First-time poster... I looked for a bit and didn't see anything immediately about this. Would having two nitrogen fixing plants in one guild improve yield for the other plants? For example, I live in Western Washington and am wondering what would happen if I were to plant red alder, cloves, and dwarf cherries. Would having both nitrogen fixers improve the yield as opposed to one (in the hypothetical non-existing controlled environment)?
For a starting food forest you want close to 90% legumes and at maturity you want no less than 25% legume after the other 65% has died after being over-shadowed, died of old age or chop-dropped-killed.
Starting out you need 9units of garden space covered/shadowed by legumes for every 1unit of space covered by 'productive plants'
Iterations are fine, we don't have to be perfect
My 2nd Location:Florida HardinessZone:10 AHS:10 GDD:8500 Rainfall:2in/mth winter, 8in/mth summer, Soil:Sand pH8 Flat
I'd prefer to have a dozen species of nitrogen fixing trees, that way, when the cold kills one species, and a borer kills a different species, and a blight kills another species, and a relative chops out a "problem tree", and the government bans an invasive, and one species just can't handle the soil, then there are still a half dozen species that are doing fine.