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a. boozer

We have just purchased a few rai of what is essentially hill land, near Ban Chang (Rayong). The soil is extremely sandy, and there is currently cassava (man sahm bpa lang), growing. Not being farmers, once this has been harvested, we would like to plant trees, to prevent, as much as possible, soil erosion. Obviously, the requirement is for trees with roots which will spread well and provide a good key to the ground. Can any TD members please assist and come up with practical suggestions? We will shortly be commencing building a new home, near the peak of this land, so the preservation of the soil is of particular importance.

JoGeAr

I have heard that cassava plants poison the soil and nothing else can grow for 5 years or so, but just had a quick look on the net and can't find anything about this.

Cassava - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carnwadrick

Don't know anything about the Cassava tree poison...but if you are just looking to prevent soil erosion plant eucalyptus trees, they have a top root that holds the dirt on top and a deep root that will stabalize hill movement..create a well or dam around the planting area so that each tree gets lots of water in the early stages..after rooted the tree will help prevent erosion and slippage and if you need firewood there is nothing better than the eucalyptus.take care of the tree for three years and it will look after you for thirty my old father used to tell me

Thetyim

Eucalypts draw a tremendous amount of water from the soil.

You will not be able to grow anything else near them

artist

Try rubber trees after 5 years you can tap them and earn relatively good money

Loombucket

Tong Sak (sp.) is a nice hardwood. Grows straight up, with no major branches, and has big leaves. Worth a fortune after ten years, bladdy huge after twenty. I have a pic, somewhere.

sunsetter

i was going to ucalyptus, but the others sound like a good idea, especially the hardwood, got me thinking now......

SunTzu

If you are anything inclined to respect environment, please DO NOT plant eucalyptus : they destroy soil texture, will eliminate most other plants, are not friendly to animals, and draw huge quantities of water... Not eco-friendly.

Not sure for the best plants to use, but before planting trees you could already have grasses grow, for they will provide a very dense root network, and offer better coverage of a large area.

An alternative is a natural fiber equivalent of geotextile, available at around 20b/m2, to use up until 60degrees slopes.
(have to look up the name in my documentation, will get back to you)

ST

Happyman

When I was working on a Euc plantation in Vietnam ( doing fire protection survey) I was amazed to be told that a 6" dia tree needed 10 liters of water a day !

El Gibbon

Have studied this myself and the only conclusion I came to, referring to the "problems" of eucalyptus, was they do suck up the water. The rest of the statement is not substantiated by scientific fact that I know of. Stand to be corrected by that's what my research resulted in.

Lots of rumors and horror stories but little fact behind most of it. Being a water sponge CAN be a damaging side affect.

E. G.

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Sir Burr

If you are only looking at holding the soil together and not a cash crop, how about casurina. It does exactly the same job on most tropical coast-lines.

Thetyim

I don't think the Koalas will agree with that

SunTzu

According to my sources, they are just about the only ones, Eucalyptuses plantations seeming to be one of the poorest biotopes as far as biodiversity goes... but that may well be rumours.

El Gibbon, can't PM you yet, but I'd be interested to confront facts and fiction. Do you have any links/docs, or else that could do the trick ?

Tnx

DrAndy

try growing palms

date palms may well like that environment

or oil palms, they grow a lot of those in Thailand

El Gibbon

It was several years ago I'm afraid. However, if you really are interested check out the farming thread on Thai Visa ( the only thread on that site that is worth reading), some very knowledgeable folks there and the back and forth on eucalyptus was enlightening and started me on my search for more info.

E. G.

EDIT: Travel the highway from Chonburi to Chantaburi and you'll see several areas of mixed use with eucalyptus next to sugar, fruit, rubber, tapioca etc. eucalyptus has a bad rep with the greenies but the actual farmers seem to be OK with it.

SunTzu

I'll do just that, tnx

I haven't paid attention when I passed on that road a few years ago. Elsewhere in Thailand, I have quite a few times seen Eucalyptuses growned on land boundaries.
Having a few trees here and there would not cause a real problem, that becomes quite clear when planted as a large area single crop. Then, the decomposing leaves start degrading the soil structure, pretty much the same as coniferous do back home.
I heard it from a friend who usually knows these kinds of things, so actual scientific knowledge would be welcome.

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Anyways, to prevent water runs and erosion, the best is to develop a dense roots network, and trees alone are not sufficient. Grass or ground covers should be used in conjunction.