Have a look on our ongoing research on what to do with mimosa and share you ideas! community.projectkamp.com/research/can-we-turn-invasive-trees-mimosa-into-something-useful
Trees are important carbon sinks. This radical cutting down of trees is the last straw for me, I will not continue to support the project, this is not sustainable living.
@@ramdas363 Are you dense? They have explained multiple times in multiple videos that mimosa trees exacerbate forest fires. They don't act as good carbon sinks if they burn themselves and the surrounding forest down. Besides which mimosa are invasive and prevent the growth of other trees like the native oak trees (MUCH better carbon sinks sinks oaks will sequester their carbon centuries whilst mimosa are lucky to live 20 years). Educate yourself before condeming people who know more than you.
pull the cut stumps and burn them ... get as many of the roots near the stump as possible ... this will limit regrowth as well as provide a great log for a bonfire to cook a pig on or side of beef etc ...
Everyone: "Aww look at the wee little oak baby" Oak sapling: "YES. Shower me in the flayed skin of my enemies. Build me shelter from their bones. Yesss."
I guess you don't agree with the concept of ecosystems and native vs invasive species then? Human intervention brought mimosa to Spain and Portugal likely to make a profit. What you see is the unintended consequence of that human action - mimosa on the way to making the native forest system extinct. And you are OK with that eventuality?
@@stevejohnstonbaugh9171 It's important that we not create delusions about "natural" systems. All of the native trees you see in northern latitudes are 'new' colonization since the Last Glacial Maximum, with the tree species proceeding gradually north every year. If wholesale extermination of the invaders is not a feasible goal, then you have to consider exactly what you want out of the ecosystem, not just "MAKE IT LIKE BEFORE". It's a process of ecological design, not conservation or restoration. In this case, if you can't kick mimosas out, mimosas are dominant over the local biome, and your highest priority is that you don't want fire-prone stands, then you NEED some other not-labor-intensive control on the mimosa. A lot of fire-prone fast-growing trees find themselves killed off in older forests by fire-tolerant slow-growing trees. Others by various insect or fungal pests, or by mammal grazers, or by a local human population that keeps setting things on fire. These are things to carefully consider, because the controls might be invasive or destructive themselves; But trying to control an invader using a simple "Conservation Plot" approach is trying to hold back the tide. It can't just extend to your property line, that isn't really ecological control in the anthropocene.
@@stevejohnstonbaugh9171 Human intervention inflicted cats upon us and they need to be culled just like mimosa or any other invasive species. You can't just let invaders kill everything. We have to be responsible humans.
Input: The debarking is dangerous because you will have very tall dead trees that will be even more prone to burning. You will have a canopy of highly flammable material. That method takes too long to remove a fire hazard & instead increases the fire hazard. Please remove those trees as soon as you can. The only benefit of debarking is preventing re-sprouting from the base. Not enough benefit for the process. To prevent re-sprouting, cut trunk close to the ground and drill into the remaining stump as deeply as you can. The drilling replaces painting or dousing with a poison to kill the "heart" of the tree. This way there is no need to remove the stumps. My 2 cents from a prior landscaping business point of view.
Debarking is a fire hazard itself. Just cut the trees down to stumps then either use a large drill bit and fill with use salt (rock or epsom) or expose the the roots of each trunk and pour boiling water over the trunk and roots. The quickest and easiest way is the salt method. Over the years, I have had trees cut down due to the pine beetle. Removing or grinding down the stumps cost extra and a lot. My neighbor works for the Bureau of Land Management and suggested the salt method. It works great.
Yep, same comment here. The debarked area is now becoming a fire hazard by itself. Also agree on cutting trunks as near to the ground as possible and saw or drill vertically down into the roots so they wont resprout and decompose. It takes a bit more work, but is a definite action. Now you'll have to keep working on the trunks each year. But i understand experiments are there to learn stuff, not only which solutions work but also what doesn't work.
With goats, you get the invasive species eradicated. They eat everything that sprouts again. All you have to do is cut down the trees and then establish goats. The tree will keep sprouting, and the goats will keep eating the sprouts. Until the roots run out of strength, and they don't sprout again.
@@theflexiloquentfrog1678 With a fence. After all, there are not so many native species. They only had to create a few of these triangles. So I guess that's within reason. Just wire around it and protect the native species.
27:57 Cut mimosa's at ground level in pathways so you can take the shredder with you into the forest. Keep moving the chute around so that you have many small piles. THrow a few shovels of native soil on top of the pile as you go and let it compost in place. You are spending too much time and energy moving materials around. Make your stacks of logs along the path. Do not spend all the time an energy carrying trees and tops to one location. You have so much mimosa to cut you must use your time and energy wisely and efficiently.
Project Kamp consistently mistakes hard work for good work. They would do well to find someone who has worked in agroforestry, landscaping, or construction. Permaculture pig, goat, sheep farmers. Who would be great would be a retirement age American with a lot of experience with the work process, like Essential Craftsman, or an experienced landscaper like Stanley "Grease Monkey" (maybe their European counterparts) to come in even just for a few days, to demonstrate efficient work techniques & planning.
Like girdling requires only a cm or two of all-round bark removal, and here they are stripping over a meter off every single stem, with no intention of using the stripped bark for fiber, which would be an understandable reason for removing so much. But no, it is just creating fine tinder on the forest floor.
@@mircomuntener4643 I believe someone told them that stripping the bark to the root flare will stop resprouting. Of course that is not true because mimosa (Acacia dealbata) can send up shoots anywhere along its root system. The duration of this sprouting (assuming all attempts at sprouting is defeated. is about 3 years. The reason is that there are sufficient carbohydrates stored in the root system to keep the system alive for about 3 years. In a stand as we see a ProjectKamp, the roots are grafted so that every tree is one piece of a huge organism. Any surviving tree will feed its neighbors through the root grafts- so those at grafts will keep the neighbors alive indefinitely. ProjectKamp really has to go for total eradication to have a hope of controlling this invasive species.🙂
@@Nphen Nathan, that is the nicest thing I have seen written about the US baby boom generation. Here we sit in retirement with a lifetime of experience and in America, the young people have no use, even as volunteers. The young people who now run our world blame us for every unfortunate thing that has ever happened in their lives. So for every volunteer job, there are 10 baby boomers waiting in line. So if you happen to rub one of the new leaders the wrong way, you are dismissed - no consideration given for prior good works. THat is why I have turned to RUclips. I try all day-every day to share something with someone around the world that will improve their quality of life. Thank you for your suggestion Nathan! 😊
Watching another RUclips channel where a couple is living in Portugal. They are not allowed to use implements at certain times that have a saw blade because it can spark. And they are limited on when they can burn due to the dry climate.
@@snakey319excuse me? they did a whole lot of mimosa cutting last year, seriously sometimes I wonder why people comment such nonsense - go out into the world and contribute yourself instead of criticizing those who actually do something…
hi! I'm a florist and we use gardening shears like that all the time. When they get stuck its usually because there is grit and sticky stuff/oils somewhere in the bolt. What we normally do is squirt hand sanitizer all over the bolt and just open and close the shears until they loosen up again. This will help you preserve the tools longer! hope it helps :)
I’m in Northern California and it is common here to use goats to help control high fire danger areas. They are fenced in to the area that needs cleared with a portable fence. Once the area is cleared, they are moved to the next area. They are not left to free range so they are easier to control.
I did the same in Germany. I have a little forest. I have had several invasive species that have populations through home gardens nearby. In the end, the goats have eaten absolutely everything. Even blackberry roots, so that these are no longer sprouted. They even gnaw off the bark of young trees, so that they die. That was a lasting experience.
29:39 Your chain saw blades are dull. That saw should slice through the green mimosa like butter. Do you have a electric chain saw sharpener? Do you have several sharp chains on the shelf for each chainsaw at all times? Important to optimize the tool. At 31:15 a good illustration of wasted time and energy. If the chipper was operating uphill of the office, the branches could have been fed directly into the chipper and the chips blown into the woodlands. Job done. I suspect it would be wise to buy this model of chipper or next size up for Project Kamp so it was always available. 35:26 That farmer will take the mimosa logs and sell them to a processor who will use them as fiber for paper/cardboard of OSB panels. Notice his brand new tractor. Did he share the proceeds of the sale with you? 36:20 Long handled pitchforks are the tool for loading mulch. Do you have multiple long handled pitchfork's and the fellow with the shovel does not know? 39:30 all of the native species volunteers need a good ring of mulch to care for their roots and encourage upward growth.
Yes, hügelkultur beds, put the thicker stems in a shallow ditch and cover it with woodchips. Plant sorbus for the birds to spread and acorns in the rotted beds...
Love that you try out different approaches to the mimosas, opening up a field of curiosity. Great to see that I'm not alone on Portuguese Land dealing with them! 💪💚
Lumberjacks take out a diagonal for a good reason. The way you do it with the kicking is asking for big trouble. Just take a two 45 degree cuts that take out a right angled wedge together and the tree falls where you want it to fall and you don’t need to risk the bones in your legs. The guy with the milwaukee shirt knows what he’s doing.
I have run a production saw on the coast of BC in Canada. These mimosa are too small to wedge. They are too small to make to harvest as lumber. They are no more than whips.
@@matcheer9909 I noticed the broken chain and came to the comments, sure enough, there's a faller from BC here :) should they still be doing a face cut before the back cut in trees this small?
@@jaggederest No real reason to make so many cuts on this small nuisance wood. There is a more efficient way for small diameter wood. Saw parallel to the ground. Cut the wood using the top of the bar near the tip. Use the rotating chain on the saw to angle the falling wood past your right shoulder. Don't have to grab the wood to put it right where it needs to be.
Mimosa - our Australian Wattle - is a marvellous plant, as the impressive interview with Manuel Miranda Fernandes in your research pages makes clear. He also points to the solution - treat it within the ecology of your Country. Wattle is a legume and forms the perfect middle layer of a very productive agroforest. Use succession plantings of native species and it will progressively move aside to give space to other plants and wildlife (and yes, farm animals like goats and pigs, who will munch and uproot it). All the while, you can continue to use it for mulch and organic matter, firewood, food for humans, bees and livestock, windbreaks, reclaiming degraded land, the timber products you are already making and its flowers for a drink that has refreshed over 2,000 generations of Australian Aboriginal kids. Make Project Kamp an emblematic centre of Agroecology!
One faster and better option could be to get in contact with Kubota Portugal and inquire about a potential sponsorship (I know they did that in the US) where they can lend you a skid steer with mulching head. It's basically a mobile shredder on steroids .. and would make awesome content :D Keep it up !!
Given how the roots spread and send out suckers even if cut down, maybe an excavator with a thumb would be better than mulching. That’s how we clear groves of (weed-like) poplars. Pluck or push over the whole tree, complete with the roots. Then take the excavator and stack them in a pile. We frequently get called in to places where they’ve used a mulcher to clear trees, and it takes just as much time for us to go around with the excavator and dig out the roots (so the soil can be prepped for whatever next use for the land) as it would have to have just come in and cleared it with the excavator in the first place. Plus then you have a nice stack of trees that you can limb, shred, cut, or chip in a controlled fashion, rather than have your chips mulching the whole area, which may or may not be appropriate or advantageous, again, depending on the planned use.
That's a great idea. I recently watched a couple of RUclipss (they were rather compelling) by a landscaper. They had a special chipper head mounted on a tractor. The head chewed through everything, 10-20 inch hardwood trees, standing and on the ground, even took out the stumps. It was very fascinating watching the monster chew up and spit out trees, clearing over grown areas like yours in a morning. (sorry, I can't find the link)
9:25 filling eroded ditches (gullies) with wood is an excellent way to slow the flow of water, capture sediment and stop future erosion by forcing the occasional water flow to overtop the banks of the ditch and spread across the land. Ditches ALWAYS flow across the contours of the land. All of these consequences of the wood filled ditch benefit the land by increasing rainwater infiltration into the earth. Eventually, this rain water makes its way to the aquifer and your wells and springs will rise. But remember, you can also build wood berms ACROSS the contours of the land. These wooden berms can be built up over time with additional wood and soil if you find them effective.
yes, in Australia we clear the dry plant matter from the ground as well, as it can feed a fire as well as a living tree can. we wouldn't leave all that dry matter (broken branches, bark, dead trees) lying around on the ground if we were series about fire risk reduction.
@@MirneDerks Thank you for making that point. The Project Kamp decision making process seems to be something like "what is our highest priority and how can we accomplish that goal with minimal input"? Their definition of input includes burning fossil fuels (chippers, hauling it away for firewood, etc.) My hunch is that they are comfortable with the level of fire mitigation they have accomplished by laying these trees down into rows. It appears that is all they are willing to do and it is an improvement on standing trees loaded with flammable resin. The general labor team continues to clear mimosa and identify native volunteer trees - so perhaps all of the mimosa will be on the ground, composting in the foreseeable future. Ecologically, that would be huge. Their current strategy in case of fire is to evacuate the land ASAP.
Once those stripped trees have died and dried off along with all the dead wood left on the ground will make a huge tinder box, worse fire risk than before.
I'm happy and also surprised that no one gut injured during this project... people have been luckily running away from the falling trees. PS: Helmet for everyone around would be a good start. And also: headphone are not a substitute for hearing protection.
Год назад+22
+ You guys should take a quick course about hot to use a chainsaw properly and how to cut down the trees. You cut them to high most of the time. Someone will get hurt otherwise.
I love that you guys are doing this, understanding this, and explaining this. Nature solves the "too many trees" problem by having wildfires. If we don't want to suffer wildfires, we must thin forests from time to time, and this doesn't even broach the subject of invasive species. Co-existence with nature doesn't mean never touching it. There is a balance to be struck, but we are part of the balance, not separate from it.
A 55 gallon drum with a 30 gallon drum inside of it makes a great charcoal kiln which is very safe to use and FAST in producing charcoal for HEAT, COOKING and BIOCHARCOAL to improve the tilth of the soil! In Central America, lands improved with biocharcoal over 1000 years ago are still fertile!
you should not let the solid logs lay and "rot" because that can take ages, and before that they will be an extra source of fuel for an wildfire. last owner of my house did the same thing 28 years ago and the logs was still laying on the ground with little rot when i munched em up last year, and they where from a species of trees that "rots fast"... and i live in much more wet conditions close to the ocean of southern Norway so would not think of how long they could lay dried up down there
25:20 You must be careful when you use certain tools, this way of cutting could cause a very serious leg injury if the ax deviates a bit, I have also seen it in another video using a knife close to the leg, the cuts are always outwards of the body to avoid accidents, be careful with that, we want you all in perfect condition to carry out the project, good job
I'm looking foward to your experiences with the bark shaving. I know this technique a bit different: Shave 20-30cm and use a wirebrush to get all the kambium out. This is important so the tree really stops trafficing assimilates from the top to the bottom! In theory this should kill the tree slowly over the course of around 5 years, exhausting the roots so they don't resprout (depends on the species of course) If you debark a bigger section like you did, they might die much faster ( 1-2years) but might resprout since the roots are still strong. So yeay keep us updated! And please sharpen your chains & learn how to use the chainsaw in a proper & save way ! What you're doing looks real scary & I'm amazed that you had no serious accidents so far!
tip of a experienced Blackberry brambles fighter (i had 100m² overgrown area). If you cut them, cut them always as low over the ground as possible and cut vertically into the ground roots too... I took me 3 seasons to get them to rott/disappear... if you cut them not directly over the ground, they often make new leaves, that then supports the regrows of new vines.
@@southernboycookin5383 I mean, I kinda like the idea. Blackberry espalier. It just seems like an awful lot of work and would require constant attention. Are bramble blackberries worth it? I've never had them.
@@southernboycookin5383 : I had a patch with wild Blackberries, that where not tasty/bitterish and the yield was not good. actually I do grow a variation of blackberries there, but not on the full 100m²... that is a bit much
it might be a good idea to organize a weekly or monthly flea hunt; you can find legions of old tools worth salvaging (maybe just by asking around). You have the metal working tools to restore pretty much any type of old metal tool, they're often of a great quality and its much cheaper than buying a full kit for every working member. Also a great experience for those new to working with their hands.
The tree stem bunds look like a good idea, but not if they're not covered with soil. They will dry out and act like a fire line, spreading the fire quickly. Once covered with soil they will decompose and add fertility and moisture to the land. Plus I agree if you can get a goat fence to work properly, a few goats wpuld seem like a good idea, but check if mimosa leaves are not too protein rich for them first.
that's crazy, I remember the first videos when you were visiting the building that has become the office; the back side was completely overgrown and it took some time to clear all of that away so that you could see the structure of the building! such a big change now
Hi from Project Camp. What you need to explore as well is when in a year is the best time to cut the trees. We had a similar issues with Acacia trees (I think it is a mimosa family) that after a patch of Acacia cut there were a lot of Acacia sprouts soon after. What we found out was that in case Acacia is cut over the winter (January) there were almost no Acacia sprouts coming up, however if it was cut in March/April next year was there already a new forest of Acacia.
Leafy wood chip makes an incredible mulch for young fruit trees and your veggie garden, to keep the soil moist and weed free. Use at least 5cm depth or more. When watering, you'll find that it soaks straight in. The longer you can leave the big piles to mature and start to rot down, the better. Use short sharp poles as rows of low stakes to help terrace the land, and retain rainfall.
Some thoughts: What species of 'mimosa' is it. There are several. Acacia dealbata? Albizia julibrissin? It makes a difference because of things like potential toxicity (e.g. the seeds of Albizia apparently contain a neurotoxin that is poisonous to stock if they eat it. Must be a local botanist who could ID it for you. What are the locals doing to control it. Goats sound good IF you want the milk, meat, etc. If you do, they would make sense to eat the young sprouts. BUT they would need full access so you would have to cut to ground, not half way up. Once you have cut to ground, re-cutting would be easier. At what age does your mimosa seed? Does it seed copiously? Will it seed into your cleared areas? If so (and especially if the seed remains dormant in the seed bank) you will need to keep removing the seedlings. Goats might help. De-barking is better than frill girdling. By taking out the bark, you don't kill the tree fast as the xylem will still transport water to the crown and the crown might stay alive for a considerable time. By frilling, you end up with a narrow 'gap' in the bark which may heal over. By de-barking, you avoid this. Use the machete as a draw knife - sharpen from the handle to a handspan short of the blade. Make sure that bit is sharp but the bit near the point is not. And wear gloves. Can you use the bark? Shred as a mulch? Depends on whether toxins are present - you need to know what species you have. Use directional felling on the trees. You get much more control over the fell. Watching you made me cringe - they are only wee trees, but once they start moving, there is a lot of inertia there. Fell to ground to save yourself work later. Fell uphill. You will have to be organised. Extract downhill and straight into a bigger chipper. You may find that there is local interest in wood chip for combined heat and power generation if you have enough to make it worthwhile. They may not want the frash mixed in. You would have to be organised with your felling. Good luck with spreading the shredded tops and small diameter stuff. I would worry that it would dry out in summer and if you get a fire, it will propagate in the spread chip. Perhaps better to pile it and compost it. Then use the compost. Keep it watered and beware heating and possible combustion as it rots. Let it get warm (it will rot fast) but not too hot to touch. Monitor it and turn it periodically. Isolate your piles behind a firebreak if you go down this route (just in case). Note that composting goes better if you mix in the 'frash' or green material. Can you 'chunk' the branches and use them as wood fuel or in a ring kiln to make charcoal/biochar? Best made in winter and with seasoned material. Watch this ruclips.net/video/R1PIObjaejU/видео.html to see an easy, efficient and safe way to log up felled lengths for wood fuel. Don't forget that properly seasoned and dried wood fuel should burn cleanly and efficiently. It is in-cycle carbon whereas gas/oil/diesel for cooking and heating is sequestered carbon. Shutting up now. Hope this was helpful. Good luck.
Humble suggestion: If you are going to be doing a lot of digging and shovelling, buy some long, straight-handled spades. They are so much easier on the back than the short spades with handles. They long, straight-handled spades can be worked with minimum bending of the back and a slight bend of the knees. They also allow you to throw dirt farther.
I see this a lot, when the shovel handle breaks close to the blade. It is an easy fix to use the same handle. After a few fixes the shovel handle is too short and the user starts to have lower back pain.
You guys should into a bio char burner for the material. Makes a amazing way to store the carbon from the mimosas back into the land more quickly and will drastically increase the grounds ability to hold moisture and nutrients. It could also be set up to produce power, quiet a lot of it.
Instead of debarking, you should also try girdling. Basically debarking, but in a ring around the tree. Everything above it should die out within a few weeks. Debarking doesn't add much over this, it just takes more time.
@@mfr58 Mimosa bark isn't really the best, you could weave some fences out of it but once it dries it gets pretty weak so even a basket would become useless pretty quick
@@mfr58 That's the thing I don't get. That bark is medicinal and I am pretty sure they can sell it and even keep some for an apothecary. I hope that is what they are going to do.
Not sure if this has been said before, but these water retention lines you built from the mimosas are perfect for so called "Benjeshecken" (dead hedges). They provide shelter and food for birds and other animals, and are great for the protection and as a seed bed for the native seedlings you'd plant in the dead wood. Also, they are a great option to do something useful with the mimosa trees. The German Wikipedia about this topic is an interesting read and a good starting point: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjeshecke. Here in Germany, you see Benjes hedges every now and then, even if they are usually a bit higher than your water retention lines. Keep up the good work! 💪
Mimosa are leguminous and build the soil. They are a pioneer species and some of the first forms of vegetation to return to an area after a fire or other major disturbance. They have a symbiotic relationship with certain nitrogen fixing bacteria which add nutrients to damaged soil and prepare it for other plants and trees that follow in succession. The leaves and pods can be used as fodder for cows, goats and sheep, and are an important source of forage for bees. Its wood can easily be turned into charcoal, and if inoculated, to a source of Terra Preta - biochar - or simply as firewood. The bark is high in tannin and can be used as a dye as well as making it somewhat rot-resistant. It also has a long history of medicinal uses in both animals and humans. Certain types are used to produce DMT. You have an abundance of a wonderful resource. Try not to look at it as only a negative - it has so many positive attributes. Work WITH nature, not against it.
And...... Mimosas are not native at all to Portugal!!! They are great resources in countries/continents of which they are from as they only disrup the local environment killing local animals and insects as they do not let native plants go! They have their space somewhere else and unfortunately that is not Portugal
@@blackduckfarmcanada Fires are also natural unless manmade. Nature doesn't squander resources - it recycles everything. Removing - and not reusing - is unnatural.
Thanks for your interesting comment. Seems like a mimosa and fire are friends. Was thinking if controlled forrest fire of mimosas would be possible that could be probably most natural way of returning the nutrients back to the soil.
@@vaclavstoupa1911 Because most of our plant-based food sources are annuals or produce annually, we tend to think in terms of a yearly system. Nature, however, thinks in centuries and millennia. Fire-mediated serotiny appears in hundreds of species across the globe where fire is a common natural occurrence. Often the seed is encased in a hard shell or coated in a resin which needs to burn off to release. Fire will also burn away allelopathic leaves on the ground which can prevent other vegetation from taking root as well as opening up space for light and rain to reach the soil. Opening up space for light and rain - whether by fire or chopping down trees and removing dead wood - also changes the water retention capabilities of the soil and can induce desertification and erosion. It also changes the order of natural succession from grasses and herbaceous plants the first year or two (ground covers which prevent drying out the soil and turning it to dust, net roots to prevent erosion, tap roots to pull nutrients up from deep in the soil for other plants), followed by small bushes and pioneer trees over the next few years (nitrogen fixation, humus building, tilth), to evergreens, to a deciduous forest over decades or centuries - altering and repairing the soil with every successive species. Not following a natural succession is why replanted forests by logging companies rarely do well. We have to look at nature as a "whole system" where every element is connected to another element. Where altering one element or situation has a chain reaction to all other elements - some good, some bad. Will what we do today for immediate gain cause irreparable damage tomorrow?
Hey I'm sure someone has already mentioned in the comments but incase they haven't the three cut method when cutting down branches and trees is a great way to protect your chainsaw and stay safe. Keep up the great work!
With some off the trees you take down, why don’t you try to make bio charcoal, it will help in the garden and could increase your yield. Have a great and safe day. ❤️🇬🇧🙏
That would mean learning a real skill and doing some hard work. They've been bleating about this fire hazard for more than 2 years and yet have done little to address it. We had mimosas in our garden in Italy. I know from experience that the piles of wood and brush do NOT rot down - eventually I had to burn it in the winter. The bigger pieces of wood were dried and used as firewood, but that took work to cut and store it. I can also tell you that mimosa sprouts everywhere, not just from the base but from the roots that are very shallow and run a long way out from the tree.
I am in total awe of all you beautiful intelligent young people. Your dedication to saving our environment fills my heart with joy. ❤ Blessings to you all xxx
Good work, however I'm not sure it would have taken too much longer to cut the trees to the ground,..it would look a hell of a lot better and after you could drill or cross cut the stumps to help rotting ! Also cutting at an angle will shed rain water and they won't rot as fast.
One idea to bounce off you all is to use the larger mimosa trunks for hugelkultur. Sort of like where you all used similar parts to create steps on inclines of the terrain. Yopu can fill it with a lot of the wood chips as well and grow some vegetables etc.
The bench you made last week was really cool, I think the right person could do a lot of round wood carpentry with your mimosa trunks as they seem to grow quite straight.
Leaving the trunks on the ground may be good long term, but in the dry season they can be a source of tinder. Same with debarking. What about making biochar with them. A great soil amendment, and not flammable once charged obviously. Are you allowed to do controlled burns in the area? That can help too- especially if you're leaving that much tinder on the ground. Could be a good idea to get goats (or borrow a neighbors) once you've cleared the area. Plant pioneer species and protect them from the goats with like individual fencing, and have the goats roam through the cleared area when they mimosa resprouts until the plants are dead in a season or two. If you aren't opposed to just using herbicides, you could also cut the trees to essentially ground level (1" from soil) and paint some 50% glyphosate on the exposed surface
@@AlasdairThompson I think the idea is that when they are properly dead they will be less likely to continue to sprout after being cut. Not a bad idea as long as they can avoid short term fire risk.
Great effort. Liked it very much. Saw all 3 seasons in 5 days. It was addictive. Thank u and ur team and volunteers for making it possible. Stay blessed and may God help u guys
Great teamwork getting the trees cleared and debarked. And great time lapse showing the work getting done. And saved the small oaks as well, great job!
I see someone already suggested goats. They love bramble,and if you don't eat goat you can rent them out to clear brush for your neighbors. There very useful animals.
Since you've got all this mimosa you should look into getting a gasifier generator. You can use the mimosa as fuel. It will be an alternative source of electricity for you and gasifiers produce less greenhouse gas than simple incineration. (They do produce some obviously). I don't really see what else you can do with it all since you have SO much.
I agree, this seems like a sensible idea. A problem lots of people have with gasifiers is finding enough fuel to run them. There is an excess of fuel here so it's kind of perfect.
Well done getting rid of mimosa and I love you all replanting natives!!! I got a few hundreds hours of volunteer work helping with conservation based land management. Mimosa, tree-of-heaven, bradford pear, and other woody trees are things I have helped manage. I had some thoughts I hope you'll appreciate. Without any chemical means, those mimosas are almost certainly going to resprout tougher than before (as you saw under the power lines). There's understandable hesitation of herbicides, but you can have **targeted**, limited use without impacting ground water or soil. It's how conservation groups manage large stands of woody plants (e.g., multiflora rose, mimosa, tree-of-heaven). You cut the stumps down to just 1-2 inches above the ground, and paint/focused spray a 1:1 glyphosate to water solution with dye onto the remaining stump. Note, it is critical you do apply the herbicide very quickly (recommended within 15 seconds). It will kill the roots without impacting your environment and the dye will let you know if it's been treated. Do take care to not get the herbicide on your skin. Here is a link with more information from Australia's Department of Land Management: denr.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/400372/Final-Weed-Management-Plan-for-Mimosa-Dec-2013.pdf
In South Africa we do the same eradication and it is often among fynbos which is mostly protected. We use a product called Garlon mixed with a blue dye and paint or spray it on the stumps. The dye is to see which are painted and which are not. Garlon is recommended by the Dept. Environmental affairs so it should be safe for other plants. Garlon stops regrowth. Regards from Billy
You could use your thicker trunks to make posts for fencing. Then use the skinny poles to weave into the posts to make a wattle fence. Since it is mimosa those posts in the ground will rot over time and the fence won’t be permanent. But the fencing could keep goats confined to the location where you want them to eat those regrowing mimosas. Without goats it could take years to finally remove all of those mimosas.
17:43 that is what we call a "hatchet." My grandmother used it to split kindling for her wooden cooking stove. An AXE has a long handle on it to get swing and momentum. Oil your tools, rust cuts down their effectiveness. The metal quality will determine the ability to sharpen a fine edge and maintain it longer. Oil, oil, oil before storing good luck 😊
Cut all the trees down use them to build a fence then put some goats in there. They will keep the trees from coming back and you'll get free fertilizer!
Mimosa is a legume. If you would coppice or pollard you could leave stands in strategic locations for firewood and chop and drop mulch for a future food forest and orchard.
bro, to the guy just carefree cutting the trees with the chainsaw, you need to learn how to fell a tree. im not saying this to be jerk on the internet but falling trees can sometimes kick back and seriously hurt you if you stand to close.
Im plowing through all your videos. Its amazing to see the progress. Just a few hours ago it was "the small ruin". Now this guy calls it the office. Great stuff
I've been watching a lot of Asian home reno videos and they'll often save all the "poles" when they clear trees to use later for fences, outdoor kitchen buildings, furniture, etc. Also, I don't know if this works with acacia but with the bush honeysuckle that is invasive where I am, when it sends up new shoots you can pull them downward to break them off easily, it's easier than cutting them. If you want to make the acacia poles last for ground contact (like fences) you can char the ends, it will prevent rot, it's a Japanese technique called "shou sugi ban"
Without removing the stump/root ball, simply cutting the Mimosa down will only set up more work later. Although, cutting the drying the wood to break or cut into pieces about as long as your forearm to then stack around the stumps. So you can light the small piles to use fire to kill the stumps by basically cooking them. For the ashes, mix them at a one to five ratio (one shovel to five shovel fulls) to soil and other decaying organics to ashes. Make yourself a form of biochar based soil that can be mixed in with other soils or sold to any farmers/gardeners. Otherwise it'll be a whole lot of digging the stump/root ball out. Then replanting native and fruit bearing while being concerned about erosion until the replanting is established fully.
Gosh! No wonder that fires are a problem, it is like the ground is covered in kindling!! That is wild! Thank you so much for sharing this video, very interesting!
It was so satisfying to see the mulch go down onto bare dirt. Covering up bare dirt like that slows down evaporation of subsurface moisture. Use the shredder on as many mimosa trees as possible. Cover up as much bare dirt as possible. Consider trying to procure a few hundred saplings of your preferred species for next planting season. Of course consider mobile small-paddock animal grazing & chicken farming. I don't know if you have to spend money buying protein sources, but laying hens can be raise fairly quickly. They of course require some feed but you have enough space for several dozen hens to forage.
I do this with invasive privet and honeysuckle in my 4 acres of woods in Tennessee, USA. Cutting them down repeatedly before their roots give up! Started work on it in 2015, we're on our third round of cutting. I cut them mostly in wintertime when they are easier to see (privet is evergreen) and reach (honeysuckle branches arch towards the ground in summer, making their base almost impossible to reach). Our woods are rebounding with native trees, it's wonderful!
You never ever cease to amaze me! I applaud you. Though your debarked mimosa trees will catch fire as easy as ever. There is no easy way out with tree stumps. Drill them well and let them rot.
Have a look on our ongoing research on what to do with mimosa and share you ideas!
community.projectkamp.com/research/can-we-turn-invasive-trees-mimosa-into-something-useful
@@AlasdairThompson plenty of fuel indeed, maybe bio char or charcoal to use for forging, smelting or pottery?
Trees are important carbon sinks. This radical cutting down of trees is the last straw for me, I will not continue to support the project, this is not sustainable living.
@@ramdas363 Are you dense? They have explained multiple times in multiple videos that mimosa trees exacerbate forest fires. They don't act as good carbon sinks if they burn themselves and the surrounding forest down. Besides which mimosa are invasive and prevent the growth of other trees like the native oak trees (MUCH better carbon sinks sinks oaks will sequester their carbon centuries whilst mimosa are lucky to live 20 years). Educate yourself before condeming people who know more than you.
pull the cut stumps and burn them ... get as many of the roots near the stump as possible ... this will limit regrowth as well as provide a great log for a bonfire to cook a pig on or side of beef etc ...
25:20 please, to your own safety, don’t hit the axe into the direction of your other hand!
Everyone: "Aww look at the wee little oak baby"
Oak sapling: "YES. Shower me in the flayed skin of my enemies. Build me shelter from their bones. Yesss."
I guess you don't agree with the concept of ecosystems and native vs invasive species then? Human intervention brought mimosa to Spain and Portugal likely to make a profit. What you see is the unintended consequence of that human action - mimosa on the way to making the native forest system extinct. And you are OK with that eventuality?
@@stevejohnstonbaugh9171 It's important that we not create delusions about "natural" systems. All of the native trees you see in northern latitudes are 'new' colonization since the Last Glacial Maximum, with the tree species proceeding gradually north every year. If wholesale extermination of the invaders is not a feasible goal, then you have to consider exactly what you want out of the ecosystem, not just "MAKE IT LIKE BEFORE". It's a process of ecological design, not conservation or restoration. In this case, if you can't kick mimosas out, mimosas are dominant over the local biome, and your highest priority is that you don't want fire-prone stands, then you NEED some other not-labor-intensive control on the mimosa. A lot of fire-prone fast-growing trees find themselves killed off in older forests by fire-tolerant slow-growing trees. Others by various insect or fungal pests, or by mammal grazers, or by a local human population that keeps setting things on fire. These are things to carefully consider, because the controls might be invasive or destructive themselves; But trying to control an invader using a simple "Conservation Plot" approach is trying to hold back the tide. It can't just extend to your property line, that isn't really ecological control in the anthropocene.
@@stevejohnstonbaugh9171 Human intervention inflicted cats upon us and they need to be culled just like mimosa or any other invasive species. You can't just let invaders kill everything. We have to be responsible humans.
🤘🤘🤘
You are fuuuuunnyy!
Input: The debarking is dangerous because you will have very tall dead trees that will be even more prone to burning. You will have a canopy of highly flammable material. That method takes too long to remove a fire hazard & instead increases the fire hazard. Please remove those trees as soon as you can. The only benefit of debarking is preventing re-sprouting from the base. Not enough benefit for the process. To prevent re-sprouting, cut trunk close to the ground and drill into the remaining stump as deeply as you can. The drilling replaces painting or dousing with a poison to kill the "heart" of the tree. This way there is no need to remove the stumps. My 2 cents from a prior landscaping business point of view.
That was my first thought. Great fires can burn in that area now.
Debarking is a fire hazard itself. Just cut the trees down to stumps then either use a large drill bit and fill with use salt (rock or epsom) or expose the the roots of each trunk and pour boiling water over the trunk and roots. The quickest and easiest way is the salt method. Over the years, I have had trees cut down due to the pine beetle. Removing or grinding down the stumps cost extra and a lot. My neighbor works for the Bureau of Land Management and suggested the salt method. It works great.
Was just coming on to say something similar.
Yep, same comment here. The debarked area is now becoming a fire hazard by itself. Also agree on cutting trunks as near to the ground as possible and saw or drill vertically down into the roots so they wont resprout and decompose.
It takes a bit more work, but is a definite action. Now you'll have to keep working on the trunks each year.
But i understand experiments are there to learn stuff, not only which solutions work but also what doesn't work.
Tall dead trees are also less stable. They can topple over creating hazards, especially during strong winds.
With goats, you get the invasive species eradicated. They eat everything that sprouts again. All you have to do is cut down the trees and then establish goats. The tree will keep sprouting, and the goats will keep eating the sprouts. Until the roots run out of strength, and they don't sprout again.
@@theflexiloquentfrog1678 With a fence. After all, there are not so many native species. They only had to create a few of these triangles. So I guess that's within reason. Just wire around it and protect the native species.
Completely agree. Was my proposal as well. You were quicker😂😂😂 goats are perfect. They also eat brambels
But they will eat the sprouts of oaks and native species as well :/
@@jankrijnen7374 Last time I was too late. They dint see my comment. So this time I was faster😉
Yes: goats. However they are very naughty qnd I not only use a solar powered electric fence but train them, very difficult, to listen.
27:57 Cut mimosa's at ground level in pathways so you can take the shredder with you into the forest. Keep moving the chute around so that you have many small piles. THrow a few shovels of native soil on top of the pile as you go and let it compost in place. You are spending too much time and energy moving materials around. Make your stacks of logs along the path. Do not spend all the time an energy carrying trees and tops to one location. You have so much mimosa to cut you must use your time and energy wisely and efficiently.
Project Kamp consistently mistakes hard work for good work. They would do well to find someone who has worked in agroforestry, landscaping, or construction. Permaculture pig, goat, sheep farmers. Who would be great would be a retirement age American with a lot of experience with the work process, like Essential Craftsman, or an experienced landscaper like Stanley "Grease Monkey" (maybe their European counterparts) to come in even just for a few days, to demonstrate efficient work techniques & planning.
Like girdling requires only a cm or two of all-round bark removal, and here they are stripping over a meter off every single stem, with no intention of using the stripped bark for fiber, which would be an understandable reason for removing so much.
But no, it is just creating fine tinder on the forest floor.
@@mircomuntener4643 I believe someone told them that stripping the bark to the root flare will stop resprouting. Of course that is not true because mimosa (Acacia dealbata) can send up shoots anywhere along its root system. The duration of this sprouting (assuming all attempts at sprouting is defeated. is about 3 years. The reason is that there are sufficient carbohydrates stored in the root system to keep the system alive for about 3 years. In a stand as we see a ProjectKamp, the roots are grafted so that every tree is one piece of a huge organism. Any surviving tree will feed its neighbors through the root grafts- so those at grafts will keep the neighbors alive indefinitely. ProjectKamp really has to go for total eradication to have a hope of controlling this invasive species.🙂
@@Nphen Nathan, that is the nicest thing I have seen written about the US baby boom generation. Here we sit in retirement with a lifetime of experience and in America, the young people have no use, even as volunteers. The young people who now run our world blame us for every unfortunate thing that has ever happened in their lives. So for every volunteer job, there are 10 baby boomers waiting in line. So if you happen to rub one of the new leaders the wrong way, you are dismissed - no consideration given for prior good works. THat is why I have turned to RUclips. I try all day-every day to share something with someone around the world that will improve their quality of life. Thank you for your suggestion Nathan! 😊
@@stevejohnstonbaugh9171 What young people who run the world?
All the dead trees you left on the ground are what burn during fires. In Australia we do hazard reduction burns to remove the fuel load on the ground
Yes, it will remain a hazard until it rots...
All that undergrowth is what catches on fire first, not the standing trees. They should clear it all out.
Watching another RUclips channel where a couple is living in Portugal. They are not allowed to use implements at certain times that have a saw blade because it can spark. And they are limited on when they can burn due to the dry climate.
wonder why they are doing things so late into the project?
@@snakey319excuse me? they did a whole lot of mimosa cutting last year, seriously sometimes I wonder why people comment such nonsense - go out into the world and contribute yourself instead of criticizing those who actually do something…
hi! I'm a florist and we use gardening shears like that all the time. When they get stuck its usually because there is grit and sticky stuff/oils somewhere in the bolt. What we normally do is squirt hand sanitizer all over the bolt and just open and close the shears until they loosen up again. This will help you preserve the tools longer!
hope it helps :)
Oil them regularly also stops this from occuring!
WD 40 then some lubricant oil
I’m in Northern California and it is common here to use goats to help control high fire danger areas. They are fenced in to the area that needs cleared with a portable fence. Once the area is cleared, they are moved to the next area. They are not left to free range so they are easier to control.
I did the same in Germany. I have a little forest. I have had several invasive species that have populations through home gardens nearby. In the end, the goats have eaten absolutely everything. Even blackberry roots, so that these are no longer sprouted. They even gnaw off the bark of young trees, so that they die. That was a lasting experience.
I agree goats, but they have to be managed, Swine also work
Maybe find a local "goat keeper" and ask him if want free food and let him come to graze
29:39 Your chain saw blades are dull. That saw should slice through the green mimosa like butter. Do you have a electric chain saw sharpener? Do you have several sharp chains on the shelf for each chainsaw at all times? Important to optimize the tool. At 31:15 a good illustration of wasted time and energy. If the chipper was operating uphill of the office, the branches could have been fed directly into the chipper and the chips blown into the woodlands. Job done. I suspect it would be wise to buy this model of chipper or next size up for Project Kamp so it was always available. 35:26 That farmer will take the mimosa logs and sell them to a processor who will use them as fiber for paper/cardboard of OSB panels. Notice his brand new tractor. Did he share the proceeds of the sale with you? 36:20 Long handled pitchforks are the tool for loading mulch. Do you have multiple long handled pitchfork's and the fellow with the shovel does not know? 39:30 all of the native species volunteers need a good ring of mulch to care for their roots and encourage upward growth.
Use the mimosas to build natural raised garden beds or natural woven mimosa fences around the place. Great video guys!
I had suggested the same thing. Hugelkulture to build a way to grow some vegetables.
Yeah I wouldn't have gotten rid of the nice fence post type thicknesses.
Yes, hügelkultur beds, put the thicker stems in a shallow ditch and cover it with woodchips. Plant sorbus for the birds to spread and acorns in the rotted beds...
Love that you try out different approaches to the mimosas, opening up a field of curiosity. Great to see that I'm not alone on Portuguese Land dealing with them! 💪💚
Lumberjacks take out a diagonal for a good reason. The way you do it with the kicking is asking for big trouble. Just take a two 45 degree cuts that take out a right angled wedge together and the tree falls where you want it to fall and you don’t need to risk the bones in your legs. The guy with the milwaukee shirt knows what he’s doing.
I was wondering why they didn't do that.
Look up a Humboldt notch
I have run a production saw on the coast of BC in Canada. These mimosa are too small to wedge. They are too small to make to harvest as lumber. They are no more than whips.
@@matcheer9909 I noticed the broken chain and came to the comments, sure enough, there's a faller from BC here :) should they still be doing a face cut before the back cut in trees this small?
@@jaggederest No real reason to make so many cuts on this small nuisance wood. There is a more efficient way for small diameter wood. Saw parallel to the ground. Cut the wood using the top of the bar near the tip. Use the rotating chain on the saw to angle the falling wood past your right shoulder. Don't have to grab the wood to put it right where it needs to be.
Mimosa - our Australian Wattle - is a marvellous plant, as the impressive interview with Manuel Miranda Fernandes in your research pages makes clear. He also points to the solution - treat it within the ecology of your Country. Wattle is a legume and forms the perfect middle layer of a very productive agroforest. Use succession plantings of native species and it will progressively move aside to give space to other plants and wildlife (and yes, farm animals like goats and pigs, who will munch and uproot it). All the while, you can continue to use it for mulch and organic matter, firewood, food for humans, bees and livestock, windbreaks, reclaiming degraded land, the timber products you are already making and its flowers for a drink that has refreshed over 2,000 generations of Australian Aboriginal kids. Make Project Kamp an emblematic centre of Agroecology!
The problem is Europe hunted their willd grazers to near extinction ages ago which favours fast growing species a lot.
One faster and better option could be to get in contact with Kubota Portugal and inquire about a potential sponsorship (I know they did that in the US) where they can lend you a skid steer with mulching head. It's basically a mobile shredder on steroids .. and would make awesome content :D
Keep it up !!
I agree. Kubota would be into this. They need more promotion with the tools they use. I know Festool would love them.
mygosh, a full 30-min vid of just chippinggggg
Those hydraulic shredders are AMAZING! You guys would have so much fun. Deleks might be another brand you could partner with to get one.
Given how the roots spread and send out suckers even if cut down, maybe an excavator with a thumb would be better than mulching. That’s how we clear groves of (weed-like) poplars. Pluck or push over the whole tree, complete with the roots. Then take the excavator and stack them in a pile.
We frequently get called in to places where they’ve used a mulcher to clear trees, and it takes just as much time for us to go around with the excavator and dig out the roots (so the soil can be prepped for whatever next use for the land) as it would have to have just come in and cleared it with the excavator in the first place.
Plus then you have a nice stack of trees that you can limb, shred, cut, or chip in a controlled fashion, rather than have your chips mulching the whole area, which may or may not be appropriate or advantageous, again, depending on the planned use.
That's a great idea. I recently watched a couple of RUclipss (they were rather compelling) by a landscaper. They had a special chipper head mounted on a tractor. The head chewed through everything, 10-20 inch hardwood trees, standing and on the ground, even took out the stumps. It was very fascinating watching the monster chew up and spit out trees, clearing over grown areas like yours in a morning. (sorry, I can't find the link)
9:25 filling eroded ditches (gullies) with wood is an excellent way to slow the flow of water, capture sediment and stop future erosion by forcing the occasional water flow to overtop the banks of the ditch and spread across the land. Ditches ALWAYS flow across the contours of the land. All of these consequences of the wood filled ditch benefit the land by increasing rainwater infiltration into the earth. Eventually, this rain water makes its way to the aquifer and your wells and springs will rise. But remember, you can also build wood berms ACROSS the contours of the land. These wooden berms can be built up over time with additional wood and soil if you find them effective.
yes, in Australia we clear the dry plant matter from the ground as well, as it can feed a fire as well as a living tree can. we wouldn't leave all that dry matter (broken branches, bark, dead trees) lying around on the ground if we were series about fire risk reduction.
@@MirneDerks Thank you for making that point. The Project Kamp decision making process seems to be something like "what is our highest priority and how can we accomplish that goal with minimal input"? Their definition of input includes burning fossil fuels (chippers, hauling it away for firewood, etc.)
My hunch is that they are comfortable with the level of fire mitigation they have accomplished by laying these trees down into rows. It appears that is all they are willing to do and it is an improvement on standing trees loaded with flammable resin.
The general labor team continues to clear mimosa and identify native volunteer trees - so perhaps all of the mimosa will be on the ground, composting in the foreseeable future. Ecologically, that would be huge.
Their current strategy in case of fire is to evacuate the land ASAP.
Once those stripped trees have died and dried off along with all the dead wood left on the ground will make a huge tinder box, worse fire risk than before.
The neighbor must have been very happy about all the free firewood he got for the winter.
I'm happy and also surprised that no one gut injured during this project... people have been luckily running away from the falling trees. PS: Helmet for everyone around would be a good start. And also: headphone are not a substitute for hearing protection.
+ You guys should take a quick course about hot to use a chainsaw properly and how to cut down the trees. You cut them to high most of the time. Someone will get hurt otherwise.
I as holding my breath and thinking, I bet so many people watching this are doing the same. So many potential accidents…
I love that you guys are doing this, understanding this, and explaining this. Nature solves the "too many trees" problem by having wildfires. If we don't want to suffer wildfires, we must thin forests from time to time, and this doesn't even broach the subject of invasive species. Co-existence with nature doesn't mean never touching it. There is a balance to be struck, but we are part of the balance, not separate from it.
mimosa idea: charcoal kiln, cook all meals on home grown energy
Vote this up!
:D
Yeah. These logs are valuable materials and should be saved for firewood, charcoal and basic rough building material.
Stored natural energy.. Guess they just worried about any potential fire risks, But if done it a controlled area it shouldn't be a problem.
A 55 gallon drum with a 30 gallon drum inside of it makes a great charcoal kiln which is very safe to use and FAST in producing charcoal for HEAT, COOKING and BIOCHARCOAL to improve the tilth of the soil! In Central America, lands improved with biocharcoal over 1000 years ago are still fertile!
you should not let the solid logs lay and "rot" because that can take ages, and before that they will be an extra source of fuel for an wildfire.
last owner of my house did the same thing 28 years ago and the logs was still laying on the ground with little rot when i munched em up last year, and they where from a species of trees that "rots fast"...
and i live in much more wet conditions close to the ocean of southern Norway so would not think of how long they could lay dried up down there
25:20 You must be careful when you use certain tools, this way of cutting could cause a very serious leg injury if the ax deviates a bit, I have also seen it in another video using a knife close to the leg, the cuts are always outwards of the body to avoid accidents, be careful with that, we want you all in perfect condition to carry out the project, good job
"I'm passionate about environmental issues, and trance music." I don't know why, but that phrase absolutely sent me Go Sean, haha.
It caught my attention as well.
I'm looking foward to your experiences with the bark shaving. I know this technique a bit different: Shave 20-30cm and use a wirebrush to get all the kambium out. This is important so the tree really stops trafficing assimilates from the top to the bottom! In theory this should kill the tree slowly over the course of around 5 years, exhausting the roots so they don't resprout (depends on the species of course) If you debark a bigger section like you did, they might die much faster ( 1-2years) but might resprout since the roots are still strong. So yeay keep us updated!
And please sharpen your chains & learn how to use the chainsaw in a proper & save way ! What you're doing looks real scary & I'm amazed that you had no serious accidents so far!
That chainsaw action looked really dangerous...
tip of a experienced Blackberry brambles fighter (i had 100m² overgrown area). If you cut them, cut them always as low over the ground as possible and cut vertically into the ground roots too... I took me 3 seasons to get them to rott/disappear... if you cut them not directly over the ground, they often make new leaves, that then supports the regrows of new vines.
And why not just cultivate them properly?
@@southernboycookin5383 I mean, I kinda like the idea. Blackberry espalier. It just seems like an awful lot of work and would require constant attention. Are bramble blackberries worth it? I've never had them.
@@southernboycookin5383 : I had a patch with wild Blackberries, that where not tasty/bitterish and the yield was not good. actually I do grow a variation of blackberries there, but not on the full 100m²... that is a bit much
Blackberry absolutely takes over everything here in the PNW. The berries are nice but they turn forest into green razor wire
it might be a good idea to organize a weekly or monthly flea hunt; you can find legions of old tools worth salvaging (maybe just by asking around). You have the metal working tools to restore pretty much any type of old metal tool, they're often of a great quality and its much cheaper than buying a full kit for every working member. Also a great experience for those new to working with their hands.
The tree stem bunds look like a good idea, but not if they're not covered with soil. They will dry out and act like a fire line, spreading the fire quickly. Once covered with soil they will decompose and add fertility and moisture to the land.
Plus I agree if you can get a goat fence to work properly, a few goats wpuld seem like a good idea, but check if mimosa leaves are not too protein rich for them first.
that's crazy, I remember the first videos when you were visiting the building that has become the office; the back side was completely overgrown and it took some time to clear all of that away so that you could see the structure of the building! such a big change now
Hi from Project Camp.
What you need to explore as well is when in a year is the best time to cut the trees. We had a similar issues with Acacia trees (I think it is a mimosa family) that after a patch of Acacia cut there were a lot of Acacia sprouts soon after. What we found out was that in case Acacia is cut over the winter (January) there were almost no Acacia sprouts coming up, however if it was cut in March/April next year was there already a new forest of Acacia.
Yep, these 'Mimosas' in the video are Acacia Dealbata and they are native to where I live in Australia!
Leafy wood chip makes an incredible mulch for young fruit trees and your veggie garden, to keep the soil moist and weed free. Use at least 5cm depth or more. When watering, you'll find that it soaks straight in. The longer you can leave the big piles to mature and start to rot down, the better.
Use short sharp poles as rows of low stakes to help terrace the land, and retain rainfall.
Make some compost bins and add some chicken manure to get it started with the green shreddings!
A staggering amount of work, wow! Project Kamp really shows the power of numbers. A lot of hands can get a lot done, thats one of your strengths!
Some thoughts:
What species of 'mimosa' is it. There are several. Acacia dealbata? Albizia julibrissin? It makes a difference because of things like potential toxicity (e.g. the seeds of Albizia apparently contain a neurotoxin that is poisonous to stock if they eat it. Must be a local botanist who could ID it for you.
What are the locals doing to control it. Goats sound good IF you want the milk, meat, etc. If you do, they would make sense to eat the young sprouts. BUT they would need full access so you would have to cut to ground, not half way up. Once you have cut to ground, re-cutting would be easier.
At what age does your mimosa seed? Does it seed copiously? Will it seed into your cleared areas? If so (and especially if the seed remains dormant in the seed bank) you will need to keep removing the seedlings. Goats might help.
De-barking is better than frill girdling. By taking out the bark, you don't kill the tree fast as the xylem will still transport water to the crown and the crown might stay alive for a considerable time. By frilling, you end up with a narrow 'gap' in the bark which may heal over. By de-barking, you avoid this.
Use the machete as a draw knife - sharpen from the handle to a handspan short of the blade. Make sure that bit is sharp but the bit near the point is not. And wear gloves. Can you use the bark? Shred as a mulch? Depends on whether toxins are present - you need to know what species you have.
Use directional felling on the trees. You get much more control over the fell. Watching you made me cringe - they are only wee trees, but once they start moving, there is a lot of inertia there. Fell to ground to save yourself work later.
Fell uphill. You will have to be organised. Extract downhill and straight into a bigger chipper. You may find that there is local interest in wood chip for combined heat and power generation if you have enough to make it worthwhile. They may not want the frash mixed in. You would have to be organised with your felling.
Good luck with spreading the shredded tops and small diameter stuff. I would worry that it would dry out in summer and if you get a fire, it will propagate in the spread chip. Perhaps better to pile it and compost it. Then use the compost. Keep it watered and beware heating and possible combustion as it rots. Let it get warm (it will rot fast) but not too hot to touch. Monitor it and turn it periodically. Isolate your piles behind a firebreak if you go down this route (just in case). Note that composting goes better if you mix in the 'frash' or green material.
Can you 'chunk' the branches and use them as wood fuel or in a ring kiln to make charcoal/biochar? Best made in winter and with seasoned material.
Watch this ruclips.net/video/R1PIObjaejU/видео.html to see an easy, efficient and safe way to log up felled lengths for wood fuel. Don't forget that properly seasoned and dried wood fuel should burn cleanly and efficiently. It is in-cycle carbon whereas gas/oil/diesel for cooking and heating is sequestered carbon.
Shutting up now. Hope this was helpful. Good luck.
Acacia dealbata
I love your landscaping videos, those are the most relaxing
Humble suggestion: If you are going to be doing a lot of digging and shovelling, buy some long, straight-handled spades. They are so much easier on the back than the short spades with handles. They long, straight-handled spades can be worked with minimum bending of the back and a slight bend of the knees. They also allow you to throw dirt farther.
As a former construction worker like maybe yourself this is so true !! 10 times easier !!
I see this a lot, when the shovel handle breaks close to the blade. It is an easy fix to use the same handle. After a few fixes the shovel handle is too short and the user starts to have lower back pain.
as a Brazilian i loved seeing a Brazilian on the team
keep getting work done out there
achei mt fofa ela falando em ingles
You guys should into a bio char burner for the material. Makes a amazing way to store the carbon from the mimosas back into the land more quickly and will drastically increase the grounds ability to hold moisture and nutrients. It could also be set up to produce power, quiet a lot of it.
Was about to say the same thing
This is land management! Love the mix of personalities on your team and the creative video angels you all find :)
Instead of debarking, you should also try girdling. Basically debarking, but in a ring around the tree. Everything above it should die out within a few weeks.
Debarking doesn't add much over this, it just takes more time.
Or find a use for the bark....
@@mfr58 Mimosa bark isn't really the best, you could weave some fences out of it but once it dries it gets pretty weak so even a basket would become useless pretty quick
Exactly. Lots of additional time but no extra benefit.
@@mfr58 That's the thing I don't get. That bark is medicinal and I am pretty sure they can sell it and even keep some for an apothecary. I hope that is what they are going to do.
@@daylen577 mimosa bark can be used for medicine apparently and burned
Lovely sounds from this episode... the crunching of the dry mimosas underfoot, and the debarking of the trees!
Not sure if this has been said before, but these water retention lines you built from the mimosas are perfect for so called "Benjeshecken" (dead hedges). They provide shelter and food for birds and other animals, and are great for the protection and as a seed bed for the native seedlings you'd plant in the dead wood. Also, they are a great option to do something useful with the mimosa trees.
The German Wikipedia about this topic is an interesting read and a good starting point: de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjeshecke. Here in Germany, you see Benjes hedges every now and then, even if they are usually a bit higher than your water retention lines.
Keep up the good work! 💪
Mimosa are leguminous and build the soil. They are a pioneer species and some of the first forms of vegetation to return to an area after a fire or other major disturbance. They have a symbiotic relationship with certain nitrogen fixing bacteria which add nutrients to damaged soil and prepare it for other plants and trees that follow in succession. The leaves and pods can be used as fodder for cows, goats and sheep, and are an important source of forage for bees. Its wood can easily be turned into charcoal, and if inoculated, to a source of Terra Preta - biochar - or simply as firewood. The bark is high in tannin and can be used as a dye as well as making it somewhat rot-resistant. It also has a long history of medicinal uses in both animals and humans. Certain types are used to produce DMT.
You have an abundance of a wonderful resource. Try not to look at it as only a negative - it has so many positive attributes. Work WITH nature, not against it.
Yes, they also have a large fire risk, so removing half an acre of mimosas is working with nature
And...... Mimosas are not native at all to Portugal!!! They are great resources in countries/continents of which they are from as they only disrup the local environment killing local animals and insects as they do not let native plants go! They have their space somewhere else and unfortunately that is not Portugal
@@blackduckfarmcanada Fires are also natural unless manmade. Nature doesn't squander resources - it recycles everything. Removing - and not reusing - is unnatural.
Thanks for your interesting comment. Seems like a mimosa and fire are friends. Was thinking if controlled forrest fire of mimosas would be possible that could be probably most natural way of returning the nutrients back to the soil.
@@vaclavstoupa1911 Because most of our plant-based food sources are annuals or produce annually, we tend to think in terms of a yearly system. Nature, however, thinks in centuries and millennia.
Fire-mediated serotiny appears in hundreds of species across the globe where fire is a common natural occurrence. Often the seed is encased in a hard shell or coated in a resin which needs to burn off to release. Fire will also burn away allelopathic leaves on the ground which can prevent other vegetation from taking root as well as opening up space for light and rain to reach the soil. Opening up space for light and rain - whether by fire or chopping down trees and removing dead wood - also changes the water retention capabilities of the soil and can induce desertification and erosion. It also changes the order of natural succession from grasses and herbaceous plants the first year or two (ground covers which prevent drying out the soil and turning it to dust, net roots to prevent erosion, tap roots to pull nutrients up from deep in the soil for other plants), followed by small bushes and pioneer trees over the next few years (nitrogen fixation, humus building, tilth), to evergreens, to a deciduous forest over decades or centuries - altering and repairing the soil with every successive species. Not following a natural succession is why replanted forests by logging companies rarely do well.
We have to look at nature as a "whole system" where every element is connected to another element. Where altering one element or situation has a chain reaction to all other elements - some good, some bad. Will what we do today for immediate gain cause irreparable damage tomorrow?
Hey I'm sure someone has already mentioned in the comments but incase they haven't the three cut method when cutting down branches and trees is a great way to protect your chainsaw and stay safe. Keep up the great work!
If you build hügelkultur beds, the big trunks that cannot be shredded will be perfect for filling the beds.
i wish i can see this kind of project more often across the globe,..these initiative can easily help the underpriviledged
With some off the trees you take down, why don’t you try to make bio charcoal, it will help in the garden and could increase your yield. Have a great and safe day. ❤️🇬🇧🙏
Imho by far the best solution.
I was thinking of suggesting the same. Charring could be also nice if they want to use it as material for fences and alike.
@@peterpalparragi6992 Yakisugi is an exciting approach and could be well linked to the production of biocharcoal.
That would mean learning a real skill and doing some hard work. They've been bleating about this fire hazard for more than 2 years and yet have done little to address it.
We had mimosas in our garden in Italy. I know from experience that the piles of wood and brush do NOT rot down - eventually I had to burn it in the winter. The bigger pieces of wood were dried and used as firewood, but that took work to cut and store it.
I can also tell you that mimosa sprouts everywhere, not just from the base but from the roots that are very shallow and run a long way out from the tree.
Apart from some herbs, they don't have a garden
I've been watching Kamp from the first season....it's great seeing the land being renewed . Keep up the good work
You should try a Draw-Knife.... Two handles with a shape curved blade between. It has been used for centuries to strip logs.
I am in total awe of all you beautiful intelligent young people. Your dedication to saving our environment fills my heart with joy. ❤ Blessings to you all xxx
I like Sean narrating
Nice video. It will be interesting to see how debarking the trees turns out. So many projects going on so keep up the good work!!
Good work, however I'm not sure it would have taken too much longer to cut the trees to the ground,..it would look a hell of a lot better and after you could drill or cross cut the stumps to help rotting ! Also cutting at an angle will shed rain water and they won't rot as fast.
What a blast! Your living the homesteading dream
One idea to bounce off you all is to use the larger mimosa trunks for hugelkultur. Sort of like where you all used similar parts to create steps on inclines of the terrain. Yopu can fill it with a lot of the wood chips as well and grow some vegetables etc.
Except they aren't into growing vegetables
@@dFrame06 Well humans DO have to EAT!
@@khiem1939 good insight
The bench you made last week was really cool, I think the right person could do a lot of round wood carpentry with your mimosa trunks as they seem to grow quite straight.
They warp over time though. Especially when they get wet.
@@MarcoReekers01 Yes, and they are very brittle when dry.
I loved the little comic book onomatopoeia on people in the background 😂
Leaving the trunks on the ground may be good long term, but in the dry season they can be a source of tinder. Same with debarking. What about making biochar with them. A great soil amendment, and not flammable once charged obviously. Are you allowed to do controlled burns in the area? That can help too- especially if you're leaving that much tinder on the ground.
Could be a good idea to get goats (or borrow a neighbors) once you've cleared the area. Plant pioneer species and protect them from the goats with like individual fencing, and have the goats roam through the cleared area when they mimosa resprouts until the plants are dead in a season or two.
If you aren't opposed to just using herbicides, you could also cut the trees to essentially ground level (1" from soil) and paint some 50% glyphosate on the exposed surface
The bark strips are a real fire hazard...they are rich in oils and dry out very quicky forming an ideal tinder...its a real downside of debarking
Yep. Also; if the trees are a fire hazard when alive, surely dead, dry standing trees will be even worse?
@@AlasdairThompson I think the idea is that when they are properly dead they will be less likely to continue to sprout after being cut. Not a bad idea as long as they can avoid short term fire risk.
@@paullee4442 oh ok, that does make sense actually
Great effort.
Liked it very much. Saw all 3 seasons in 5 days. It was addictive. Thank u and ur team and volunteers for making it possible.
Stay blessed and may God help u guys
You are better than me. Only 55 videos in 5 days.
Make sure to buy whetstones fore those new knifes as you want them to stay sharp you can also adjust the blade angle for what you are working with.
Human sculpting its environment. Inspiring! 💖
And you make it look so much fun 😃
Wow! Thats one hell of a job.. You guys need to rent a big tree mulcher mounted on a skid steer 🙂Keep up the good work!
Great teamwork getting the trees cleared and debarked. And great time lapse showing the work getting done. And saved the small oaks as well, great job!
I see someone already suggested goats. They love bramble,and if you don't eat goat you can rent them out to clear brush for your neighbors. There very useful animals.
And the milk and cheese! Goat cheese would go great on pizza.....
The power of the collective is so inspiring! Love Project Kamp all the way in Florida USA❤❤❤❤
Try oiling the secateurs, hopefully that works. ( I oil mine after sharpening regularly.) Love the work ethic you all have !
I look forward to this every episode. I live in a narrowboat community. Maybe I should record it. Thank you team Kamp.
Since you've got all this mimosa you should look into getting a gasifier generator. You can use the mimosa as fuel. It will be an alternative source of electricity for you and gasifiers produce less greenhouse gas than simple incineration. (They do produce some obviously). I don't really see what else you can do with it all since you have SO much.
I agree, this seems like a sensible idea. A problem lots of people have with gasifiers is finding enough fuel to run them. There is an excess of fuel here so it's kind of perfect.
@@marvelarvin2317 Yes! exactly. You can make your own gasifiers (plenty of youtube vids on that) or you can buy them.
I love the longer episodes! You guys are doing a great job on everything!
Obrigado pela partilha 🔝
Tenho pena de não partilharem mais vídeos numa semana, mas percebo a dificuldade....
Força 😔👍👏🇵🇹🇵🇹
wishing you guys a very safe fire season! much love from Australia! 🧡
Im so happy you all have Gloves now!
Well done getting rid of mimosa and I love you all replanting natives!!! I got a few hundreds hours of volunteer work helping with conservation based land management. Mimosa, tree-of-heaven, bradford pear, and other woody trees are things I have helped manage. I had some thoughts I hope you'll appreciate.
Without any chemical means, those mimosas are almost certainly going to resprout tougher than before (as you saw under the power lines). There's understandable hesitation of herbicides, but you can have **targeted**, limited use without impacting ground water or soil. It's how conservation groups manage large stands of woody plants (e.g., multiflora rose, mimosa, tree-of-heaven). You cut the stumps down to just 1-2 inches above the ground, and paint/focused spray a 1:1 glyphosate to water solution with dye onto the remaining stump. Note, it is critical you do apply the herbicide very quickly (recommended within 15 seconds). It will kill the roots without impacting your environment and the dye will let you know if it's been treated. Do take care to not get the herbicide on your skin.
Here is a link with more information from Australia's Department of Land Management:
denr.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/400372/Final-Weed-Management-Plan-for-Mimosa-Dec-2013.pdf
In South Africa we do the same eradication and it is often among fynbos which is mostly protected. We use a product called Garlon mixed with a blue dye and paint or spray it on the stumps. The dye is to see which are painted and which are not. Garlon is recommended by the Dept. Environmental affairs so it should be safe for other plants. Garlon stops regrowth. Regards from Billy
You could use your thicker trunks to make posts for fencing. Then use the skinny poles to weave into the posts to make a wattle fence. Since it is mimosa those posts in the ground will rot over time and the fence won’t be permanent. But the fencing could keep goats confined to the location where you want them to eat those regrowing mimosas. Without goats it could take years to finally remove all of those mimosas.
BR na equipe, isso foi muito legaaal!!!!!!!!!!
top ne
@@GamerxUP demais!!
the bark peeling could be an ASMR video of it's own. so satisfying
17:43 that is what we call a "hatchet." My grandmother used it to split kindling for her wooden cooking stove. An AXE has a long handle on it to get swing and momentum. Oil your tools, rust cuts down their effectiveness. The metal quality will determine the ability to sharpen a fine edge and maintain it longer. Oil, oil, oil before storing good luck 😊
Quality content as always 🎉
The bark can be used for basket weaving as well if youre so inclined!
I hope that this is talked about in history books, “The great Sustainability Revolution”
It will be! The Regenerative Revolution! More and more people will be buying land specifically for this purpose
Great to see everyone helping out and getting stuck in to the work.
I would love to come spend a few weeks building with you guys it seems like fun
Another input: use the mimosa trees you cut to build animal enclosures/shelters in the future if you plan to have animals.
So satisfying to watch. I love before and after stuff.
Cut all the trees down use them to build a fence then put some goats in there. They will keep the trees from coming back and you'll get free fertilizer!
And you get meat and baby goats what you can sell👍
@@simonsays2774 they don't eat meat...
@@bowdowntojules But they can sell it...
Milk? Cheese?
Looking after goats is hard work
Mimosa is a legume. If you would coppice or pollard you could leave stands in strategic locations for firewood and chop and drop mulch for a future food forest and orchard.
bro, to the guy just carefree cutting the trees with the chainsaw, you need to learn how to fell a tree. im not saying this to be jerk on the internet but falling trees can sometimes kick back and seriously hurt you if you stand to close.
My thoughts exactly! I was literally cringing thinking a tree was about to kick back, scary and he didn't have a clue.
Im plowing through all your videos. Its amazing to see the progress. Just a few hours ago it was "the small ruin". Now this guy calls it the office. Great stuff
Please get some chainsaw training. Someone's gonna have a serious accident.
Great video. So satisfying to see the improvement. Love the personalities of the crew on the project. Cheers!
Great job Projectkamp. Love the videos 😍
I've been watching a lot of Asian home reno videos and they'll often save all the "poles" when they clear trees to use later for fences, outdoor kitchen buildings, furniture, etc. Also, I don't know if this works with acacia but with the bush honeysuckle that is invasive where I am, when it sends up new shoots you can pull them downward to break them off easily, it's easier than cutting them. If you want to make the acacia poles last for ground contact (like fences) you can char the ends, it will prevent rot, it's a Japanese technique called "shou sugi ban"
Without removing the stump/root ball, simply cutting the Mimosa down will only set up more work later. Although, cutting the drying the wood to break or cut into pieces about as long as your forearm to then stack around the stumps. So you can light the small piles to use fire to kill the stumps by basically cooking them. For the ashes, mix them at a one to five ratio (one shovel to five shovel fulls) to soil and other decaying organics to ashes. Make yourself a form of biochar based soil that can be mixed in with other soils or sold to any farmers/gardeners.
Otherwise it'll be a whole lot of digging the stump/root ball out. Then replanting native and fruit bearing while being concerned about erosion until the replanting is established fully.
Gosh! No wonder that fires are a problem, it is like the ground is covered in kindling!! That is wild! Thank you so much for sharing this video, very interesting!
14:12 - that was as weirdly satisfying to watch as having a massive bit of wallpaper come off when you're stripping that..
I am from Portugal and im have 6 years of construction ex. and i would love to see your place and help you guys with happiness
It was so satisfying to see the mulch go down onto bare dirt. Covering up bare dirt like that slows down evaporation of subsurface moisture. Use the shredder on as many mimosa trees as possible. Cover up as much bare dirt as possible. Consider trying to procure a few hundred saplings of your preferred species for next planting season. Of course consider mobile small-paddock animal grazing & chicken farming. I don't know if you have to spend money buying protein sources, but laying hens can be raise fairly quickly. They of course require some feed but you have enough space for several dozen hens to forage.
I do this with invasive privet and honeysuckle in my 4 acres of woods in Tennessee, USA. Cutting them down repeatedly before their roots give up! Started work on it in 2015, we're on our third round of cutting. I cut them mostly in wintertime when they are easier to see (privet is evergreen) and reach (honeysuckle branches arch towards the ground in summer, making their base almost impossible to reach).
Our woods are rebounding with native trees, it's wonderful!
Bark baskets, hedgerows, waddle fences, drill twisted rope, linen style fiber for weaving, lashing while wet and drying stronger (ladders/bridges)
I am really impressed with your work skills. Well done.
You never ever cease to amaze me! I applaud you. Though your debarked mimosa trees will catch fire as easy as ever. There is no easy way out with tree stumps. Drill them well and let them rot.