Bt to keep it a bit longer, but she wants the rental from us. They would have probably done a lot better if they had left it in a while.

I'm not exactly overjoyed as the sticks are a bit on the small side from a young crop and not ideal for using as setts. Nearly all are about half inch (12mm). Is that likely to be a problem?

I think that I will have to be absolutely clear that I would have this section for at least 2 years, don't think that would be a problem, but best to be sure. If we plant now, we'd have to have a tractor with a shovel, to level it a bit so that water won't settle there so easily and I would want to leave it as an 18 month crop.

The lowest half rai I intend just to grow crops for biomass, short term crops that would mean I avoid too many problems when the rainy season is at its rainiest.

[somo]

If you are leaving them in for 18 months the stem size shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just use the thickest part of each one. At least they will be nice and fresh.

[revar]

The thing with casave is that it keeps growing. Around our village there are mant processing factories\places. Within a week prices sometines double or tripple. Some people irrigate, spray hormones, and sell in 5 months. I wait until the price is high before I sell since after the first months of plowing and weeding ( a lot of work) there is hardly any.maintanance. This way I make good profits since the weight is ever increasing. For me cassave is the crop to plant, work hard for a couple of weeks and than relax and wait for the right price.

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[loong]

We didn't go for the chemical option to kill the weeds, the cassava is just too small. It's cost us just over 3,000 Bt for weeding 6 rai.

I'm not really sure about the way the locals weed as well, as much of the ridging disappears as they hoe, pulling soil and weeds from the ridge into the channel. A fair amount of weeds continue to grow in the channel. It is apparently expected that an iron buffalo will be used at a later date to reform the ridges.

Dogs have dug a hole about 1 foot deep and I see new weeds growing out of the sides of this hole at all levels. I don't think that there has been any effecient weed management on this land. I am sure that ploughing in flowering weeds has contributed to an almost inexhaustable seed bank in the soil. Any cultivation can bring seeds up to the surface to germinate.

We've had no rain for 3 weeks, the soil is not as sandy as I first thought and has now baked hard in a lot of places. Some of the cassava is dying through lack of moisture. I am worried that when we do entually get some rain, it will bring on an explosion of new weed growth.

I think that many of the sticks used when they did the intial planting were too small ( I was in the UK). I guess that the setts initially use stored nutrients and moisture for the new leafy growth, it is obvious that many have not been able to form much in the way of roots. The thicker setts have produced much better growth.

This is certainly a challenge and time will eventually tell whether we are able to make a profit on this. I will be satisfied if we can achieve a small profit in this first year as we will have learned a lot and can then hopefully improve.

[loong]

The thing with casave is that it keeps growing. Around our village there are mant processing factories\places. Within a week prices sometines double or tripple. Some people irrigate, spray hormones, and sell in 5 months. I wait until the price is high before I sell since after the first months of plowing and weeding ( a lot of work) there is hardly any.maintanance. This way I make good profits since the weight is ever increasing. For me cassave is the crop to plant, work hard for a couple of weeks and than relax and wait for the right price.

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If prices are really that volatile in your area, doesn't that mean that price can halve from one day to the next? So you arrange the workers etc to harvest while the price is high, but by the time you've got the root out of the ground, you risk the price has floored?

[somo]

The thing with casave is that it keeps growing. Around our village there are mant processing factories\places. Within a week prices sometines double or tripple. Some people irrigate, spray hormones, and sell in 5 months. I wait until the price is high before I sell since after the first months of plowing and weeding ( a lot of work) there is hardly any.maintanance. This way I make good profits since the weight is ever increasing. For me cassave is the crop to plant, work hard for a couple of weeks and than relax and wait for the right price.

Sent from my GT-S6102 using Thaivisa Connect App

If prices are really that volatile in your area, doesn't that mean that price can halve from one day to the next? So you arrange the workers etc to harvest while the price is high, but by the time you've got the root out of the ground, you risk the price has floored?

i have never seen prices so volatile but the principle of being able to wait for the right price is correct. The last three years the best price seems to be around November/December ie at the end of the rainy season after which it has drifted downwards. April/May being the best time to plant means only about 6 month cassava is available then which is another reason in favour of leaving it 18 months.

[revar]

Prices drop half only when they are already low. On planning when to sell you lpok at the prices afvertised in front of the process factories but also to the amount of trucks going to/ in front of them. When proces are high enough you hire help and truck and get everything out and sold in one or 2 days. If you try to do it all yourselve you need a week or moree and prices can indeed be only a quarter one day as a week before.

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[revar]

We do it as follows. Plow field with tractor. Make ridges with iron buffalo (ir). Cut stems in plantable pieces. Soak stems in water with hormone for half an hour. Plant stems. When small leaves apear use ir to weed beween the ridges. Manually weed the ridges with the `tjalk' (hoe). This will take about a day for one rai for one experienced person. When they are about 20 cm high use iran buffalo again and weed ridges by hand/hoe. Replant dead stems stems without any leaves.

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[revar]

Just noticed the 43 page stickie on the subject. Very good info in the first psge for newbies.

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[loong]

So, we took over the last 2 rai, had a young fellow come with a baby tractor and ploughed it. Now I'm not really sure what to expect after ploughing, but the previous tenants had allowed the weeds and tough grass to get out of control.

Some of the grass has continued to grow.

FIL was not impressed and reckons that he did not do a good job. The lad was due to come back today for the second ploughing/ridging. FIL spoke to the Missus and told her that he had arranged for another guy to come to complete the job. So the Missus cancelled the first tractor driver.

Guess what! The new guy arranged by the FIL didn't show up!

[soidog2]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

[David Peters]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

It simply amazes me all this discussion on cassava growing.Ridge the crop. For small areas hand weed. For large areas spray Roundup (glyposate). It is a safe chemical has it only kills weeds with green leavers. Not residual in the soil. Takes 5-7 days before weeds start to die. Paraquat burns the weds but they tend to regrow. However, both chemicals do not kill weed seeds in the soil.

But why bother with cassava. Prices are up and down.Everyone seems to be in the RED. Middllemen cheat you. Best prices are from where one dries the cassava roots, chops them up and delivers them to the processing plant. Process the roots yourself.

If I had some land I would grow grass. Sell the grass seed (10,000 baht profit per rai), sell fresh grass at other during the year or buy some skinny cattle and fatten them. Believe me, the beef prices are increasing daily with the hundreds of head of cattle going to Vietnam. Soon there won't be enough beef cattle in Thailand to meet the local beef demand,

Be in now.

Knock cassava growing, rubber growing and agarwood growing on the head.

Grass farming is the way to go.

[loong]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

Hi Soidog,

problem is that because we only took over 6 of the original 8 rai at the beginning of May, when we took over the remaining 2 rai it was difficult to get a big boy tractor to come and do such a small area.

I have been unable to source chicken manure in any sort of quantity locally.

I think that you are absolutely correct about selecting decent trees for setts. Everybody claims to be an expert, but I am sure that the only way forward is to become an expert myself. That's not going to happen overnight

With the 6 rai that we have already planted, the weed problem has been way too much for myself and the missus to cope with if just the 2 of us. The problem is that when you employ people to do the work, you get a second rate job. Even this early in the growing period, the rows that myself and the Missus have handled the weeding stand out. The cassava is much bigger and stronger.

[loong]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

It simply amazes me all this discussion on cassava growing.Ridge the crop. For small areas hand weed. For large areas spray Roundup (glyposate). It is a safe chemical has it only kills weeds with green leavers. Not residual in the soil. Takes 5-7 days before weeds start to die. Paraquat burns the weds but they tend to regrow. However, both chemicals do not kill weed seeds in the soil.

But why bother with cassava. Prices are up and down.Everyone seems to be in the RED. Middllemen cheat you. Best prices are from where one dries the cassava roots, chops them up and delivers them to the processing plant. Process the roots yourself.

If I had some land I would grow grass. Sell the grass seed (10,000 baht profit per rai), sell fresh grass at other during the year or buy some skinny cattle and fatten them. Believe me, the beef prices are increasing daily with the hundreds of head of cattle going to Vietnam. Soon there won't be enough beef cattle in Thailand to meet the local beef demand,

Be in now.

Knock cassava growing, rubber growing and agarwood growing on the head.

Grass farming is the way to go.

Thank you for your contribution.

One of the most important things about farming is actually having a market for your crop.

With Cassava, the market is always there.

In this area, the people who rear cattle tend to go out and collect fodder for free at the times when they are unable to take them out to graze. Although it is undoubtably true that the feed is not condusive to the best growth rate, persuading them to actually pay for feed would be a struggle.

In a nutshell, in this area, growing grass would be a waste of time, because there is no local market to sell the crop..

[David Peters]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

It simply amazes me all this discussion on cassava growing.Ridge the crop. For small areas hand weed. For large areas spray Roundup (glyposate). It is a safe chemical has it only kills weeds with green leavers. Not residual in the soil. Takes 5-7 days before weeds start to die. Paraquat burns the weds but they tend to regrow. However, both chemicals do not kill weed seeds in the soil.

But why bother with cassava. Prices are up and down.Everyone seems to be in the RED. Middllemen cheat you. Best prices are from where one dries the cassava roots, chops them up and delivers them to the processing plant. Process the roots yourself.

If I had some land I would grow grass. Sell the grass seed (10,000 baht profit per rai), sell fresh grass at other during the year or buy some skinny cattle and fatten them. Believe me, the beef prices are increasing daily with the hundreds of head of cattle going to Vietnam. Soon there won't be enough beef cattle in Thailand to meet the local beef demand,

Be in now.

Knock cassava growing, rubber growing and agarwood growing on the head.

Grass farming is the way to go.

Thank you for your contribution.

One of the most important things about farming is actually having a market for your crop.

With Cassava, the market is always there.

In this area, the people who rear cattle tend to go out and collect fodder for free at the times when they are unable to take them out to graze. Although it is undoubtably true that the feed is not condusive to the best growth rate, persuading them to actually pay for feed would be a struggle.

In a nutshell, in this area, growing grass would be a waste of time, because there is no local market to sell the crop..

Where is your areas? I may be able to help.

[loong]

I am North of Khon Kaen. There is actually a quite large dairy farm co-operative in this area, but from what I see, the people go out and collect feed for their cattle. Most people only keep 2 or 3 cows.

I am assuming that you are referring to fodder grass. The term "grass' covers quite a range including rice, sugar cane and bamboo. What grass are you actually talking about?

We will be sticking with cassava for this year and see how it goes. Of course, I am always open to ideas for future years as long as I know where to market the crop.

[soidog2]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

It simply amazes me all this discussion on cassava growing.Ridge the crop. For small areas hand weed. For large areas spray Roundup (glyposate). It is a safe chemical has it only kills weeds with green leavers. Not residual in the soil. Takes 5-7 days before weeds start to die. Paraquat burns the weds but they tend to regrow. However, both chemicals do not kill weed seeds in the soil.

But why bother with cassava. Prices are up and down.Everyone seems to be in the RED. Middllemen cheat you. Best prices are from where one dries the cassava roots, chops them up and delivers them to the processing plant. Process the roots yourself.

If I had some land I would grow grass. Sell the grass seed (10,000 baht profit per rai), sell fresh grass at other during the year or buy some skinny cattle and fatten them. Believe me, the beef prices are increasing daily with the hundreds of head of cattle going to Vietnam. Soon there won't be enough beef cattle in Thailand to meet the local beef demand,

Be in now.

Knock cassava growing, rubber growing and agarwood growing on the head.

Grass farming is the way to go.

David, I do not know your background but I can tell you we have been growing cassava for over ten years.

This year we planted and harvested approximately 150 rai.

We used to plant more but labor is becoming a problem so we switched some land to sugar cane.

Except in the very early years, when I did not know what I was doing, I can't remember netting less than 20 - 25 % on my investment. Some years a lot more.

Compare that to money in the bank !

[soidog2]

Loong a few things to consider before you plant,

If sandy soil prone to flooding, the higher the ridges the better.

Baby tractors will not do it, get a real tractor for the job.

Watch the expenses or you will be in the red come harvest time.

Weeding is a never ending & expensive task when growing cassava.

2 rai, is a small piece, easy to do by hand on a daily basis if a family member is available. (wife)

Get some chicken manure and spread it evenly BEFORE plowing

Finally you must have someone with real verified experience help you pick trees for planting.

No self appointed experts in the family. (you will be sorry if you don't listen)

Finally, if done right, you can look forward of net profits in excess of 30% based on invested capital.

Best regards

Hi Soidog,

problem is that because we only took over 6 of the original 8 rai at the beginning of May, when we took over the remaining 2 rai it was difficult to get a big boy tractor to come and do such a small area.

I have been unable to source chicken manure in any sort of quantity locally.

I think that you are absolutely correct about selecting decent trees for setts. Everybody claims to be an expert, but I am sure that the only way forward is to become an expert myself. That's not going to happen overnight

With the 6 rai that we have already planted, the weed problem has been way too much for myself and the missus to cope with if just the 2 of us. The problem is that when you employ people to do the work, you get a second rate job. Even this early in the growing period, the rows that myself and the Missus have handled the weeding stand out. The cassava is much bigger and stronger.

Some tree pointers:

# 1, your soil & weather; there are some 5 or 6 six main varieties out there not all suitable to all soils & weather. Drive around your area, always stop to talk when you see nice looking trees, ask what kind are they growing and for how long. Most people are happy to talk.

# 2, after settling on your variety, look for freshly cut trees, (less than one week) roughly one 1" in diameter.

Buy tall ( 5' or so) vigorous trees preferably less than one year old.

# 3. what you are after; the starch content in your tubers.

Time your harvest according to your selected variety optimum time.

Price varies greatly according to starch content.

Send your wife to register for the government guaranteed price, a must.

# 4 Weather this days is very unpredictable, for much improved viability you must soak cuttings in rooting hormone prior to planting.

Some other observations,

Regardless of what other people say, the preemergent herbicide does not work well, it stunts growth.

For initial weeding; if you need to spray, use paraquat mixed with a small amount of preemergent.

Once the trees have a few sets of leaves you can use roundup as long as the ground is moist.

Chicken manure is best & cheapest when ordered straight from a chicken farm, for 8 Rai, one truck spread evenly will do.

Good for at least two years.

[loong]

Hi Soidog, thanks for the advice, much appreciated

I did test a small area with glyphosate but it didn't work at all well. Researching on the internet, I realise that this was because of the dry weather and the weeds were in a semi-dormant state. So it makes sense that you say that the soil should be moist.

The trees that we used for the initial 6 rai came from a friend who claims a good yield from similar soil. Unfortunately, I do feel that many of the setts were undersized.

If we grow again next year, I will put off my visit to the UK til later, so that I am around when the setts are planted. It's too cold in the UK in May anyway!

The big tractor arrived to do the second ploughing. I haven't been to look. Unfortunately I've been sick the last couple of days and absolutely no energy. Stupidly, I've been working out in the field, sweating profusely and drinking loads of water. Forgot to take electrolyte powders. This is something that we farangs should always remember. When we sweat a lot and drink plain water to replace it we are not replacing the salts that we are losing. Eventually it will make us sick, weak and disorientated. In extreme cases, it can lead to death.

Keep working, but keep healthy.

[loong]

We had a couple come and plant the last 2 rai. They rejected a lot of the trees that we had from the previous short term crop. They went and basically stole some trees from some nearby fields that had just harvested. We did notify the family of the owners of these fields and they just said "Mai bpen rai". I tell a lie, they actually said "baw bpen eyung", this is Isaan

So, the people we had planting the setts did seem to know what they were doing. Unfortunately, they didn't understand Archimedes principle. They mixed the rooting hormone in the container and filled it to the brim. Of course, as soon as they put the setts in to soak, most of it spilled out!

New setts are in about 5 days and already sprouting, so that's good. Area has been sprayed with sumiyosa and spot sprayed with glysophate where the grass has continued to grow after ploughing.

We've had a lot of rain this last week and although there has been some ponding, the water has disappeared quite quickly,.thanks to the higher ridging.

The top 2 rai, that were hand weeded 4 weeks ago are now over-run with new weeds and especially grass, it is very obvious that the rows that were weeded by the Missus and myself have a lot less new growth. We are currently removing the grass and flowering weeds for hot composting, the immature weeds we are using as mulch. Our intention is to use no herbicides on this section to see how the yield compares. ( although pre-emergence herbiscide was used at the start I think). Once hot composted, the compost will be used as a top dressing.

I have also bagged some weeds and grass mixed with bokashi bran and fermented rice husk and cow dung, but this is quite time consuming. I think that i will only be able to expeiment on a small area for now.

[loong]

Weeds have continued to be the major problem. In the top rai the cassava has now formed a canopy and so less light will get through to encourage further weed growth.

I went to the Land Development Department (LDD) in Khon Kaen yesterday. That was quite a pleasurable experience. It was really nice to chat with the enthusiastic and knowledgable people there.

I explained that I was looking for a source of vetiver grass

1. to plant in order to reduce soil erosion.

2. to replace and hopefully crowd out seed producing weeds and grasses at the edges of the property

3. Once established, to be able to cut and use as mulch in the future as part of weed management.

I didn't realise that the LDD actually supplied vetiver grass, but they didn't have that much on site. They gave me what they had and so I came away with about 5,000 plants. I can order more if/when required.

They also gave me 10Kg of sun hemp seeds for green manure. I've never planted this before and so have no idea how well sun hemp does in competition with weeds. The lower 2 rai were ridged by a full size tractor and the ridges are further apart than the other 6 rai, so I think that I will try interplanting here.

It would have been very useful if my Missus had been able to visit the LDD with me, but she works full time. Advice is always better received when it come from an educated Thai than from us farang.

She wasn't exactly over the moon when I told her that I intended to plant the vetiver grass as she doesn't understand the benefits. Maybe I did not do a good enough job of explaining.

Vetiver grass is Yah faek in Thai, yah being the general term for grass and weeds. She just focuses on the word "yah" and as it has been so difficult controlling the weeds and grass, she considers it rather stupid to actually plant more. She also thinks that the vetiver grass will steal nutrients from the cassava.

I have tried to explain that the deep roots will actually mine nutrients that are not available to the shallower rooted cassava and that where it is planted to reduce soil erosion, it will use fertiliser that is washed away from the main crop area by the rain. She is not convinced.

The missus has worked very hard, often going to the field for an hour or so before going to work and then again in the evening after getting home from work. She is basically wondering if this is going to be worthwhile and talking about not bothering to rent the land next year.

I have said that a lot of the work that we are doing this year will make things easier next year (although I'm not totally convinced myself)

I am a bit concerned about the rice situation, Thailand producing much more than it can sell at the relatively high price of Thai rice. I have no idea how much rice growing land is suitable for cassava, but if a lot of rice farmers change to cassava, the price may drop so much that it is simply not viable.

[somo]

Hi Loong

Try to treat this year as a learning process. Next year will for sure be easier. I found it useful to write down each step of the process and make notes about how I would do things differently the next time. It sounds like you were late with the pre emergence weed chemi. I use sumisoya which has given me at least a month/6 weeks without weeds and enough time for the cassava to get a head start making later weed spraying a lot easier.

I don't know but i would imagine that converting from rice to cassava production would be difficult as one is underwater for much of the time and cassava would hate that.

As for price I am optimistic that cassava will be over 3 baht/kilo by the end of the year. The drought in USA and floods in China have done a lot of damage. Various bodies around the world are warning of higher food prices later this year. My wife tells me they even mentioned 4 baht/kilo on Thai tv the other day!

[loong]

Hi Some,

yes, I am treating this first year as my learning time. I would hope to be able to cover costs at least if cassava price is 1.8 to 2 Baht/Kilo. Obviously, I hope that you are right about better prices next year, as I would be more certain of making a profit. I hope to be able to go into a second year having benefitted from this first year's experience and improve on yields.

It certainly didn't help that I was in the UK when the first 6 rai were planted. I'm not exactly sure whether pre-emergence herbicide was used or not. The missus mentioned grammoxone, which is paraquet, and if that was all that was used, it would have only killed seeds that had already germinated.

The lower 2 rai were planted and sprayed with sumisoya 4 weeks ago and there has been near to zero weed growth. I also had the grass that survived the ploughing spot sprayed with glysophate at the same time. Unfortunately it rained shortly afterwards, so not all the grass was killed.

[somo]

I think Paraquat is much faster acting than Glyphosate and is rain fast within minutes.

[loong]

I think Paraquat is much faster acting than Glyphosate and is rain fast within minutes.

I don't know the names of different grasses, but opted for Glyphosate as I was hoping to kill the roots of this resilient grass. I have seen others spray this type of grass with paraquet, the grass tends to die back only to have new green shoots/tillers grow within a week or so.

It's so difficult to predict the weather at this time of year. The skies can sometimes threaten rain for days, but no actual precipitation. Yesterday we had blazing sunshine all morning, early afternoon, a downpour for maybe 15 minutes and about an hour later, hot sun and clear skies again.

[Khonwan]

Loong, nothing wrong with 15-7-18; it was recommended by the authorities as the most likely best fertiliser for Thai cassava in the absence of soil testing.

Most research demonstrates that intercropping cassava with anything reduces cassava yield. As far as I know (I’ve not planted it), vetiver grass is planted at row intervals (not every row) to prevent erosion when counter ridging on very hilly land; my slopes are not that steep. I’ve tried the Thai way (ridges running down the slope) and counter (ridges running perpendicular to the slope) but find least erosion when ridging in a perfect middle-path Buddhist compromise, i.e. at a 45 degree angle to the slope. Ridges running with the slope guarantee erosion; when perpendicular as most books suggest, the ridges collapse seriously in too many places with very little erosion prevention; I have never seen or read of anyone else doing so, but I have had my tractor operator ridge at a 45 degree angle for two years now with very little erosion. This method does not try to oppose nature but slows the water flow down sufficiently to prevent erosion.

Paraquat is faster (in as far as the weeds brown and dry quicker) but I think glyphosate has a longer effect since being systemic it acts on the roots. It is good practice to alternate between the two since a number of weeds are known to become tolerant of glyphosate. We occasionally mix both.

I agree with all that Soidog2 wrote (Somo too) except on the effect of Sumisoya: I don’t find it stunts the cassava growth – to the contrary, it does a great job promoting cassava growth by suppressing weeds, which early-stage cassava can’t compete with for nutrients and moisture; got to be guided by your own results though. The ground needs to be at least slightly damp (heavy dew should suffice) for

Sumisoya to work properly and, like glyphosate, you don’t want to spray it unless assured of no rain for some hours. From memory, paraquat only requires 20 minutes before rain.

Rgds

Khonwan