Growing Teak Trees?

[buddhafly]

anybody have info on

1.where to get saplings,

2.cost of saplings,

3.how long until they are big enoiugh to sell,

4.and how much they will sell for?

thanks. BF

[soap]

anybody have info on

1.where to get saplings,

2.cost of saplings,

3.how long until they are big enoiugh to sell,

4.and how much they will sell for?

thanks. BF

(1-2) it all depends on how many you want,at this time of the year the teak trees are in flower,

the guy next door to me as a 25 year old teak tree the seeds blow down into my garden and start growing until i cut the grass,i have about 20 shoots growing now.

i also have 300 teak trees growing on just under a rai, i planted them 5 years ago and paid 3 baht each from phrae,

(3-4) teak are a long term business,i put mine in knowing the kids would get any profit out of them.

the older they are the more money they are worth,who knows what they will be worth in 10-15 years

[buddhafly]

anybody have info on

1.where to get saplings,

2.cost of saplings,

3.how long until they are big enoiugh to sell,

4.and how much they will sell for?

thanks. BF

(1-2) it all depends on how many you want,at this time of the year the teak trees are in flower,

the guy next door to me as a 25 year old teak tree the seeds blow down into my garden and start growing until i cut the grass,i have about 20 shoots growing now.

i also have 300 teak trees growing on just under a rai, i planted them 5 years ago and paid 3 baht each from phrae,

(3-4) teak are a long term business,i put mine in knowing the kids would get any profit out of them.

the older they are the more money they are worth,who knows what they will be worth in 10-15 years

[buddhafly]

thanks soap.

any idea what your trees would sell for right now if they were big enuf?

[soap]

thanks soap.

any idea what your trees would sell for right now if they were big enuf?

hello buddhfly

i think it would be pointless to think what they were worth for at least another 5 years

at least,i think the price goes on what size they are across measured by the centimetre,

i believe if you dont have a chinord for the land you might have a problem with cutting them down from the amphur

[Nawtilus]

I have wanted to plant teak for a long time, same idea as it is such a long term thing, not much good for me except shade. But the kids one day could get a nice little windfall from it, particulalry is they have the smarts to value add to it rather than just flog to a timber yard.

I presume that teak trees need to be registered or recorded somewhere somehow, as when they are logged they could in fact be claimed to be coming from anywhere, so you need to prove they are not from the wild or imported from Burma, anyone know about this.

SOAP...what kind of soil are they growing in, do you know what is good and what is bad? Do they take up much maintenance or do you just leave them be and forget about them.

Another problem down the road is theft, especially as it is such a high value wood and will only get more valuable and popular. How do you overcome this, or do you live on the same block/area.

[buddhafly]

i'm quite surprised with all the "knowledge" here, no one has any idea at all what full grown teak trees will sell for?

[RamdomChances]

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/X4565E/x4565e00.htm#TopOfPage

Heres a good link for teak, including a scheme they were runing here in Nakhon sawan

[Nawtilus]

Here is some info I had saved re teak trees a long time ago.

The problem with Teak is that to really get the value from it, you have to wait to 40 or preferably 50 years and I certainly wont be around then, even my kids will be old, so it would have to be for the grand kids your your own kids retirement plan lol. Now thats forward thinking big time.

Anyway, this was written by a dude at the Danish agricultural university and a yank from the USDA forest service.

The above website states $US80 per stem for a 20 yo tree. I mean, crikey, waiting 20 years for a piss poor $80 in my books just aint worth it.

The numbers in the Danish research are quite old, but I cannot imagine Teak has gone backwards in value over this time.

They reported Teak sold in Thailand in 1988 was $US454 and that the price of sawn teak wood has increased by 6 percent per year over the last 20 years.

Considering a sqm of teakwood flooring now in Los is between 2000b and 3000b sqm depending on grade.

The total cum per ha for a full rotation of the crop, based on 50 years, was 500cum inclusive of 3 thinnings and the 50 year clear felling of around 350cum.

So the ultimate cash gain would depend on what the thinnings were sold as and for what price. Teak veneer is very popular now as you get the teak look for a lot less cost of solid wood.

It does not seem like a lot really when you break in down over 50 years. Mind you if the Teak value goes up as its supply dwindles or at least remains steady. I would think that it being such a long range crop that not many people would be interested in it at all.

Anybody know what the cum price is for Teak now in 2006 ?

[soap]

[

SOAP...what kind of soil are they growing in, do you know what is good and what is bad? Do they take up much maintenance or do you just leave them be and forget about them.

Another problem down the road is theft, especially as it is such a high value wood and will only get more valuable and popular. How do you overcome this, or do you live on the same block/area.

i think the climate/soil etc of northern thailand is ideal for growing teak,

i dont give them any fertilizer but i try and trim the offshoot branches once or

twice a year,btw thats a very tiring job on the arms when you are trying to prune 12 m

teak trees with a little saw hanging onto a bamboo pole

never given much thought to the camoy, people that ive met around here are in

the main very honest, will let the kids sort that out

[Khun Jean]

The problem with Teak is that to really get the value from it, you have to wait to 40 or preferably 50 years and I certainly wont be around then, even my kids will be old, so it would have to be for the grand kids your your own kids retirement plan lol. Now thats forward thinking big time.

Although this is true there are considerable risks someone will chop those trees down and truck them off and sell them. The value is very high and you will need 24 hour security.

Happens too many times.

So if you consider this, be prepared to be in the neighbourhood all the time from year 5 to year 50. You never know, it might be the security guard that can't resist the temptation of a few million baht.

Putting some money on the bank with compound interest will also work in the long run.

[Nawtilus]

Yes, i was wondering the same thing. While 1 ha and 50 years does not really float my boat, several hectares just might, but then the security problem does arrise and even paying a valued and trusted employee or family member to live and watch them, it could easily still happen and does.

I feel that the same money that it costs to setup a teak plantation and maintain it for the 40/50 years, if it was put inot blue chip company stock, what would the comparative value be in the same period. Of course anything could happen to the company, enron for example, so the company may still be there, but the trees may also still be there, maybe not.

I do however think that you should factor in some theft to the budget. Nobody is going to come along at year 30 and clearfell 5ha without you knowing about it. But a quick snatch and grab from time to time would be easily missed.

[Khun Jean]

But a quick snatch and grab from time to time would be easily missed.

Although this happens other kinds of theft also happen.

Like thank you for building this teak and thank you for taking care of it so good. Now step aside and i take it from you. Any objections?

If you have 5ha of teak it will be cleared a long time before the ideal 50 years. And it will not make one dime, only headaches and worries for the rest of your natural live. Which can end very unnatural when you have objections.

One thing you don't do in Thailand and that is expose yourself to risk. Not even small ones. And teak is a very big risk!

You only have to look at all the illegal logging that takes place in Thailand to realize that it is a real concern.

Other things you should not get into are shrimp farming and ice making. They are known for their mafia type 'take overs'.

Sit back, enjoy the scenery, and if so inclined have a beer. Keep a low profile, don't argue with your neighbour and learn to say "mai pen rai" even when your blood boils. If you can do that, live in Thailand is great.

[soap]

you must look at the whole contex of your situation,"do you want to go into big business or just pass the time away with a little hobby"

in my case we have 7 beautiful rai set in the mountains i planted the teak trees just for a hobby,i also have 100 longan trees ,some more fruit trees and last year i put in 75 dragon fruit posts,i think i am occupying my mind by pottering around the land.

everything ive done on the land i have treated as a hobby,some people like playing golf for a hobby,some people like sitting back with a beer and doing nothing but i have found in certain cases one beer becomes 2 3 4 5 6 beers and the next thing you know you have a bigger problem than worrying about somebody stealing your teak trees and lets face it,here in chaingrai there are hundreds of teak trees growing around the place and i have not seen or heard of anyone stealing them,

so for me it all depends on what you want to do,

some people want to own the world all i want to do is live in it

[Bung]

Good on you soap, you and me think alike.

My wife planted 2500 teak trees about 6 or 7 years ago as something to give to her son at some stage (another 40 years?) I initially thought they weren't suited to our area as they are bare poles for a lot of the year but seem to grow alright. I've no idea if this is normal but a lot of people have got a couple of rai of teak around here. the ones near our "grey water" run off are doing much better than the rest, I really thing they would grow better in a more rainy area than ours.

It's better than bare land next to our house anyway.

[alocacoc]

Hi guys

I hope here are some specialists in teak trees

I have a friend in the province buriram. He plants about 7 months some teak trees. I visit the plantage the last days and i wondered that the trees look very weak. The plants loose some leaves. I read on wikipedia, that this happen in dry period. But, the leaves who are still hold from the trees have big holes and it looks, that some pests assaulted the plant. I put here some pictures in. May be someone can explain, what happen to the trees. IMHO these trees as very sick, and the soil seems very dry, but i hope i am wrong.

Edited December 24, 2010 by alocacoc

[alocacoc]

and here the second photo:

Edited December 24, 2010 by alocacoc

[jubby]

Hi guys

I hope here are some specialists in teak trees

I have a friend in the province buriram. He plants about 7 months some teak trees. I visit the plantage the last days and i wondered that the trees look very weak. The plants loose some leaves. I read on wikipedia, that this happen in dry period. But, the leaves who are still hold from the trees have big holes and it looks, that some pests assaulted the plant. I put here some pictures in. May be someone can explain, what happen to the trees. IMHO these trees as very sick, and the soil seems very dry, but i hope i am wrong.

Just looks like something is munching on the leaves, nothing to worry about, they will all fall off in a month or so anyway.

Teak is very resilient. you can burn it and it'll sprout again, cut it back to the ground and it'll shoot again in the rain season.

I've lost a few trees to the small black ant that nests inside them and eats them from within, but very few to be honest.

teaks seem to have a huge root system which is probably what makes it so resilient.

[alocacoc]

Thank you jubby

That sound not too bad. I only hope that the pests wil not wait untill the trees will get new leaves and start to munching again in the raining season

[brianmarinus]

Yes, i was wondering the same thing. While 1 ha and 50 years does not really float my boat, several hectares just might, but then the security problem does arrise and even paying a valued and trusted employee or family member to live and watch them, it could easily still happen and does.

I feel that the same money that it costs to setup a teak plantation and maintain it for the 40/50 years, if it was put inot blue chip company stock, what would the comparative value be in the same period. Of course anything could happen to the company, enron for example, so the company may still be there, but the trees may also still be there, maybe not.

I do however think that you should factor in some theft to the budget. Nobody is going to come along at year 30 and clearfell 5ha without you knowing about it. But a quick snatch and grab from time to time would be easily missed.

Hi!

I took a look on my good friend-Google and found this-hope it can help you a bit.

http://wzus1.search-results.com/r?t=p&d=apn&s=zdo&c=a&l=dis&o=15914&sv=0a5c4237&ip=76ac43b1&id=D780BAF7508CB058A9B1F6B9101E17EF&q=Teak+Lumber+Price&p=1&qs=6&ac=24&g=10357Ee99OWIbe&en=gg&io=1&ep=&eo=&b=spl&bc=&br=&tp=top&ec=7&pt=Teak%20price&ex=sgcl%3D9aacWo-Pxyrce-Z%2525D6zelc-K0B%26sgch%3D2025MfxUl&url=&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Faclk%3Fsa%3Dl%26ai%3DC7mYG3JQUTa-GG4G7gwfp1cyICsjo2tQBiruN8gud9sdEEAIg1o6RFigHUKHzt7L6_____wFg_dWchsAgoAHExP7-A8gBAaoEG0_QhYvFE6KlfdtaJG5LQj7NRw8j_dG6RuUNcQ%26num%3D2%26sig%3DAGiWqtzZqxCNUgDbwBANVep9-FEVPbylAA%26adurl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.fordaq.com%2Ffordaq%2FPrice%2FTy_S-Pc_13%2FSquare-Edged-Sawn-Timber---Lumber---planed-timber-%252528lumber%252529.html

[Ricardo]

I presume that teak trees need to be registered or recorded somewhere somehow, as when they are logged they could in fact be claimed to be coming from anywhere, so you need to prove they are not from the wild or imported from Burma, anyone know about this.

If your land was originally Forestry Department land, now being farmed on some sort of limited-chanot, then planting trees like the ones which presumably once grew there, can possibly give you a problem when you come to cut the teak or mahogany trees down, as you're then viewed as being some sort of illegal-logger.

At least that's what I was told, when I wondered whether my wife might plant teak trees between the longan & mango trees, for shade & extra long-term profit, on her 3-rai farm near Chiang Mai. The chanot is definitely ex-Forestry, and requires the land to be actively farmed, and a simple house to be built on it.

Perhaps you might visit your pa-luang, for a chat, and there might also be more info on the Farming-forum, about the economics of forestry here ?

Edited December 28, 2010 by Ricardo