From YankeePerm@aol.com Wed Dec 1 13:05:27 1999 Date: Wed, 1 Dec 1999 07:52:59 EST From: YankeePerm@aol.com To: darrenh@lineone.net, ogs@iname.com, permaculture@envirolink.org Subject: Re: New project In a message dated 11/30/99 3:49:50 PM, ogs@iname.com writes: << I have recently entered partnership in a five acre dig your own christmas tree plantation. The plantation in question is mainly planted with Norway spruce the last planting being made 3 yrs. ago. There are many large trees 10ft.+ (apparently low demand) And the stock has been badly managed ... bad planting methods (too close together, no soil preparation), insufficient weed control using strimmers (slow and mishaped growth.) damage from aphids and a bad pesticide spraying program. A high proportion of the trees are badly mishapen and not realy fit for sale. There are two small area's of nordsman firs in the field (200-300 trees). I am very interested in using methods that would avoid the use of chemicals. I have also been toying with the idea of using sheep to keep the grass down and planting other species of christmas tree to limit pest damage. We are also keen to diversify into other area's we have considered growing willows for wood and plants with attractive foiliage for selling An area has been cleared for planting. We intend to rotavate incorperating some rotted horse manure then broadcast sow green manures and predetor attracting plants then plant into this using cardboard matts around each tree to suppress competiton. My partner started to dig a pond last summer using his very old JCB which broke down but has now been fixed we're waiting for the clay soil (6"-12" top soil) to dry out so we can get onto the field again and finish it off. We are currently operating on a very low budget and time is also a bit of a problem as we both have full time jobs Any suggestions of what else to grow or do with the land and advice on any of the above would be much appreciated We have good access to the land and a public footpath runs down one side seperated by a mixed hedge Yours Darren Hill (ogs@iname.com) Surrey U.K.>> Hi Darren: As a permaculturist formerly in the Christmas tree business, possibly I have a useful suggestion or two. First, do you really WANT to grow Christmas trees in which you devote the vegetative powers of the Earth to producing a decoration used for one day? I know that this is what you have GOT now but I'm thinking transition. Most permaculture design is about transition. If you will consider a replacement crop, then you open up the entire situation to really delightful design possibilities. These would basically come up through the Christmas trees and take over as you harvest them. For example, black walnut is a high value timber that produces a cash crop (nuts) as it grows to timber size. You can timber, eventually, all but the best bearing trees and keep these for the nuts if you have developed a good market. If there is a demand for firewood, black locust is a good soil improver and outstanding fuel, burning hotter than most oak species and growing much faster. it is also a suitable nurse crop for forest or nut trees and some fruit trees. Personally, I'd get out of Christmas trees by not replanting as I harvest and get some tree crops coming up through them that are not commonly grown but that could represent a good market. This is an involved design that needs to be site specific, specific to your interests and abilities, and compatible with (potential) markets while it takes care of your soil--well the Earth's soil--we just get to use it for a while. Now those big trees have some possibilities. First, seldom can you restore a tree that has not been properly pruned (for Christmas tree standards). Cut and chip any such trees. Leave the bottom whorl of branches which you can bend up to start growing "new trees." Once you see how they do, leave only what the space can produce--one, maybe two, rarely three new "trees" (which are still the original tree, of course.) You can also do this if you cut tall trees for the tops, which tend to be better formed. If the tree is hopeless, just chip it. You know blueberries thrive in and around Christmas trees and can be just the thing to replace them, particularly if you would be interested in a pick-your-own operation. (This also gets people into see your Christmas trees and increases the on-site sales, far more profitable than wholesaling to the city.) Currants and gooseberries will take a lot of shade, too, especially while getting established, and are well appreciated in the UK, as you know. Bramble fruits naturally come in when land has been cut over--you can introduce select varieties. Brambles and some tree crops do best if you have a local market where the fruit does not need to be much handles. (Pick blackberries and raspberries directly into retail containers.) An american species of fruit, pawpaw (Asimina triloba) REQUIRES shade to get established and but does fine in full sun once up and running. It is a slow starter but you have all those other options for it to come up through that can be producing food in the meanwhile. The fruit can be as good as the best mango or peach though distinctly different from either. Then there are value added crops, such as hawthorns which, simply soaked in alcohol for a few months, acquire a very high value sold by the ounce for angina, varicose veins, etc. It is very effective over the long haul. One group of hawthorns, the mayhaws, produces a fruit that can be sold to new markets. While you develop the market for fresh fruit, you make tinctures of your surplus. Ad infinitum. In the UK, there is no better source of such information than Agroforestry Research Trust. Maybe someone else on this list will supply the address--my computer will not open that file unless I restart a different way--something I've got to get around to fixing. In addition, if your trees get large enough, they may be suitable for production of edible fungi. While most such species of fungi like hardwoods, some can be grown on softwoods. Again, this is quite profitable and you may find your fungi production bringing in 10 to 100 times as much income as a Christmas tree from the same space. There are a number of edible-fungi web sites and a very good treatment of the species in Cornucopia II by Facciola. (We can supply that book--please email me privately.) You would let the trees get 8 to 10 inches (20-25 cm), cut in the spring and wait a specified period, then innoculate without further delay. The tree contains a natural fungicide which takes time to break down. Then you need to pounce on it before wild fungi infect it. Some fungi are also grown on softwood chips. If you use trees to nurse replacement crops while the original trees size up, have a mind to how you will fell them without damaging the new planting. Believe it or not, this is forgotten more often than remembered. Of course you can limb stems with a pole saw before felling, so that will reduce the area you need to reserve for the tree to fall onto. In replacing a plantation, take care to think about your work flow. Learn at least enough about each potential crop to know when the work will come. With berries, pick-your-own marketing can really limit the work bulges to counting your money! If you invest in fencing, or dense thorny hedges, you can partition the fields so that you get the easy-to-pick flush of berries and then open it to pick-your-own folks. You need to allow a bit more room than you would require if you harvested everything yourself. A lot of your customers will be enthusiastic but clumsy. By the way, thinking of value added, don't forget wreaths for the Christmas season made with boughs that you harvest with a pole saw from the overgrown trees. One or two holly trees cut for decorative bits will serve as they bush out after being cut. And plant some yews for the same reason and for the taxol made from their bark. you need to check with ART to learn if the traditional British species have good taxol content or if you need to get American species. The species commonly used comes from Western part of North America with climate similar to much of the UK. The Eastern species has been measured high in taxol but I don't know if the processors have learned to accept it. Taxol is an anti-cancer agent in high demand. You also need to check to see if synthetic manufacture has eliminated the market for the natural stuff. Enough ideas? If you want help doing a full permaculture design for your place, one of many ways to get it is to sign on to our online permaculture design course. Oh, yes. Sheep will work too, but are relatively low value. On the other hand, you won't have to quit your present job to count your money. I would like your permission to reprint this post to my class, actually. I can send what I wrote, of course, but would like to include your letter. For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since 1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and annual correspondence courses via email. Our online course began Oct. 24, late registrations accepted. Copyright, 1999, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA. Internships. YankeePerm@aol.com We don't have time to rush. A list by topic of all Yankee Permaculture titles may be found at http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalog.html Elfin Permaculture programs are listed at the Eastern Permaculture Teachers assn home page: http://home.ptd.net/~artrod/epta/eptahmp.html