Southern Oil Palm and Rubber Plantations - Page 2 - Ajarn Forum

Nick · 17th July 2008, 16:39

Fair play to you mate. You're minted, married to a great gal and enjoy what you do.

You do sound like a bemused pensioner half the time though.

LeedsLeedsLeeds · 17th July 2008, 16:48

Thanks Nick mate, you'll see for yourself soon enough as we'll be up in Bkk next month.

Quote:

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

those big black hairy spiders that live in large holes in the ground.

Here's an absolutely stunningly beautiful tarantula just for you Russ. I dug this one out of the ground at my plantation. This particular species is Ornithoctonus aureotibialis and is most commonly found in Surat Thani and Phang-Nga provinces:

Here's a palm tree after only one year:

Then two years, just to give you all a vague idea of the growth rate:

jonny danger · 17th July 2008, 16:57

I met a guy in Costa Rica who bought 10 hectares of hill-side land for a song (not good for building homes). He planted teak saplings a meter apart and lived there in a shack 6 months a year. He got rich, very rich in a matter of a few years. He so rich he doesn't write back to me any more. Leeds on the other hand is the most cordial of chaps and just as rich. Good onya Leeders.

Killing Me Softly 101 · 17th July 2008, 17:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeedsLeedsLeeds

As for the problems faced so far the biggest has been with rats eating and destroying our young trees.

Do southerners eat bbq rat. When in Lao, always had to check the "chicken" for tails. LOL

LeedsLeedsLeeds · 17th July 2008, 17:22

No, but the Isarn labourers do.

Killing Me Softly 101 · 17th July 2008, 17:26

Great Pictures by the way!

Tried to green you but:
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to LeedsLeedsLeeds again.

wildchris · 17th July 2008, 17:48

Know nothing about palm trees, new to BKK but all I can say is fantastic pics, sounds like you're well sorted, and deserve to be, and the VERY best of luck for you and all who sail there!

Sissy · 17th July 2008, 18:01

Great photos LLL and Nana looks very cute with the little palm tree. The spider photo kinda freaks me out I just frozed when I see them.

Matthew · 17th July 2008, 18:48

Fantastic. I've got a million questions and will ask them all after Batman.

Umbuku · 17th July 2008, 20:14

Truly you have a nice little earner going there leeds. Well done.

I wouldn't be concerned about the price dropping. The demand for biological based fuels is only going to go up for a long time to come. Competition may slow the growth down but I would be looking at the replanting crop for the future and then another crop as well so that you always have a cash flow rotating between farms.

happychappy · 18th July 2008, 00:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew

Fantastic. I've got a million questions and will ask them all after Batman.

That's uncanny, how did you know Batman was gonna post next

likewise · 18th July 2008, 12:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeedsLeedsLeeds

Due to the favourable response to my plantation photos on the 'Posters Pics' thread I'm going to give you all a tour of my plantations. Five years ago I got the idea in my head to get out of teaching, so I asked my in-laws to keep an eye out for some land and finally after a year of waiting a plot of about 100 rai became available for a very reasonable price. 40 for me and 60 for the in-laws (to be split amongst their children as an inheritance). The in-laws were, at first, reluctant to let me get too involved as they were worried that locals might try to take advantage of me but their fears were unfounded and we all spent two years working weekends in order to establish palm plantations. This was fairly difficult as both The Wife and I were teachers and the in-laws had their wholesale business to run but we learned a lot by working seven days a week for those two years.

Our typical daily routine involved getting up at dawn, driving an hour up the highway, then working until dusk. Here's day one, cutting down the banana plants that covered most of the land:

Apologies for the poor quality of the photos but these were in the pre-digital days when film still ruled (still does for me but I have to move with the times). Here we have a newly planted palm tree and it is possible to see the little wire cage that we had to use in order to stop the rats eating the trees. The core (or 'head') of the oil palm is sweet and nutritious and we lost a lot of trees to rats:

Half of my plantation is on a slope and the palm trees are hardly visible at this point:

This is the view of the other half of my plantation, the whole area is surrounded by a kind of horse-shoe of limestone mountains so we have privacy up here as this is the end of the road:

Here's the cute wee hut that we had built for us and the mature trees on part of the in-laws plantation. Our hut cost us the princely sum of 4,000 baht and was a lovely little place while it lasted as we often went camping up there, cooking food on an open fire and drinking whisky. Sadly the termites have destroyed it now:

As you can see it really was a very comfortable resting place but the mosquitos were an ever-present annoyance:

Further down the hill we have part of the in-laws plantation and a great view:

Here is where we washed every week for two years, it is a beautiful spot and we had hoped to build a house here but the area is just too remote:

I hope that you enjoyed this glimpse into my life down here in the wonderfully lush and fertile province of Surat Thani.

Nice pics man

.

Rubberneck · 18th July 2008, 14:01

I was very interested reading about your plantation (not being sarcastic) and wondered about irrigation and pesticides. How much maintenance do the plants need and is this expensive?Cheers

LeedsLeedsLeeds · 18th July 2008, 14:16

No irrigation is required as the area has a lot of rainfall throughout the year. Also during the summer there is normally a very heavy dew in the mornings.

As for pesticides, the only pest that we have (apart from the rats) is weeds (mainly bindweed). For the first two years we either cut the weeds by hand or sprayed weed-killer on them but now the trees are big enough to stop the sunlight from reaching the ground so the weeds don't grow so quickly. I never wanted to use pesticides but it really was necessary in the beginning because cutting them by hand only kept them at bay for a matter of weeks whereas spraying them would keep them at bay for a couple of months. I use organic fertiliser made from guano (bat poo). My Father-in-law insists on using chemical fertiliser on his plantation but then he is old skool and does things the way that they have always been done.

The trees themselves don't need much maintenance, just checking for evidence of gnawing by the rats and righting if they have been blown over in a storm during the first two years. For the first two years my Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, the Wife and I did everything ourselves but now we hire Isarn labourers at 200 baht per day per person.

stfranalum · 18th July 2008, 14:20

thanks for sharing mate!

that view is amazing