The agricultural fair that ended yesterday at Kasetsart University was a misnomer. Well, there were farm products alright, like rice from Surin, garlic and shallots from Si Sa Ket, sweet tamarind from Phetchabun, strawberries and some vegetables grown in Chiang Mai, as well as Manila tamarind and one or two fruits from elsewhere, but that was about all.
Orchids galore: Varities of ‘Phalaenopsis’ and ‘Rhynchostylis’ were plentiful at the fair, with some small specimens selling for 40 baht each.
Ready-made clothes, underwear, eyewear, footwear and cosmetics, the kind of which you will find in any market, are not farm crops nor do they have anything to do with agriculture. Yet, these are increasingly making their presence felt at the Kaset Fair, which is less and less living up to its name every year. At this year’s fair, there were food and non-agricultural products for sale even in the sections designated for plants.
“I do not blame the organisers,” a plant vendor said. “If they cannot rent out all the space to agriculturists, they have to fill it with others who are willing to pay the rent.” However, there were so many “fillers” that the plant sellers seemed to be fragmented, even in the blocks alloted to them.
As its name implies, Kasetsart University is first and foremost an agricultural university, although it now offers other courses as well. In the old days, the national agricultural fair that it hosts every year drew participants from all over the country, and fair-goers from far and near. In recent years, however, the university has increased the rent so much that only those who could afford 15,000 baht for a 3x3m space could sell at the fair.
I understand that the university has to put up tents, provide for electricity and water, dispose of rubbish daily and hire workers to clean up after the nine-day event. These all cost money, but I wonder if 1,700 baht a day is not too steep a rent for small growers. After all, farmers, orchard growers, plant nursery owners and breeders and their products are the life of the fair, not consumer goods and fried food, and I am afraid that making the fair a profit-making business for the university at the expense of agriculturists will one day kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
Bountiful bunch: Improved varieties of fruit and coconut trees that yield bigger and better produce were among the best sellers at the Kaset Fair.
The nursery owners who made it to the fair delivered what was expected of them, namely saplings of several improved varieties of fruit trees. These included jackfruit that bear huge fruit containing thick, sweet orange or red pulp instead of the usual yellow; guava with maroon, juicy fruit; mango with fruit weighing more than a kilogramme each. There were drumstick trees, called marum in Thai, and tamarind with fruits twice the normal size; dwarf coconuts with bunches of golden fruit numbering up to 20 per bunch; bananas with 15-18 hands per bunch instead of the usual six or seven; lime trees with bigger and more bountiful fruit; and calamondin and mulberry that bear fruit prolifically, to name just a few.
Despite the government-sponsored orchid market being held concurrently behind Government House, there were orchids galore at the Kaset Fair. I did not see many Dendrobium, but lovers of Phalaenopsis, or butterfly orchids, and Cattleya were not disappointed. But it was the Rhynchostylis orchids, collectively known in Thai as chang, that seemed to dominate the scene, not only because of their sweet fragrance but also their many different colours and colour combinations, not to mention sheer number.
There were more stalls selling Rhynchostylis than any other species of orchid. For plants that were already in bloom, prices depended on variety and size, but for growers willing to wait, or who would like to meet the challenge of making their plant bloom, small specimens were selling for 40 baht each, or three for 100 baht.
New blooms on the block: Sweet-smelling nerium from Hawaii and speckled roses are among the plants making a debut on the Thai gardening scene.
For gardeners looking for new ornamental plants, dwarf cannas with flowers in a variety of colour, including red, yellow, orange and peach, would make beautiful border plants or ground cover. Roses in many different forms and colours, some bright or dark red speckled with white, and hibiscus with flowers as big as plates were among the attractions at the fair.
New introductions from Australia and Hawaii were varieties of Mussaenda (or donya) and Nerium (yeeto), the latter with soft yellow, fragrant flowers. For those who missed the fair, Tukata Kiranyakocharoen (Tel: 08-5164-2800), who has several plants of Australian and Hawaiian origin in her stock, also sells at Chatuchak on Wednesdays.
Whether you bought an ornamental plant or fruit tree, you can only enjoy their beautiful flowers and harvest the promised fruit if you give them the same care that their former growers gave them. No plant wants soil that is soggy all the time, except water plants, so make sure the soil is well drained. The ideal planting medium is a mixture of loamy soil, leaf mould and chopped coconut husk or rice husk in equal amounts.
Water once a day when newly planted, and when the soil is dry to the touch once fully established. Apply a pinch of complete fertiliser (NPK 16-16-16) every two weeks, add more as the plant grows bigger, and change to NPK 8-24-24 when it is old enough to bear flower or fruit. Water generously after applying fertiliser. And remember that, except for orchids, which need to be in partial shade, all fruit trees and most flowering plants need full sun. n
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