Thread: What's in your garden?

Originally Posted by JPPR2

Every 2 to 3 months I have these caterpillar's show up and assault my hedges. I can see their crap on the walkway so I know they are having a feast. They can easily destroy an entire hedge in a few weeks as they are voracious eaters and quite big 3 to 4" long. I destroyed 21 of them today and fed them to the birds with the help of my Dog Judy who can sniff them out. They have perfect camouflage for their environment

I found three this morning. They had already chomped half of a pot plant that the gf has been tending carefully, so she is well pleased. Also she has a genuine phobia about caterpillars, she went into the house while I rescued these. I had to prune the plant, their grip is so strong they wouldn't come willingly. Despite the gf's urging to squash them I relocated them in some forest nearby.
They really are tricky to spot, for something so big. The ones I found today are still small, I have seen massive ones.

Dirk: We get some kind of wee sour fruits from this one, they start green then ripen red

Is that Mao berry (Antidesma bunius)?

Mao berry is supposed to be easy to grow, I had some cuttings and they just died.

Just checked with the Mrs, they are surinam cherries (red).

She's hacked it down in size as it was getting out of control.

Originally Posted by Shutree

Yes the big ones have a power grip for sure and can destroy a plant in no time. They sure are pretty looking and camouflaged incredibly well. But my wife like your GF absolutely freaks out over them and would prefer I off them. However I do not kill them outright, I give them a chance by putting them out. Birds usually make short work of them.

Surinam Cherry:

Eugenia uniflora - Wikipedia

Not exactly in but across the road in some scrub on an empty lot. About 20m away. A pair.

To elusive for a phone picture



Greater Coucal

^ Their call is fantastic.

^Yes The Greater Red Eye Coucal. Beauty bird. As I am typing this 2 of them are calling away in the tree out front. We have 2 nesting pairs. They would prefer to run rather than fly

Well on this wonderful holiday and with no conference call I walked the compound to check on a few things.



Our next round of Tortoise eggs are hatching. Have a mix of 2 month old with 3 days. I set them out in controlled grass area to feed.




Not sure how to spell this but its a fruit and if they get a bit bigger my wife knocks a few down and makes some desert. This tree was on its last leg a few years ago and with some big effort saved it and now it is huge and offers a ton of shade. The leaves are really nice looking



This plant has found a new home by the pool bar and loves it. My daughter said in the US people will spend over $1k for a plant like that. I said they are basically free here.







My wife moved her various species of Lotus flowers over to the pool Sala area. She had been growing them out back.



This is my favorite LeeLawdee tree. I have take care of this and have since planted. I keep trimming it back and now it is very full and offers great shade.



I hate these pyscho bastards. They are little wasps of some sort and are very aggressive and attack sting in a pack. I usually try and leave them be but when they are in a walkway area they have to go as you brush by them and they attack.



After the dogs and I walked the compound, my Lab puppy gathered up all her toys and said "OK Lets play fetch now".....

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Not exactly in but across the road in some scrub on an empty lot. About 20m away. A pair.

To elusive for a phone picture



Greater Coucal

I had one wandering about my sad excuse for a lawn this morning. The dogs were inside so it had plenty of time to look around. I'm not sure what it was looking for, maybe it could eat those unwelcome caterpillars.
I saw one a while back in the rice fields with a snake in its beak. They seem to eat pretty much anything.

Originally Posted by Shutree

I'm not sure what it was looking for, maybe it could eat those unwelcome caterpillars.

They love those big caterpillars. The Coucals around our place snap up the one's I toss out and I have seen them running away with them.

Originally Posted by JPPR2

Coucal.

Fairly frequently seen around our place. I had no idea what they were called until I read it here.

It seems the English and US English pronunciations are very different.

Something like 'Kawkl' and 'Kookal'.

What do you do with those tortoises JP?

Originally Posted by cyrille

Fairly frequently seen around our place. I had no idea what they were called until I read it here.

It seems the English and US English pronunciations are very different.

Something like 'Kawkl' and 'Kookal'.

It is a member of the cuckoo family and like the English cuckoo its name is onomatopoeic. I always say it kookal.

Originally Posted by Shutree

like the English cuckoo its name is onomatopoeic.

Yes, so I wonder what it is known as to Thais - perhaps something similar.

Also known as a Crow Pheasant.

Originally Posted by Shutree

I had one wandering about my sad excuse for a lawn this morning. The dogs were inside so it had plenty of time to look around. I'm not sure what it was looking for, maybe it could eat those unwelcome caterpillars.
I saw one a while back in the rice fields with a snake in its beak. They seem to eat pretty much anything.

When they are hanging around my garden they seem to be attracted to shiny retrievable items, a la magpie mentality.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Yes, so I wonder what it is known as to Thais - perhaps something similar.

The Thai name for the Greater Coucal is นกกระปูดใหญ่ (nok gra-put yai) but I have heard Thais refer to it as nok gra-put dtaa deng (นกกระปูดตาแดง) red eyed coucal, distinguishing it from the Lesser Coucal (nok gra-put lek - นกกระปูดเล็ก) which doesn't have red eyes.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Yes, so I wonder what it is known as to Thais - perhaps something similar.

Greater coucal

In Thai: นกกระปูดใหญ่, nok kra-pud yai

according to our friend the Internet.

Greater coucal (Centropus sinensis)

The girlfriend says the 'kra-pud' has no special meaning, so I guess it is borrowed from the sound. She also sings a song about it, I don't know what it says but it sounds very jolly.

My earliest and longest serving friend on this mortal coil moved to Dornoch when his parents split then after school moved to Glasgow and formed a band. The call themselves The Balladeers. Here is a link to one of their tracks, aptly named, The Garden.

You can link off it to some of their other tracks. Recommended.

Psychadelic Rock, inspired mostly by the doors plus many more.

Originally Posted by cyrille

What do you do with those tortoises JP?

We sell them to an exporter in BKK. He buys all of them. He already gave us a deposit for this hatch. We also sell some local as well.

We are in discussions with selling one of our big males. A guy in Rayong has a mature female now but cannot find a mature male. We have 3. They need to be about 7 years old to be considered mating mature. We have one very dominate male that weighs 36kgs. He chases the other males all over our property and routinely flips them over in battle. We would keep him albeit he fits his name I gave him of "Monster". Truth is we like all them and it's hard to sell a pet. We also have a rescue tortoise given to us. It's about 2 years old. Very hard to tell gender. I think it's a female. It is a funny thing as it's so small when it walks by the big males but they do not seem to bother it which leads me further to think its a female. Time will tell.

Originally Posted by JPPR2

We sell them to an exporter in BKK. He buys all of them. He already gave us a deposit for this hatch.

Handy! They are handsome shells.

Originally Posted by cyrille

Handy! They are handsome shells.

While I do not know the end for every one I do know that these are sold to pet stores as the exporter showed us pics of them in various reptile stores. Good thing, Sulcata Tortoises have no real appeal for eating or grinding up the shell for some penis enhancement..