Growing Makua in Thailand

[Tim207]

Last weekend I finally got around to planting my seeds, a mixture of makhua and prik thai. I improvised a lot and didn't follow instructions so I don't know what will happen. I did find a different brand of seed after I planted so if the aeroplane brand fails me I will try the other.

Here is whjat I got so far.

I bought very cheap disposable plastic drinking cups, so cheap they crush easily and will allow me to push plants out from the bottom. I put a little sand in the bottom for drainage, I forgot to say I melted some holes in the bottoms with a hot nail. I then filled with pulverized dirt from the yard. The seeds are planted one per cup, about a centimeter deep. The cups were placed in a partialy shaded area under a thin tree. They get full sun about an hour per day. I have been watering in the morning and evening.

I will keep you posted on progress or lack of it.

BTW: When I wrote "I" that was an almost purely supervisory roll I played. I showed my daughter and little brother in law what I wanted and let them play while I sat in a lawn chair smoking my pipe and approving their finished cups. I just provided the materials and kept the peace.:-) We all had a great time and the idea was always to involve the kids anyway.

[btate]

OK, I've been watching and learning on this thread for some time.

I tried "starting" my own and got miserable results. So, I cheated! Yikes

I bought a couple of seedlings already started at the local market. They were

in the typical plastic bags that you normally see. Brought them home and

transferred to some starter pots, the black 3/4 liter kind. At the time they

were between 4 in. and 7 in.

Placed them where they got full sun for about 3 hours in the morning and

the rest of the day bright shade. Watered religiously morning and evening

with about a liter of water each time.

After a month I replanted, a couple in the large white buckets and some in

the ground. I am very suspicious of the ability of this 'dirt' to produce as it

looks like red lava rock mixed with sand and gravel.

This one in the bucket is doing very well as doubled in size since replanting in

a mixture of potting soil, manure and added some wood shavings from a planer

on the top to maintain moisture.

This one looks stunted. It may have grown about 10% or so. I dug a hole about

the size of the bucket, added the same combination as the bucket. While the plant

looks heathy it sure hasn't progressed as well as its big brother.

The plants all have at least one flower the biggest has several that have 'gone by'

yet no fruit is showing. Maybe I'm just not patient enough. The difference in the

bucketed and in-ground planting is obvious. The bucket has it hands down.

Have had some problems with aphids and some small white things eating the leaves.

Basic hand sprayed tomato pesticide seems to have done the trick.

Now for a couple of questions for Maizefarmer or anyone else that might have the

knowledge.

1. Do you sucker makua the same as tomato plants. i.e. removing the tweeners?

2. I have used some 20-20-20 as it was available and I didn't think it matters much.

Is that assumption correct?

This was a very minimal test at best, however, it did prove the idea of planting in

buckets the comparison is startling.

I'll do a larger test later on. I've found some paper cups - non waxed - that I'll start

the next batch of seed. When I used to do tomatoes as a kid I would start them in

paper cups and when ready to plant would rip out the bottom and place the whole

thing in the ground. The cup acted as a collar preventing worms from getting to the

tender stems and they eventually disintigrate with moisture etc. Should work.

Thanks to all for a neat and helpful thread.

Bt

[Maizefarmer]

Btate

I am going to suggest the most likely cause of stunted growth in the plant in the ground is simply because of water.

Yes - you may be giving both the same amount, but the one in the container retains the water close to the root structure, whereas the ground around the roots of the plant which is planted in the ground is acting like a sponge - the water is dispersing away form the roots quickly, and after half an hour of watering it, there is little to no water avalible for the plant.

To address that problem (should you wish) water it with about 5 - 10 bucket fulls of water each morning and each evening for about a week. The soil you have planted it in is very very sandy (which assists with water dispersion even more) - this will help consolidate the sandy soil around the plant and in a week or so it will have consolidated enough to allow you to go back to watering a bucket or so each evening (water in the evening when the soil is cool and the water has more tendency to soak in as opposed to been sucked to the surface).

Its as simple as that.

Other than that - both plants look reasonably healthy from what I can see from the photos, and I wouldn;t be at all concerned.

Keep us posted.

Maizefarmer

[btate]

Btate

I am going to suggest the most likely cause of stunted growth in the plant in the ground is simply because of water.

Yes - you may be giving both the same amount, but the one in the container retains the water close to the root structure, whereas the ground around the roots of the plant which is planted in the ground is acting like a sponge - the water is dispersing away form the roots quickly, and after half an hour of watering it, there is little to no water avalible for the plant.

To address that problem (should you wish) water it with about 5 - 10 bucket fulls of water each morning and each evening for about a week. The soil you have planted it in is very very sandy (which assists with water dispersion even more) - this will help consolidate the sandy soil around the plant and in a week or so it will have consolidated enough to allow you to go back to watering a bucket or so each evening (water in the evening when the soil is cool and the water has more tendency to soak in as opposed to been sucked to the surface).

Its as simple as that.

Other than that - both plants look reasonably healthy from what I can see from the photos, and I wouldn;t be at all concerned.

Keep us posted.

Maizefarmer

Thanks MF will do as advised. On the other question, do you sucker your makua. I am curious if this will improve yields down the line.

Bt

[Maizefarmer]

Negative - have never practised this.

Would it benefit the plant yield- haven't got a clue - baring in mind what amount of plants I'd have to do versus the potential increase in financial yield per plant, the question has to be just that (i.e. would the financial benefit justify all that work - I can't see it - but I could be wrong).

No plans to try.

Maizefarmer

Btate

I am going to suggest the most likely cause of stunted growth in the plant in the ground is simply because of water.

Yes - you may be giving both the same amount, but the one in the container retains the water close to the root structure, whereas the ground around the roots of the plant which is planted in the ground is acting like a sponge - the water is dispersing away form the roots quickly, and after half an hour of watering it, there is little to no water avalible for the plant.

To address that problem (should you wish) water it with about 5 - 10 bucket fulls of water each morning and each evening for about a week. The soil you have planted it in is very very sandy (which assists with water dispersion even more) - this will help consolidate the sandy soil around the plant and in a week or so it will have consolidated enough to allow you to go back to watering a bucket or so each evening (water in the evening when the soil is cool and the water has more tendency to soak in as opposed to been sucked to the surface).

Its as simple as that.

Other than that - both plants look reasonably healthy from what I can see from the photos, and I wouldn;t be at all concerned.

Keep us posted.

Maizefarmer

Thanks MF will do as advised. On the other question, do you sucker your makua. I am curious if this will improve yields down the line.

Bt

[btate]

MF

Had had only one cup of coffee when I posted that... duh

Suckering 15000 plants or so would be a full time job

for a crew of many. lol

Sorry to waste your time.

bt

[chownah]

What is suckering?

[Maizefarmer]

Not a waste of my time on this subject - only to happy to reply.

Maizefarmer

- oh, and I need at least 2 cups of coffee/expresso before I wake up - I am a total caffiene addict!

MF

Had had only one cup of coffee when I posted that... duh

Suckering 15000 plants or so would be a full time job

for a crew of many. lol

Sorry to waste your time.

bt

[btate]

What is suckering?

Suckers are the little branches that sprout from the "V" in the junction

between the main stem and branches of the plant. They do not provide

any usefull purpose in tomatoes, they just delete the energy without

providing fruit potential.

Works great in tomatoes (suckering), increasing the size and moisture

content of the final product.

At least that was what I was taught by my dad.

Bt.

[Somtham]

Price of makua here in KPP has dropped to B2.50/kg. One of the construction workers told me today there is a farm in Pichit, neighboring province, that is 2,000 rai and sells makua for B1.50/kg!! Ouch. MF - do you know this farmer?

[Maizefarmer]

Price of makua here in KPP has dropped to B2.50/kg. One of the construction workers told me today there is a farm in Pichit, neighboring province, that is 2,000 rai and sells makua for B1.50/kg!! Ouch. MF - do you know this farmer?

As soon as I read this I phoned home - for the last 2 weeks my price has been climbing.

Feb Average p/kg

10 B 3.8

11 B 4.6

12 B 4.6

13 B 4.6

14 B 4.6

15 B 7.0

16 B 11.3

17 B 19.1

18 B 19.5

18 B 7. 3

20 B 4.8

21 B 10.7

22 B 9.4

23 B 7.2

24 B.8.1

..... and it is expected to continue an upward trend, so quite why you are getting such a low price beats me - but something is not right.

How many kilo's are you harvesting per day and what is the quality like?

Nope, 2000 rai - I have never heard of it - and can't find anyone yet in the business who knows this farm. I have spoken on the phone to a few of the people who would almost certainly know, and none of them know of this farm. The largest single Makua farm any of them know of is a 74rai project somewhere around Kalasin area. 2000 sounds just to big - may be it's a vegetable farm growing all sorts of stuff, the biggest I know of which is down South and is around 900 rai of nothing but vegetables.

I'll meet up with you sometime March when I get back, and lets see if we can work out why you are consistantly getting such a bad price.

MF

[Somtham]

Price of makua here in KPP has dropped to B2.50/kg. One of the construction workers told me today there is a farm in Pichit, neighboring province, that is 2,000 rai and sells makua for B1.50/kg!! Ouch. MF - do you know this farmer?

As soon as I read this I phoned home - for the last 2 weeks my price has been climbing.

Feb Average p/kg

10 B 3.8

11 B 4.6

12 B 4.6

13 B 4.6

14 B 4.6

15 B 7.0

16 B 11.3

17 B 19.1

18 B 19.5

18 B 7. 3

20 B 4.8

21 B 10.7

22 B 9.4

23 B 7.2

24 B.8.1

..... and it is expected to continue an upward trend, so quite why you are getting such a low price beats me - but something is not right.

How many kilo's are you harvesting per day and what is the quality like?

Nope, 2000 rai - I have never heard of it - and can't find anyone yet in the business who knows this farm. I have spoken on the phone to a few of the people who would almost certainly know, and none of them know of this farm. The largest single Makua farm any of them know of is a 74rai project somewhere around Kalasin area. 2000 sounds just to big - may be it's a vegetable farm growing all sorts of stuff, the biggest I know of which is down South and is around 900 rai of nothing but vegetables.

I'll meet up with you sometime March when I get back, and lets see if we can work out why you are consistantly getting such a bad price.

MF

You're getting good prices. Right now the restaurant is giving us B4/kg but only if we promise to sell her all of our chiles and not sell the chiles to anyone else. Today the wife picked 23 kg and she seperated 20 kg of good looking fruit and then another 3kg of fruit that had the holes in it that she gave to the restaurant for free. Some of the other workers said they have never ever seen makua over 15/kg in KPP. I tell them "hey that's nonsense. I know a guy in Loei that gets B50+ during the dry season." They laugh, graeng jai and say 10-15 :-)

Since you're in the business and probably know a lot of farms and haven't heard of this one I'm going to have the construction worker and his wife take the day off and we'll make a run to see this 2K rai farm. He said it was 20km south from the turnoff to pitsanalok when travelling from KPP.

By the way my plants are looking a mess. Way to many weeds and plants laying down since after the storm. There's a crew coming in tomorrow to do some weeding and I think I'll try laying down some pa keow to see if it stops the weed/grass seeds from germinating. There is some black plastic woven fabric that's sold in the US to do the same thing so I'll try the pa keow as it has a similar mesh.

Still can't get the ###### seeds to germinate either. Planted makua and chile seeds at the same time. The chiles have come up but the trays with the makuas are barren :-(

Tim207 - any sprouts from yours?

rgds

[Somtham]

I'll meet up with you sometime March when I get back, and lets see if we can work out why you are consistantly getting such a bad price.

MF

Dude - you've been away from your own farm for what, 4 months now. Don't you miss your cows? No, I don't think I'll allow you a visit until you get back on your feet at your "HOME". My wife and I will pay you a visit first :-)

You realize March is next week right? Glad to hear your recovering so quickly.

rgds

[Somtham]

What is suckering?

Suckers are the little branches that sprout from the "V" in the junction

between the main stem and branches of the plant. They do not provide

any usefull purpose in tomatoes, they just delete the energy without

providing fruit potential.

Works great in tomatoes (suckering), increasing the size and moisture

content of the final product.

At least that was what I was taught by my dad.

Bt.

Btate - are you sure you got that right?? I always thought a sucker was someone who bites when they can't find a link to a web page defining sucker.

http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxtheres.html

rgds

[Maizefarmer]

Price of makua here in KPP has dropped to B2.50/kg. One of the construction workers told me today there is a farm in Pichit, neighboring province, that is 2,000 rai and sells makua for B1.50/kg!! Ouch. MF - do you know this farmer?

As soon as I read this I phoned home - for the last 2 weeks my price has been climbing.

Feb Average p/kg

10 B 3.8

11 B 4.6

12 B 4.6

13 B 4.6

14 B 4.6

15 B 7.0

16 B 11.3

17 B 19.1

18 B 19.5

18 B 7. 3

20 B 4.8

21 B 10.7

22 B 9.4

23 B 7.2

24 B.8.1

..... and it is expected to continue an upward trend, so quite why you are getting such a low price beats me - but something is not right.

How many kilo's are you harvesting per day and what is the quality like?

Nope, 2000 rai - I have never heard of it - and can't find anyone yet in the business who knows this farm. I have spoken on the phone to a few of the people who would almost certainly know, and none of them know of this farm. The largest single Makua farm any of them know of is a 74rai project somewhere around Kalasin area. 2000 sounds just to big - may be it's a vegetable farm growing all sorts of stuff, the biggest I know of which is down South and is around 900 rai of nothing but vegetables.

I'll meet up with you sometime March when I get back, and lets see if we can work out why you are consistantly getting such a bad price.

MF

You're getting good prices. Right now the restaurant is giving us B4/kg but only if we promise to sell her all of our chiles and not sell the chiles to anyone else. Today the wife picked 23 kg and she seperated 20 kg of good looking fruit and then another 3kg of fruit that had the holes in it that she gave to the restaurant for free. Some of the other workers said they have never ever seen makua over 15/kg in KPP. I tell them "hey that's nonsense. I know a guy in Loei that gets B50+ during the dry season." They laugh, graeng jai and say 10-15 :-)

Since you're in the business and probably know a lot of farms and haven't heard of this one I'm going to have the construction worker and his wife take the day off and we'll make a run to see this 2K rai farm. He said it was 20km south from the turnoff to pitsanalok when travelling from KPP.

By the way my plants are looking a mess. Way to many weeds and plants laying down since after the storm. There's a crew coming in tomorrow to do some weeding and I think I'll try laying down some pa keow to see if it stops the weed/grass seeds from germinating. There is some black plastic woven fabric that's sold in the US to do the same thing so I'll try the pa keow as it has a similar mesh.

Still can't get the ###### seeds to germinate either. Planted makua and chile seeds at the same time. The chiles have come up but the trays with the makuas are barren :-(

Tim207 - any sprouts from yours?

rgds

B50 p/kg plus - that was very much an exception, and I think in all the years I've grown the stuff, I have only ever got over B30 5 or 10 times - so I do not want you think that you are going to get that.

B15 - B20 p/kg is a very real possibility during the dry season.

Take your camera with when you go and have a look - and get to speak to someone if you can, and find out just how they manage a 2krai makua farm. Ideally you'd like to be there early one morning and see just what goes on i.e. how many people picking and roughly how much of the famr is been picked. I too am very keen to see what info you get from that trip. Thats huge for a single vegetable crop - its around 800acres!!

March - yes, but not till the end of the month. I'd go home tomorrow if I could - and I'm back on my feet.

MF

[Somtham]

Take your camera with when you go and have a look - and get to speak to someone if you can, and find out just how they manage a 2krai makua farm. Ideally you'd like to be there early one morning and see just what goes on i.e. how many people picking and roughly how much of the famr is been picked. I too am very keen to see what info you get from that trip. Thats huge for a single vegetable crop - its around 800acres!!

March - yes, but not till the end of the month. I'd go home tomorrow if I could - and I'm back on my feet.

MF

A typical day around here ends with all the workers and myself sitting around a table and having a few shots of see sip and me a Chang. Quite irresponsible on my part as this has caused a few accidents but.....TIT.

So at tonights gathering, at 5:01pm, during the conversation I probe about this makua farmer and it turns out this guy is a cousin of one of my construction workers. The guy's name is Feun and he runs the business with his brother Suk. They do a CP style business model where they find farmers that have land and willing to grow makua. Their contracters land is now over 2K rai of people that have signed up. They provide the plants to the land owners along with fertilizer and pesticides during the growing season and guarantee to buy the produce from them....now at 6 salung (B1.5).

We're doing some more construction right now due to the storm last week but I think we can make a Pitchit run on Wednesday. This depends on the cement pouring of some columns. I also need to do a 90 visa check-in run on Thursday to Mae Sot. If the timing gets screwed up it may be next week before I get to Pitchit but I will get there and take the pics along with some information gathering.

What's up with Pallisade? Now that you can type for yourself will we ever hear from him again on TV? I really appreciated his help during your recovery.

rgds

[Maizefarmer]

Aaaah - that makes sense, a total of 2k under contract to supply - yes, that form of ag practise is quite common all over Thailand. It has pros-and-cons: the pro of course been, not withstanding market conditions the subsitance farmer (and it partly explains why he remins a subsitance farmer!) is garunteed a price per unit wieght of produce. The downside of course, is his income is capped, irrespectuve of what the market is paying - although if I underestand you corectly, the figure you give is a min figure - they do of course get paid more if prices go up (?).

Pallasaide - faithful manservant, Man Friday, friend and borther-in-law (married to my half sister - who is 25% Thai herself - the product of one of Dad's flirtations in the 1960's with a half Thai girl). He is no-more needed. He served his purpose and was then "let go". Joking - no computer allowed in ICU, so he signed on to download and print out postings - which he'd bring to me and I'd dictate back an answer - he'd then type & post. He's fine, but forums are not his cup of tea and he has little interest in this subject - but he's around - he comes by every 2nd day or so. Says "hi" to you specifically.

For what it worth, I'll be meeting "old wanderer" tomorrow (Monday West Coast time) - going round to his place for a Thai meal - shall report back on his better half's Thai cuisine skills!

MF

[Tim207]

Still can't get the ###### seeds to germinate either. Planted makua and chile seeds at the same time. The chiles have come up but the trays with the makuas are barren :-(

Tim207 - any sprouts from yours?

rgds

I got 92% germination plus. My labor force was a little lax and some cups have 2, 3 and even 4 plants growing. Had a few die off since but for the most part things came up well, using the brand you posted a picture of. After 3 weeks I still only have about 3 inch tall plants so it is slow going. As to now I have done nothing but put dirt in cups with seed and daily water.

The growth rate seems slow so today I am going to add some fertilizer to all but a few so I can see the difference. I am purposely doing things wrong now in the testing to see how it goes so I won't be tempted to cut corners later on when I am on a larger scale.

[Somtham]

Aaaah - that makes sense, a total of 2k under contract to supply - yes, that form of ag practise is quite common all over Thailand. It has pros-and-cons: the pro of course been, not withstanding market conditions the subsitance farmer (and it partly explains why he remins a subsitance farmer!) is garunteed a price per unit wieght of produce. The downside of course, is his income is capped, irrespectuve of what the market is paying - although if I underestand you corectly, the figure you give is a min figure - they do of course get paid more if prices go up (?).

Pallasaide - faithful manservant, Man Friday, friend and borther-in-law (married to my half sister - who is 25% Thai herself - the product of one of Dad's flirtations in the 1960's with a half Thai girl). He is no-more needed. He served his purpose and was then "let go". Joking - no computer allowed in ICU, so he signed on to download and print out postings - which he'd bring to me and I'd dictate back an answer - he'd then type & post. He's fine, but forums are not his cup of tea and he has little interest in this subject - but he's around - he comes by every 2nd day or so. Says "hi" to you specifically.

For what it worth, I'll be meeting "old wanderer" tomorrow (Monday West Coast time) - going round to his place for a Thai meal - shall report back on his better half's Thai cuisine skills!

MF

OK, the columns got poured today, the forms come off tomorrow so a Pitchit run on Wed is looking good. Any specific questions you want me to ask and pictures? For one, I want to see how they keep the weeds in check.

Say hi to Pallasaide. We'll probably meet up with him in May for some excellent beener food.

rgds

[Somtham]

Still can't get the ###### seeds to germinate either. Planted makua and chile seeds at the same time. The chiles have come up but the trays with the makuas are barren :-(

Tim207 - any sprouts from yours?

rgds

I got 92% germination plus. My labor force was a little lax and some cups have 2, 3 and even 4 plants growing. Had a few die off since but for the most part things came up well, using the brand you posted a picture of. After 3 weeks I still only have about 3 inch tall plants so it is slow going. As to now I have done nothing but put dirt in cups with seed and daily water.

The growth rate seems slow so today I am going to add some fertilizer to all but a few so I can see the difference. I am purposely doing things wrong now in the testing to see how it goes so I won't be tempted to cut corners later on when I am on a larger scale.

Congratulations 207.....I'm jealous but the wife is happy. She wants chiles!!! Let us know how the fertilizer experiment goes. How long are you going to be in Thailand?

rgds

[Tim207]

Congratulations 207.....I'm jealous but the wife is happy. She wants chiles!!! Let us know how the fertilizer experiment goes. How long are you going to be in Thailand?

rgds

That 92% included chiles. Both came up at about the same rate. I applied the fertilizer yesterday. What should have been an easy task of dropping a few pellets in each cup turned into a frustrating task. On the way home after buying the fertilizer I got caught on the mountain road in a storm with no shelter for over 2 kilometers. My nice "bison extract" bio fertilizer went from nice pellets to a bag full of gooey bufallo shit that I had to apply with a spoon and a stick.

As a side note recalling your storm damage, that storm I got caught in was a bit of a shock. I noticed some of those rain drops were more painful than others and I also noticed dome bouncing like little balls off the front of my motorbike. It took me a few seconds to process the concept that I was actually getting hit by hail in Thailand. ###### that stuff hurts. It was only pea sized but come on, not here.

[chownah]

Congratulations 207.....I'm jealous but the wife is happy. She wants chiles!!! Let us know how the fertilizer experiment goes. How long are you going to be in Thailand?

rgds

That 92% included chiles. Both came up at about the same rate. I applied the fertilizer yesterday. What should have been an easy task of dropping a few pellets in each cup turned into a frustrating task. On the way home after buying the fertilizer I got caught on the mountain road in a storm with no shelter for over 2 kilometers. My nice "bison extract" bio fertilizer went from nice pellets to a bag full of gooey bufallo shit that I had to apply with a spoon and a stick.

As a side note recalling your storm damage, that storm I got caught in was a bit of a shock. I noticed some of those rain drops were more painful than others and I also noticed dome bouncing like little balls off the front of my motorbike. It took me a few seconds to process the concept that I was actually getting hit by hail in Thailand. ###### that stuff hurts. It was only pea sized but come on, not here.

Hail in Thai is luke hep and is not uncommon in northern Thailand...for the five years I've been here I guess I've seen it three or four times....one time it broke 8 tiles on my roof and in some places it broke ALL the tiles on some roofs....the gov't replaced half of the tiles (materials, not labor) for everyone for free. The largest piece I found from that storm was a little rugby ball shaped piece that measured (with an honest tape measure) 3cm the long way and 2 cm the short wayand I don't mean almost 3 by 2...I mean ACTUALLY 3cm by 2cm....Hail in northern Thailand?.....yes indeed!!!

Chownah

[Somtham]

Congratulations 207.....I'm jealous but the wife is happy. She wants chiles!!! Let us know how the fertilizer experiment goes. How long are you going to be in Thailand?

rgds

That 92% included chiles. Both came up at about the same rate. I applied the fertilizer yesterday. What should have been an easy task of dropping a few pellets in each cup turned into a frustrating task. On the way home after buying the fertilizer I got caught on the mountain road in a storm with no shelter for over 2 kilometers. My nice "bison extract" bio fertilizer went from nice pellets to a bag full of gooey bufallo shit that I had to apply with a spoon and a stick.

As a side note recalling your storm damage, that storm I got caught in was a bit of a shock. I noticed some of those rain drops were more painful than others and I also noticed dome bouncing like little balls off the front of my motorbike. It took me a few seconds to process the concept that I was actually getting hit by hail in Thailand. ###### that stuff hurts. It was only pea sized but come on, not here.

Hail in Thai is luke hep and is not uncommon in northern Thailand...for the five years I've been here I guess I've seen it three or four times....one time it broke 8 tiles on my roof and in some places it broke ALL the tiles on some roofs....the gov't replaced half of the tiles (materials, not labor) for everyone for free. The largest piece I found from that storm was a little rugby ball shaped piece that measured (with an honest tape measure) 3cm the long way and 2 cm the short wayand I don't mean almost 3 by 2...I mean ACTUALLY 3cm by 2cm....Hail in northern Thailand?.....yes indeed!!!

Chownah

Ouch. what province are you in Chownah?

[chownah]

chiangrai

[Somtham]

chiangrai

Those were huge hail stones.

[chownah]

Well that was the biggest one that the kids found....I was surprised and for sure this is exceptional.

I've been thinking about your makua seed germination problem. It seems to me that when you did your last reported planting it was at least around here still fairly cool weather. I'm wondering if it was not hot enough then. The weather here has turned hot about one week ago and I had planted some makua yaw (long eggplant) seeds just out in the garden in the ground right where they'll grow. and with the warm weather they sprouted ok....I planted when the weather was still a bit cool and it just seemed like when it got hot it only took a couple of days for them to pop up....could be a coincidence though. If your weather is noticeably warmer now than the last time you planted you might try again. I planted mine out in the garden in full sun and sprinkled them two or three times a day just enough so that the surface never dried out for longer than an hour or two.....basically just kept the soil moist all the time. I was always sure to water near sunset so they would stay damp all night and then mostly watered them for the first time each day at mid morning before the soil surface had dried at all and then once at early afternoon when the sun was hot.....and then maybe once more if I happen to be out in the garden.

Chownah

[Khonwan]

Price of makua here in KPP has dropped to B2.50/kg. One of the construction workers told me today there is a farm in Pichit, neighboring province, that is 2,000 rai and sells makua for B1.50/kg!! Ouch. MF - do you know this farmer?

My wife and I visited Talad Lim Ping in Nakhon Sawan yesterday (our first time). It is a huge and very busy market for bulk veg purchases. Graded makhua was being sold @2 baht/kg.

BTW, an excellent source of cheap but good potatoes: 10 baht/kg.

[Mobaan]

Here is an update from the Udon Thani area ;

We have various test plots ( 100 plants) each going -1 vs 1.5 meter spacing . drip irrig vs furrow or sprinkler irrigation etc .

Harvested our first 12 kg and got Bath 40 for it . We sell to a lady in the village who collects all the veggies available for sale and goes to the market to sell . She got 1 Baht /kg for her troules -thats ok with me .

So 40 baht per 12 kg of good fresh fruit thats 3.33 Baht per kg .

Will be interesting to see this developing . All plants are growing vigerously with plenty new flowers . So far we had one attac of small ants right after the first rainshower we had here for the past 4 month . Presently a few aphids ,not worth spraying

[Khonwan]

Price of makua here in KPP has dropped to B2.50/kg. One of the construction workers told me today there is a farm in Pichit, neighboring province, that is 2,000 rai and sells makua for B1.50/kg!! Ouch. MF - do you know this farmer?

My wife and I visited Talad Lim Ping in Nakhon Sawan yesterday (our first time). It is a huge and very busy market for bulk veg purchases. Graded makhua was being sold @4 baht/kg.

BTW, an excellent source of cheap but good potatoes: 10 baht/kg.

Please note: original post should have read 4 baht. (2 baht for mixed sizes). Sorry for any confusion.

Edited February 28, 2007 by Khonwan

[Somtham]

Here is an update from the Udon Thani area ;

We have various test plots ( 100 plants) each going -1 vs 1.5 meter spacing . drip irrig vs furrow or sprinkler irrigation etc .

Harvested our first 12 kg and got Bath 40 for it . We sell to a lady in the village who collects all the veggies available for sale and goes to the market to sell . She got 1 Baht /kg for her troules -thats ok with me .

So 40 baht per 12 kg of good fresh fruit thats 3.33 Baht per kg .

Will be interesting to see this developing . All plants are growing vigerously with plenty new flowers . So far we had one attac of small ants right after the first rainshower we had here for the past 4 month . Presently a few aphids ,not worth spraying

Congratulations. Let us know how the results are from the various test plots.