Low land hobby farm

[anon4546543]

I have 3 small plots of land. 6 rai is above the water table level during the wet season. 6 rai is about 30 cm (1 foot) above the water table but becomes water logged if it is a really wet season. My house plot of 1 rai is in between. I live near the Kabinburi (Prachinburi) municipality and need information as to how best optimise the land. The high ground had tapioca and the low land grew maize. Both plots are high nutrient soils. The house plot runs about 30 white muscovy? ducks, 30 khaki campbell and 20 brown egg laying chickens. Lots of papaya, jack fruit, bamboo, bananas etc on the home plot. As a business it fails. Any information as to optimise the land would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

[djayz]

Mr Kie in the Farming forum started a great thread a few months ago about his farm and farming experiences, crops grown, livestock, etc. Maybe you'll get a few ideas from his thread. Check it out:

Good luck and keep us posted. 

[anon4546543]

Thanks for the link. But Mr Kie seems more out of his depth than I am. Thanks anyway and cheers

[kickstart]

To me this land sounds if it was old  rice paddeys ,how do you know if you have a high water table ,my land was old rice paddeys ,and regular  gets water logged  most years ,that is the idea  of rice paddys to keep the water in duing the wet season .

I have had my land for some years now  been try to think of ways of draining the land ,for me impossible ,no where for the water to go ,some parts I have sub soiled which has helped a lot ,brakes  up the pan under ground  and lets the water drain out ,but when you get 100mm of rain  in 3 days like we did last year ,any amount  drainage and  sub soiling   will not control that amount of rain .water still sits they for days

As the land is wet cassava not such a good idea ,does not like a lot of water, with a price of 1.60 baht/kg , not a not of money to be made ,maize  can stand a lot of water  but  again  price has been low ,and if you use  contractors to do all the work ,not a lot to  be made, a late crop of mung beans would work ,if you have some moisture in the soil after the maize  harvest ,some rice  farmers grow mung beans around here after  the rice harvest .

So   use the wet land, how about organic rice ?if they is a market near you ,  Hua-Hin  is not so far from you .

 My  2  Satangs  worth.  

[anon4546543]

Thank you kickstart. I have a small well/dam/pond my house land. This gives me an idea of how high the water table is yearly. And you are correct, the deep pond on the low land overflows in wet years but give up a small amount to keep some of the trees growing during the dry season. The lowland probably was rice paddys years ago but all the levies are gone. 

I will try your idea of maize once it starts to rain, followed by mung beans. If nothing else, the ducks and chickens can eat both. I will check out organic rice, I have never grown that crop. Any clues as to what may be the best variety.

I had thought of raising boer goats. Using the high ground for wet season pasture and the low ground to grow legumes, maize and alfalfa. What do you think? Cheers and thanks 

[kickstart]

Rearing  goats are ok ,but feed is the problem ,especially  during the dry season  when I would say  you will  cut and carting all the feed to them , around  here are a few goat farms  ,and I regularly  see pick ups loaded with the  tree  legume  Leucaena  Leucocephale, "Gratin" in Thai , a good feed for goats,   goats are browsers  and will eat anything ,including your garden if you do not have good fences around it .I do not think alfalfa will grow in Thailand ,to hot .plenty of other grasses that will grow ,

Goats  do not like wet land ,you will get foot problems ,and  clostridia  diseases ,plus worm problems ,if as you say  your  land is wet  , you will have problems ,if you  Google  goats Thailand ,and look at some of the sheds ,most will be on a raised platform ,keeps  the goats dry in the wet season.

As for  organic rice variety, not my field ,look at back reports  in tv ,they will be something there .

[anon4546543]

To kickstart, thanks again for the good info. I will look up Leucaena  Leucocephale. Sounds like a key food for me to grow. I think I mentioned that I have (sorry my wife now owns) 6 rai of high ground that has been used to grow tapioca. It is quite mild here now and I think alfalfa may do well. I won't say who got me a kilo of seed but it was not me that imported it. It is doing well in garden pots and now needs to be transplanted. I started building a raised goat house today. But it may become a raised duck house. The wife grows crickets and scorpions. She is making more money off the land than I am. sigh

[fruitman]

Grow Inga Edulis (ice cream bean), they can stand long draught, flooding, grow fast, produce fast, fix nitrogen in the soil and are sweet great food....

 

My wife might have a few tree's for sale in 2 weeks, not sure.

[jvs]

11 minutes ago, fruitman said:

Grow Inga Edulis (ice cream bean), they can stand long draught, flooding, grow fast, produce fast, fix nitrogen in the soil and are sweet great food....

 

My wife might have a few tree's for sale in 2 weeks, not sure.

Please let me know if you have some available,would really like to plant some here,Cha-am area.

[fruitman]

7 minutes ago, jvs said:

Please let me know if you have some available,would really like to plant some here,Cha-am area.

 

They are very hard to find in Thailand, saw only 1 on the kasetsart fair and it costed 2500 baht...

 

My wife has some seeds now but wants to see how many come up....they can fruit in 2 years and give beans from a meter long.

They are the real inga edulis, not another one she said...was very hard to get.

 

 

http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=991

[jvs]

36 minutes ago, fruitman said:

 

They are very hard to find in Thailand, saw only 1 on the kasetsart fair and it costed 2500 baht...

 

My wife has some seeds now but wants to see how many come up....they can fruit in 2 years and give beans from a meter long.

They are the real inga edulis, not another one she said...was very hard to get.

 

 

http://www.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=991

Very nice to read about this tree,Dokmai garden used to have them also but it is now closed.

 

[fruitman]

13 minutes ago, jvs said:

Very nice to read about this tree,Dokmai garden used to have them also but it is now closed.

 

Dogmaigarden writes the beans become 20 cm, that's not inga edulis i guess...but there are more icecreambeans, 2-300 varieties, not all are that good to eat though.

 

It's the perfect crop for Thailand i would think, drought, flooding, hot, sweet, easy.....sounds like the ideal tree. And beans from a meter long are also great attractions for tourists.

 

If i were you i would try to grow them...maybe the buses full of chinese come your way to buy them haha.

 

I hope the tree's grow well, she has seeds who arrived this week. She loves cotton candy (that's how they taste) and the seeds also can be roasted and eaten.

 

But there's more fruit which can be grown in thailand, we have some more new ones but the icecream bean is one of the favorits.

 

This guy also likes them, he has smaller ones though.

 

 

[jvs]

www.nanagarden.com

They also say they have them but i do not know which variety.