I have found that the combination of banana plants + ground cover (nasturtium is my favorite because we eat and juice this plant - highly medicinal)... This combination with organic material mulch on the surface is a recipe for creating a healthy soil condition..... Soil becomes light and fluffy with strong earthy tones.. Here we have deep red clay which is susceptible to compaction and runoff. Coastal Mediterranean climate. Keep up the good work gentlemen
Looks fantastic! I have seen a very similar improvement to the structure and fertility of the soil here just by adding organic matter here in the Mediterranean climate zone I live in. It seems like these techniques work everywhere as long as you make a few modifications to account for your local situation.
Good stuff as usual guys!! Love how the system has evolved and the soil health is building! And nice to see the coursework years later! A couple questions: the roots coming to the surface, does this sometimes lead to less stability eg for banana plants? Here in northern Uganda farmers dig deep holes (up to 1m deep) to plant their bananas in, and apparently it leads to the roots going deeper and the plants being more stable. Also, is there a high risk of fire during the dry season, and more specifically of that beautiful mulch catching fire? If there is, what do you guys do to mitigate that risk? Cheers and keep up the amazing work!
The organic matter covering the soil keeps it moist, so I don't think the chances of fire are too high. In the case of areas with grass, the ideal is to cut it before the beginning of the dry season. Preferably, one or two significant rains still fall, so that the grass turns green and therefore are more difficult to catch fire. About the instability for the plants, I haven't seen anything related to this in my studies of syntropic agriculture, so I don't think it's a problem. I know that the way to plant bananas is usually different tho, leaving the part with the shoot facing down to encourage the root to develop into a hook shape.
So it looks like to solve the low winter sun burning your coffee in the alleys you might periodically plant a tall element tree centered in that alley. Even a papaya or banana if you want something temporary to make shade.
You’re doing amazing & important work, thank you for your time and advice! Keep preaching the gospel homie!
Awesome!
I have found that the combination of banana plants + ground cover (nasturtium is my favorite because we eat and juice this plant - highly medicinal)... This combination with organic material mulch on the surface is a recipe for creating a healthy soil condition..... Soil becomes light and fluffy with strong earthy tones.. Here we have deep red clay which is susceptible to compaction and runoff. Coastal Mediterranean climate. Keep up the good work gentlemen
Looks fantastic! I have seen a very similar improvement to the structure and fertility of the soil here just by adding organic matter here in the Mediterranean climate zone I live in. It seems like these techniques work everywhere as long as you make a few modifications to account for your local situation.
Faltou incluir na playlist de follow up do curso
Good stuff as usual guys!! Love how the system has evolved and the soil health is building! And nice to see the coursework years later! A couple questions: the roots coming to the surface, does this sometimes lead to less stability eg for banana plants? Here in northern Uganda farmers dig deep holes (up to 1m deep) to plant their bananas in, and apparently it leads to the roots going deeper and the plants being more stable.
Also, is there a high risk of fire during the dry season, and more specifically of that beautiful mulch catching fire? If there is, what do you guys do to mitigate that risk?
Cheers and keep up the amazing work!
I would imagine not as there is so much shade created from the forest canopy
The organic matter covering the soil keeps it moist, so I don't think the chances of fire are too high.
In the case of areas with grass, the ideal is to cut it before the beginning of the dry season. Preferably, one or two significant rains still fall, so that the grass turns green and therefore are more difficult to catch fire.
About the instability for the plants, I haven't seen anything related to this in my studies of syntropic agriculture, so I don't think it's a problem.
I know that the way to plant bananas is usually different tho, leaving the part with the shoot facing down to encourage the root to develop into a hook shape.
So it looks like to solve the low winter sun burning your coffee in the alleys you might periodically plant a tall element tree centered in that alley. Even a papaya or banana if you want something temporary to make shade.
Yes bananas or even a bunch of mexican sunflower..