Somphop’s Cactus House: A succulent haven in Bangkok

In my last article, I talked about the Cactus and Succulent Society’s visit to world-renowned Chatuchak market to marvel at the beautiful plants available there on "Plant Day." The society members also had the chance to visit three of the best C&S nurseries around Bangkok. For today’s column, I will feature one such visit, to possibly the largest commercial grower of C&S in Bangkok, Somphop Tantiveerakul’s Cactus House in Prasamutjedee, a suburb of Bangkok.

For that special Friday when we did the three-nursery visit, Khun Somphop played our guide and host. A meeting time of 8:30 a.m. at the Arnoma Hotel lobby was set, and Somphop was there bright and early. Unfortunately, he did not account for our penchant for Filipino time. So while some of the members were there on time, a few were not. It wasn’t till close to 9:30 a.m. that the group finally departed via a rented tourist bus.

Somphop’s Cactus House was the last one we visited that day, but I sure wish it had been the first. Somphop’s lakeside property is vast. Besides a multi-story building fronting the entrance, there is, from what I could discern, a large steel milling factory almost spanning the length of the property. At the end of the property are three huge tunnel greenhouses that contain nothing but mouthwatering cacti and succulents. These are the biggest C&S greenhouses I have ever seen.

Right at the entrance to this plant haven, certain society members were already getting a bit "delusional" with what they saw – really finely grown echinocactus (Golden Barrel), pachypodium and other succulents growing in open beds by the lake. Inside each of the greenhouses are rows upon rows of beautifully reared cacti and succulents, from great rarities like ariocarpus and pelecyphora, to grafted astrophytum hybrids. As many C&S are slow growers, grafting is an effective method for speeding up the growth process of many succulent rarities. Once these grafts achieve a certain size, they can be cut and rooted and look like normally grown plants. Somphop is a master at the art of grafting.

Somphop also has a wonderful selection of very rare Mexican globular cacti, many of which were imported from Japan. I asked Khun Somphop what his growing secrets are. For growing mix, here is his standard formula for easier-to-grow cacti like gymnocalyciums and ferocactus: 2 parts coconut coir, 1/2 part burned rice hull/charcoal, 1/2 part river sand, and (are you ready for this?) 1/2 part well-aged (at least three months, I am told) human waste. Human waste! You read it right. Some of the Society members cringed at the idea, but really, when human waste is well-rotted and aged, it provides a much more nutritious organic fertilizer than cow, horse or chicken manure. Now, to this mixture, he adds a slow time-release fertilizer like osmocote.

For the more water-sensitive and slower-growing species like ariocarpus, turbinicarpus and other Mexican rarities, Somphop takes one-part of the above mixture and adds another part (or 50 percent) of small-grained pumice as extra drainage to ensure that water does not remain stagnating inside the pot.

Somphop uses plastic pots exclusively. During the summer months, he waters twice a week. For the rest of the year, he waters once a week. If you notice from the photos, he employs a very high-ceilinged greenhouse design to maximize air circulation, which is critical to C&S health. He also uses extensive shading material (in this case, a black mesh) to provide additional shading for his wards.

Somphop feels that his plants grow better and do not scorch if they have extra protection from the sun. Of course, one must bear in mind the location of Somphop’s greenhouses, which are unobstructed by buildings and other sunlight impediments. So in this case, the extra shading is really needed. However, if you have a greenhouse growing by the side of your house and buffeted by walls (like I do), I already don’t get enough sunlight or air circulation in the first place. If I were now to employ additional shading, my plants would grow even more droopy and weaker and etiolated. So it is important to bear this in mind.

Somphop has been growing C&S for 15 years now and has made this his livelihood and passion in life. Together with his partner Tong, they have established what probably is the largest C&S venture in this part of the world. This has clearly involved a lot of study, trial and error, and tender, loving care. The society thanks Khun Somphop for taking time out to host us that day. We hope we can visit Somphop’s Cactus House (www.sp-cactushouse.com) again sometime soon.

I will discuss the other two nursery visits in future articles.

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