Why do Thais hate trees so much?

[Teak]

I like this topic............most of you are urbanites.To the few who are not, you may or not agree ;-)

Trees are not just trees. Some are valuable and some are NCV (not commercially viable). Okay..my bias shows. Thais burn mountains and the trees survive because of the relatively low heat and the tree's inherited defences. In Australia the eucalyptus get tinged black and survive. Same in Thailand. Pruning.......severe pruning, is usually irrelevant. New growth sprouts. In China old trees have signs on them not to be cut down............but, damned, they are pruned for firewood to an extent that even I thought was extreme...........but they bounce back. Nothing makes any plant regenerate more than a threat to it's existence. The Thai system to most things is contrary to (especially) an urban Western point of view. However, their system has worked for generations.Easy to criticize, harder to appreciate.

Believe me, I am not an 'airy fairy' person. (Bloody far from that ).The Thai system works, because it continues to be able to exist. With respect...deal with it or piss off (smiley face).

.....Ken.

[northernjohn]

>>I'm not educated enough in tree care to know the difference - I don't imagine many in this thread are either, but an opportunity for a generalised attack on Thailand is never short of followers here. <<. .Its like if a surgeon cut off your leg with a hatchet rather than a saw .Now do you understand ?Its not about Thai bashing on this occasion .

What you say is correct. It is not about Thai bashing.

But you misunderstand. Many take any thing they can grab a hold of as a reason for Thai Bashing. If the OP is correct why are there so many trees in Thailand?

The OP is making a claim that in reality is just his misguided opinion.

Ask your Thai friends why they hate trees and they will probably look at you like you were nuts. It never crosses most of their minds. It is a non issue to the majority of them.

[HooHaa]

I'm pretty sure I've seen examples of this in almost every country I've been to. But you don't like it, so it must be a Thai thing.

Hate to say it, but it is more brutal here and the OP is correct

I'm not educated enough in tree care to know the difference - I don't imagine many in this thread are either, but an opportunity for a generalised attack on Thailand is never short of followers here.

nonetheless, i have seen some horriffic decimation of some very beautiful trees here, trees completely denuded that have never grown back. its happened in bangkok and most certainly long my property line down south. pictures posted here bear that out.

see, im not given to thai bashing, though this subject is a phenomenon that i have personally observed and commented on.

i am regularly offended by the anti thai sentiments often expressed here, but from an observers perspective the OP got it right this time.

there are some arborials that can be cut back to nothing and will spring back in months, however there doesnt seem to be any such discernment here and most trimmings are excessive and unsightly if not fatal.

Edited March 3, 2016 by HooHaa

[cmsally]

A few years back I heard of people killing "unwanted" trees by injecting them under the bark with something.

Not too sure what the substance was, but saw a few trees that had apparently been killed that way.

[northernjohn]

A few years back I heard of people killing "unwanted" trees by injecting them under the bark with something.

Not too sure what the substance was, but saw a few trees that had apparently been killed that way.

Not to signal you out but that does not prove Thais don't like trees. I am sure you can find many such cases in countries all over the world. So does the world hate trees?

[arunsakda]

A sad case on my school campus.

God only knows how old this venerable tree was before it was "pollarded." Last year it grew out struggling twigs and then gave up the ghost this year.ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1456936845.668429.jpg

Arbicide

[cmsally]

A few years back I heard of people killing "unwanted" trees by injecting them under the bark with something.

Not too sure what the substance was, but saw a few trees that had apparently been killed that way.

Not to signal you out but that does not prove Thais don't like trees. I am sure you can find many such cases in countries all over the world. So does the world hate trees?

I am not the one who started the thread; I am talking about people. We happen to be in Thailand so the majority of those happen to be Thais. The topic is about Thailand hence I am talking about what I have seen here. However there are a lot of factors related to the way Thailand has developed and the sudden onset of capitalism and consumerism which do go a long way in explaining the local populations relationship with the environment.

[tigergrl]

i ask myself this question quite regularly.. there is pruning and then there is killing them off. someone bought an ugly monstrosity of a house
at the end of my soi.. as soon as it was renovated they cut down all the massive trees surrounding it.. including making the neighboring

property cull theirs too and the ones across the street just so everyone can see their 'new' butt ugly house. i was hopping mad. neighbors

up and down the soi have culled trees this year.. all provided much needed shade (hello??? HOT SEASON!!) plus the tiny little insignificant

fact that trees supply the oxygen we need to breathe. plus they release the CO2 they have been encapsulating once they are cut down

making the air quality worse. Exactly what is needed up in the north right now. smdh.

[buddhalady]

Personal experience - when I first arrived here and planted my garden, no-one told me that trees grow at 90 miles per hour and will be taller than a three-storey shophouse in a couple of years....yes, they then offer magnificent shade but disgorge huge piles of leaves almost year-round. They also suit themselves as to how much fruit they are prepared to produce.

After five years of expecting to be able to pick my very own mangoes I finally gave up and had the tree taken down. As regards the other trees, the avocado (three avocados per year at present count...grrrr.) is still there as it shades the second bedroom, but the massive (and I do mean massive) 'pink flower tree' had to be severely pruned as did the double teak tree at the far end of the garden.

Having seen the murderous attempts of so-called pruning elsewhere in the village, I got the local guys in and explained, complete with diagrams, exactly what I needed doing. After a few early tussles, they got the idea and asked nicely as to which branches , etc, etc, needed to come down. To my amazement, the strategy worked well, apart from nearly causing me a nervous breakdown watching these kids clambering around halfway into the sky!!!!! All ended safely, and my trees are still pumping out oxygen and sucking up carbon dioxide - they also still look very pretty and give great shade.

If you don't want to join them - beat them!

[Chiengmaijoe]

i ask myself this question quite regularly.. there is pruning and then there is killing them off. someone bought an ugly monstrosity of a house

at the end of my soi.. as soon as it was renovated they cut down all the massive trees surrounding it.. including making the neighboring

property cull theirs too and the ones across the street just so everyone can see their 'new' butt ugly house. i was hopping mad. neighbors

up and down the soi have culled trees this year.. all provided much needed shade (hello??? HOT SEASON!!) plus the tiny little insignificant

fact that trees supply the oxygen we need to breathe. plus they release the CO2 they have been encapsulating once they are cut down

making the air quality worse. Exactly what is needed up in the north right now. smdh.

Compare how many trees there are in downtown Chiang Mai to any equivalent city in Europe and I would say Chiang Mai would top most. They may well go over the top when it comes to pruning but invariably the tree survives. Actually, killing a tree in Thailand is quite difficult as they mostly have a remarkable ability to survive.

In the last few weeks some roads in town have been magnificent with their almost flourescent yellow flowers. The flame trees will be in full bloom soon.

Fly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang and compare Thailand's tree-covered mountains to those in Laos, that have been stripped bare. Thailand introduced a logging ban about 20 years ago which has gone a long way to preserving it's forests. Sure, illegal logging happens, but not as much as it was before the ban.

[LannaGuy]

i love trees and it breaks my heart to see the way they treat them here but we should not be surprised as they treat animals with carelessness too (and people). seeing a lovely aged tree hacked like this is very saddening

[KC 71]

They just like trimming them to much !

[cmsally]

i ask myself this question quite regularly.. there is pruning and then there is killing them off. someone bought an ugly monstrosity of a house

at the end of my soi.. as soon as it was renovated they cut down all the massive trees surrounding it.. including making the neighboring

property cull theirs too and the ones across the street just so everyone can see their 'new' butt ugly house. i was hopping mad. neighbors

up and down the soi have culled trees this year.. all provided much needed shade (hello??? HOT SEASON!!) plus the tiny little insignificant

fact that trees supply the oxygen we need to breathe. plus they release the CO2 they have been encapsulating once they are cut down

making the air quality worse. Exactly what is needed up in the north right now. smdh.

Compare how many trees there are in downtown Chiang Mai to any equivalent city in Europe and I would say Chiang Mai would top most. They may well go over the top when it comes to pruning but invariably the tree survives. Actually, killing a tree in Thailand is quite difficult as they mostly have a remarkable ability to survive.

In the last few weeks some roads in town have been magnificent with their almost flourescent yellow flowers. The flame trees will be in full bloom soon.

Fly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang and compare Thailand's tree-covered mountains to those in Laos, that have been stripped bare. Thailand introduced a logging ban about 20 years ago which has gone a long way to preserving it's forests. Sure, illegal logging happens, but not as much as it was before the ban.

Most European towns and cities have more trees than Chiang Mai I would say. If they got their act together and buried all those unsightly cables, they could actually have some tree lined streets.

All the main roads out of Chiang Mai used to be tree lined and all gone except the Nong Hoi rubber trees.

Talad Ton Payom (spot the Ton Payom) - no have, as gone many years ago. A lot of trees gone in the temple grounds as arboreal stuff not a big earner. A few big ones still hanging on around the moat .

[HooHaa]

A sad case on my school campus.

God only knows how old this venerable tree was before it was "pollarded." Last year it grew out struggling twigs and then gave up the ghost this year.ImageUploadedByThaivisa Connect1456936845.668429.jpg

Arbicide

i thought that killed pirates.

[Inyourendo]

I like this topic............most of you are urbanites.To the few who are not, you may or not agree ;-)

Trees are not just trees. Some are valuable and some are NCV (not commercially viable). Okay..my bias shows. Thais burn mountains and the trees survive because of the relatively low heat and the tree's inherited defences. In Australia the eucalyptus get tinged black and survive. Same in Thailand. Pruning.......severe pruning, is usually irrelevant. New growth sprouts. In China old trees have signs on them not to be cut down............but, damned, they are pruned for firewood to an extent that even I thought was extreme...........but they bounce back. Nothing makes any plant regenerate more than a threat to it's existence. The Thai system to most things is contrary to (especially) an urban Western point of view. However, their system has worked for generations.Easy to criticize, harder to appreciate.

Believe me, I am not an 'airy fairy' person. (Bloody far from that ).The Thai system works, because it continues to be able to exist. With respect...deal with it or piss off (smiley face).

.....Ken.

What a ridiculous comment ......

[canuckamuck]

If the trees don't like it they should just leave.

[Hatyaier]

I just planted 20 Teak trees around the perimeter of our land that our district provided for free. I'm looking forward to seeing them mature. (Only about 90 more years.)

Edited March 23, 2016 by Hatyaier