Thread: income from rubber trees

We are new me and my wife need some advise, we bought 115 rai in between mountains with pineapples on it, now we want to plant rubber trees and they advised us RRIM KT331 witch should give 500 kg a year.
Now I would like to know howmuch money I could make after 5 or 6 years and what about the costs for every year and does and donts. Can I put 100/120 trees on 1 Rai, 3.5 meter x 4 meter distance.

Please advise

RubberTay

Originally Posted by RubberTay

We are new me and my wife need some advise, we bought 115 rai in between mountains with pineapples on it, now we want to plant rubber trees and they advised us RRIM KT331 witch should give 500 kg a year.
Now I would like to know howmuch money I could make after 5 or 6 years and what about the costs for every year and does and donts. Can I put 100/120 trees on 1 Rai, 3.5 meter x 4 meter distance.

Please advise

RubberTay

OK I am a rubber planter and live and make my living from rubber. First never heard of that tree clone in Thailand, maybe it's a newer Malaysian clone, if so it will cost. Where are you as that will decide the tree type, rain fall wind ,soil, some trees are better suited to different areas.
100 rai is a lot of rubber and will cost you big bucks to plant and take care of. If you think or the Thais tell you no problem, no cost much. That means they will not take care of the trees and you will not get a good latex output, ergo you will make little money from a bunch of under preforming trees.
Just as a sample for costs over the 6, 7 years before you get a return. You need to buy a tractor, no use renting as it will cost more over the years. Fertilizer, round 200 bags a year at over 1000 Baht a bag add labor, which will be ongoing. If the wife's family say they will do it, they won't, it's years of hard work and no one works for free, even if they say they will cut the trees at 50% in the end. If they wanted to tap rubber at 40 or 50% they could do it now, I had to get my last tappers from the south as I can not find workers.
Before you start sit down and get a calculator and start adding and adding, everything costs, from rope to rubber cups, wear and tear on your pickup truck, tyres, fuel, poison and the list goes on.
As a word of warning, if you are not resident at or near your plantation, you will pay for everything and they will do nothing and the trees will be left to fend for them selves.
There is another forum and in the farming section, pinned rubbertrees I have a beginners guide to rubber growing on page one. I also have a blogg and a youtube channel just Google my name and issan rubber etc. Jim

Jim - before I cut my trees down I had a good Cambodian lad with me for 12 months and I had him on 20%. He thought he'd won lotto.

If you hunt around you can do better than 40 - 50%. Usual problems developed once he started talking to the Thais and decided he was worth more etc etc. Rubber started disappearing as you would know so I gave it away. 80% for me was great whilst it lasted!

I'm going to look at cocoa and coffee as alternatives when I get back from Aus.

Originally Posted by AUSSIE EXPAT

Jim - before I cut my trees down I had a good Cambodian lad with me for 12 months and I had him on 20%. He thought he'd won lotto.

If you hunt around you can do better than 40 - 50%. Usual problems developed once he started talking to the Thais and decided he was worth more etc etc. Rubber started disappearing as you would know so I gave it away. 80% for me was great whilst it lasted!

I'm going to look at cocoa and coffee as alternatives when I get back from Aus.

Wish I could find skilled tappers for less, but it is the law of supply and demand. Tapping is a skill and takes years to be really good. Bozzo the clown may work for less, but he will hurt the trees and get less latex out per tap. There are a lot of trees out there and people poach good tappers. Another thing to remember, even though the tappers make good money in the season, they still have to work for free in dormant period.
Don't have a theft problem here as I am around 24/7 and the families that work for me are here for a life time job, if they want.
Have had to fire some over the years, but that was mostly for total stupidity. One guy got drunk took my tractor for a 30 km drive to his home village and stayed drunk for 3 days.
Rubber is a good solid investment, as long as you have the time and money to do it right. It is no get rich scheme that's for sure and over the years I have seen many farangs who have handed over money and never seen a return at the end. Jim

^ I forgot to mention that one of the factories I used to sell to told me you can cut all year if you wish just cut one stop one. Make sure the trees were healthy which I supposed to mean fertilized and watered.

I did this towards the end and although the take was down a bit didn't seem to affect the trees. They bounced back to their "normal" after a while.

The reduced or no leaves just meant the flow slowed because of the sun - trees still had latex dormant or not.

Anyway food for thought.....

Originally Posted by AUSSIE EXPAT

^ I forgot to mention that one of the factories I used to sell to told me you can cut all year if you wish just cut one stop one. Make sure the trees were healthy which I supposed to mean fertilized and watered.

I did this towards the end and although the take was down a bit didn't seem to affect the trees. They bounced back to their "normal" after a while.

The reduced or no leaves just meant the flow slowed because of the sun - trees still had latex dormant or not.

Anyway food for thought.....

Won't work here, latex output falls like a rock after New Year. We go to 1 on 1 off, then 1 on 2 off. By the end of Feb there is not enough out put to justify the labour. After the leaf drop stop, not doing the trees any good in the long term. Jim

Well exactly I also don't know the price of rubber trees. I guess it will be little bit expensive. Anyways it is usually grown in the southern region. It is good if you plant commercial rubber tree as in output it will give large source of income.

A bit off topic but I noticed the kitchen cabinets I purchased are made of rubber tree wood. Seems more and more furniture is using the wood. Is there money to be made selling rubber tree wood?

Originally Posted by Norton

A bit off topic but I noticed the kitchen cabinets I purchased are made of rubber tree wood. Seems more and more furniture is using the wood. Is there money to be made selling rubber tree wood?

Some Malaysian rubber clones produce good large volume lumber. Sometimes sold as Malaysian oak.
As rubber is a plantation tree, no problem exporting, unlike teak etc which need permits from day one, Trouble with Thai rubber is the trees are for rubber production and don't have a big board foot lumber out put. So you get a lot less for the trees.
In 20 years when mine have had there day, my kids may get a nice little earner, if real wood is rare. Jim

Originally Posted by jamescollister

In 20 years when mine have had there day

That's what I understood. Trees are worth more as wood when there yield rate is past peak. Thanks for the answer.

Originally Posted by Norton

Originally Posted by jamescollister

In 20 years when mine have had there day

That's what I understood. Trees are worth more as wood when there yield rate is past peak. Thanks for the answer.

My pleasure to answer a sensible question on TD. On some other threats sensible questions and answers are few and far between. Jim