Using Fire to Prepare a Site for Planting

Fire has been a tool used in land management for thousands of years, and today Colt Hamilton goes over the fundamentals of controlled burns before lighting a 13 acre wooded property that will be overseeded in Diverse Native Grasses.

[@tomallen8459]

Good info. Thanks

[@phillipmartin5732]

I think the burn is an important part of a grand scheme. It’s a natural occurrence that we can use to get to a natural self sufficient state.
That being said, everything has a time and place.
Happy balancing everybody!

[@timshirk6261]

Yes i agree it is a natural tool and may even be more valuable than I realize. Perhaps the terrain or rocks would make it unfit for mulching.

[@timshirk6261]

Have you tried or considered using a forestry mulcher to grind up that brush and have the soil biology return the carbon to the soil instead of burning it off ? I know that would cost a lot more but you also keep very value carbon that will end up as organic matter. I also realize that burning does not gas off everything and that many good things remain such as minerals and ash or bio char which creates good homes for soil biology much not much food as the labile carbon and sugars are gone. I have had great success with the mulching and yes it is expensive but I think I am further ahead in the long run

[@connerlee3744]

Burning creates carbon, ever heard of charcoal?

[@timshirk6261]

@@connerlee3744 the only thing that converts CO2 to carbon is green plants. Burning will then put some back as CO2 as will microbial respiration. But no burning does not create carbon

[@Sixrabbbit]

Maybe but cedar is not a good tree to mulch because the wood is very acidic and fungicidal and herbicidal.