Nathanael Szobody

Mike Barkley wrote:Does your artificial foundation have a beeswax coating? Adding a thin layer of wax &/or a couple drops of lemongrass or peppermint oil inside the hive might help keep them inside long enough to consider it home.

Thanks,  I added lemon grass oil today. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for the replies. I think height and temperature might be an issue; local bees are always high up in tree trunks.

In other parts of the country people raise local bees in holes or logs that the attach in a tree. But I was hoping I could use a hive with frames...

I got a swarm in my lime tree yesterday. I've been waiting for this moment, so at night I gently cut the branch and placed it in a hive that I had ready. I placed the hive under a tree a few hundred feet away. Perfect, right?

I closed the entrance with screen,  but apparently there's one tiny wrinkle in the screen big enough for one bee to squeeze out. This morning half the swarm was back in the lime tree. Well, kind of. Now they're clinging to a clay water jar under the tree.

This is Africa. The hive is from the US with artifical foundation.  Could there be a compatibility issue?

I have read about the Hopi deep planting methods. If my memory serves well, the practice depends on having the right variety. It will also depend on your exact soil type; a little extra clay or stone can make the practice much less viable.

So you will have to experiment with your own plot and the seeds you can source. You can dig a trench that gets progressively deeper with markers planted along the outside of it indicating depth at each point. Plant your seeds--all sorts that you want to try-- the length of the trench. It won't be long before you'll know exactly what seeds can be planted at which depth.

Just be sure to mulch. It will dramatically improve results.

And let us know!!

Sweet potatoes are very hardy and most any slip will grow. That being said, the roots primarily grow out of the leaf axil (where the leaf grows out of the stem). So best practice is to have two leaf axils under the ground and at least one above ground. This gives optimal amount of root growth near the soil surface for tuber production and leaves one above ground for fastest leaf growth. Leaving two above ground is fine as well, but much longer than that and you're just stressing the plant to try to sustain that much more vegetable life before it has roots.

Hi Connor!
Yep,  you can grow it there. The production will be about a half to a quarter what it would produce in full sun but it will still produce something. Keep us posted!

Hi Suzette! Yes,  better to transition slowly. Any of us would struggle with a dramatic diet shift overnight. Start giving a few greens as a "snack". Different rabbits will take to it differently depending on personality,  but you should be able to reduce commercial feed as you learn what you're rabbit likes and in what quantities.

To keep a caged rabbit from overeating, only give it to them at set "feedings" and remove the rest when they're done. You'll quickly get a feel for how long a feeding should be.

Hot and dry Africa here. Neem easily wins this competition But also really good arid shade trees: albizia, ficus and senna.

I saw a video awhile back about a regenerative olive grower in Greece who just mowed the grass and put the clippings under the trees. He retained a lot more moisture that way.

As for the branches,  I feel your pain. My in-laws grow about 1000 acres of cherries and burn all the old  trees that they pull up. If you can afford a wood chipper, then just chip it all and put it under the trees. If not,  have a designated brush pile and just let it decompose,  some day you'll grow the world's finest lavender on that spot.

Wild Boy wrote:

I was going to do some logs, mulch, and dirt.

Perfect. Just make sure there's dirt between and around it all. You want biological "pathways" allthroughout. Lots of manure would also be helpful to provide nitrogen. It will compact significantly over time just just keep adding good stuff on the top. Like compost.

But like everyone else said: absolutely no worries about the cracks. Once you're soil is most it will just hold together.