Is Anybody Growing Pine Trees on a Commercial Scale in Thailand

[KhnomKhnom]

I have thought about growing Georgia (usa) pine in Thailand ever since I was surprised not to be able to buy the backbone build-everything famous pine 2 by 4 in Thailand. I searched lumber stores here and could not find even normal dimensional lumber for building. The other famous building product, the rough sided 3/4 inch plywood sheets, seem unavailable either. I get lovely luan type smooth finish in thinner dimensions only.

There was recently a television show about the pine 2 by 4 showing how it is the basic building material for all the houses in America.

Treated pine posts are guaranteed for 20 years directly in soil and termites leave it alone.

I wanted to make a "saw horse" of pine dimensional lumber....... NO HAVE.

Another aspect of 'amazing thailand' that they build without this basic item.

Please raise some pine in Thailand !!!!!

[yasmarbi]

Ther are a number of very big Pine Trees in our Village Temple, were planted about 20 Years ago I believe, Pine Forests in abundance in Queensland (All Over) also a number scattered around all areas of Thailand.

A Guy makes the Thai Huts close to us, not cheap but he uses Pine extensively in the Construction, he get the Timber from Laos, So I am thinking if can get seedlings or Cones will try and grow some and see what happens, as they are quick growing it will not be long before can see results.

As they say, "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained" What do you think Guys?

EDIT: Just read some of the other posts above, and many folks will mistake a cedar tree for a pine tree. There's lots of types of pines...Dad grouped them according to market value, as in "slash pine, swamp pine & yellow pine".

Yellow pine grows on a hill & is the best for lumber. Slash & swamp aren't worth a hoot.

ALL pine needs to be pressure treated, which is a process where the cut, green boards are put into a vacuum chamber & most of the sap is withdrawn, and then chemicals are introduced to replace the sap, which prevents termites from eating it.....GOOD LUCK finding that in Thailand!

Teak (being a hardwood) is not as tasty a treat to termites as a softwood like pine, and grows quite well in LOS.

If you want to talk about lumber - using the latin botanical name (eg. thuja plicata = western red cedar) makes identifying and describing subtle differences between the country cousins more relevant.

There are numerous types of pines grow in the USA/Canada similarly there are over 800 species of eucalyptus in eastern Australia.

Not all pine needs to be pressure treated. Sure, the treating of timber against fungal and/or insecticide attack is desirable if certain species are used externally.

There are may forms (over 50) ways to preservative treat lumber and not all require being impregnated by pressure - eg. LOSP is a surface based process.

NB> Only the sapwood (living part of the tree) can be treated and ALL sapwood is not durable.

The treatment level is normally referred to its (H = Hazard) level

See - http://www.timber.net.au/index.php/outdoor-timber-naturally-durable.html

In Australia, AS 5604 is a standard that states the durability for most most commercial species.

NB> Some species may have a higher resistance to insecticide but have a lower durability for fungicides. ( EG> Brushbox)

Yes, whilst most commercial species grown in the tropics are hardwoods there are softwood (conifers) that grow too.

Some examples are -

Natural forests

• Pinus spp

(Mexico - 55 endemic species, Honduras, Guatemala, Caribbean countries)

• Agathis-araucaria-podocarps

(PNG, Fiji Islands, Indonesia,Myanmar, Malaysia, Southern Indo-China, Philippines)

Plantations

• Brazilian pine plantations predominantly in temperate regions.

• Pinus taeda, Pinus elliotii (Brazil)

• Pinus caribaea (Fiji Islands, Malaysia)

• Pinus merkusii (Indonesia) Araucaria (PNG)

[deepcell]

I have been researched quite a lot about pinus merkussi. Yeah! they will grow easily in any part of the country under 1000masl (include the beach 0.5masl), but the remaining questions are (just to point some):

• Does exist a market to resin and soft wood in Thailand?
• Is it possible to target this market, and how much do I need to plant to be profitable?
• How about the competition in this specific industry? (I do not even found a company to buy the resin, I can't imagine about competition really.. )

Many question without answers... before plant one single pinus tree for commercial purpose, try to figure out all that questions, I'm in the same boat.

See the thread -> http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/761345-pinus-tree/

Why not join the both threads in one single... the subject is the same!

[jaywalker]

I have thought about growing Georgia (usa) pine in Thailand ever since I was surprised not to be able to buy the backbone build-everything famous pine 2 by 4 in Thailand. I searched lumber stores here and could not find even normal dimensional lumber for building. The other famous building product, the rough sided 3/4 inch plywood sheets, seem unavailable either. I get lovely luan type smooth finish in thinner dimensions only.

There was recently a television show about the pine 2 by 4 showing how it is the basic building material for all the houses in America.

Treated pine posts are guaranteed for 20 years directly in soil and termites leave it alone.

I wanted to make a "saw horse" of pine dimensional lumber....... NO HAVE.

Another aspect of 'amazing thailand' that they build without this basic item.

Please raise some pine in Thailand !!!!!

I'm in Georgia right now, just outside Vidalia. I was just thinking the other day how I was getting tired of seeing pine trees everywhere I looked . I miss seeing mango trees everywhere!

They farm lettuce in Kuwait, in special conditions, near an oasis, but overall it doesn't grow well there.

Pine trees grow like weeds here. I just cut a few small ones down the other day, as they make a mess in my yard when they get big. Mango trees grow like weeds in Thailand.

Pecan trees are everywhere in Georgia, but not in Florida. Orange trees are everywhere in Florida, but not in Georgia.

If pine COULD grow well in Thailand, the country would be covered in them.

Not saying it can't be done, but if I took the notion to farm trees in Thailand, I'd look at teak. I hear it grows fairly fast, doesn't need chemical treatment, and is good for lumber/construction.

By the way, when I was 10 or 11 (in the summers), my Dad would put me to work hooking & unhooking trees to the cables on something like this in the Florida swamps. I'd ride the front bumper & hang on for dear life while my older brother drove it

It built character I suppose LOL. I was one of the few kids that hated summer & couldn't wait to get back to school!

Edited October 2, 2014 by jaywalker

[Greg Nixon]

there are some 20 to 30 very tall pines ( 13 meters ) growing in the central park of Mukdahan. I also saw a highway lined with pines east of Rayong along the highway next to the beach. I do not think growing certain types of pine would be difficult as the trees i see are healthy and robust.

[cooked]

I have thought about growing Georgia (usa) pine in Thailand ever since I was surprised not to be able to buy the backbone build-everything famous pine 2 by 4 in Thailand. I searched lumber stores here and could not find even normal dimensional lumber for building. The other famous building product, the rough sided 3/4 inch plywood sheets, seem unavailable either. I get lovely luan type smooth finish in thinner dimensions only.

There was recently a television show about the pine 2 by 4 showing how it is the basic building material for all the houses in America.

Treated pine posts are guaranteed for 20 years directly in soil and termites leave it alone.

I wanted to make a "saw horse" of pine dimensional lumber....... NO HAVE.

Another aspect of 'amazing thailand' that they build without this basic item.

Please raise some pine in Thailand !!!!!

I'm in Georgia right now, just outside Vidalia. I was just thinking the other day how I was getting tired of seeing pine trees everywhere I looked . I miss seeing mango trees everywhere!

They farm lettuce in Kuwait, in special conditions, near an oasis, but overall it doesn't grow well there.

Pine trees grow like weeds here. I just cut a few small ones down the other day, as they make a mess in my yard when they get big. Mango trees grow like weeds in Thailand.

Pecan trees are everywhere in Georgia, but not in Florida. Orange trees are everywhere in Florida, but not in Georgia.

If pine COULD grow well in Thailand, the country would be covered in them.

Not saying it can't be done, but if I took the notion to farm trees in Thailand, I'd look at teak. I hear it grows fairly fast, doesn't need chemical treatment, and is good for lumber/construction.

By the way, when I was 10 or 11 (in the summers), my Dad would put me to work hooking & unhooking trees to the cables on something like this in the Florida swamps. I'd ride the front bumper & hang on for dear life while my older brother drove it

It built character I suppose LOL. I was one of the few kids that hated summer & couldn't wait to get back to school!

Start again. I have seen huge areas covered with Pinus... ' Common in semi-open forests between 1000 & 1700 m, favouring exposed ridges with thin sandy soils where it often forms almost pure stands. Reported to reach 60 m in Burma.' ....'both species are tapped for resin, but P. merkusii is said to produce larger quantities'. Please pay attention guys, I have been saying this for my last three postings.

[piusmann]

17.514599,101.344836

have look there or google pine tree in thailand

[Bigfarang1948]

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2014 at 9:29 PM, cornishcarlos said:

Interesting comments above !!

There seem to be a lot of pine grown down south and my Uncle in Law has a wood store which sells pine.

I think there must be some variety that flourish here and the wood is used for construction work ie the classic Thai scaffolding

Don't discount the idea OP, little more research required.

I lived in Alabama most of my life; many species of pine trees flourish. I lived in Isan for a number of years and comparing climates, I cannot find much difference; hot and humid then some cool weather in Thailand, not nearly as cold as in Alabama now, but not being a farmer I can only guess that Pine Trees would flourish in Thailand, although you are probably looking at 25 years before a decent harvest. Just my thoughts.  Good luck but like I say, it is a log time until payday.