steveowen McCoy

Yes, I see your points, thanks. Breathability is very important. I should have clarified, I was thinking of the mesh-style tubes, rather than the non-ventilated. I've actually had some questions about that approach (hopefully I'm using the right term, 'hyperadobe'"), the mesh-bags or tubes I mean, and klorinth's experiments with hempcrete triggered the idea. Any inputs are gratefully received.

Gotta go to work now, thanks for your replies.

Hello all,
Do you think hempcrete would work in hyperadobe-style tubes? I was thinking post and beam frame with 'cretebag walls. Is it affordable?

Thanks! 

I can see that soil work will be a primary focus for a while on our place, maybe that's always so but at 7500+ feet especially.

Hi NM Grower, I hope to be a neighbor of yours in the coming few years, glad you chimed in with experience in that area. What else have you done to improve your soil and how've been your results? Are there things you've had particular good luck growing, or others that don't do so well?

@Mark: We've owned the place for 2 years but we'd been living overseas and are now returning to the US, been here just a few months. Physically I'm in CA near family for the moment but we want to get going on soil improvement processes this coming spring. My wife's family is from NM, mainly around Clovis and just east of Albuquerque.

I'll have to go up into the slopes above our place to look for brown cubicle rot and/or this chicken of the woods fungus. Do you just scatter it into the beds on top of the woody stuff, under the soil layer? Is there more to do for best results?

I'm also very interested in biochar, Ludi, glad you suggested that. Have you used the retort/barrel technique to make char? It looks relatively easy on the few videos I've seen, once the contraption is put together. Things I read online about biochar's effects on the garden are very exciting.

Nice to get replies so fast, thanks all.   

Hi new permie friends,
I'm beginning the development of our land and I've learned a great deal from the information you all have shared in this forum and others, thanks so much for everything I've gained so far. 

Our patch is in Taos County NM, west slopes of the Sangre de Cristos, about 20 miles south of the CO border. Rugged, raw, and utterly beautiful, definitely a "from scratch" project. I want to make a bunch of raised beds on hugelkultur foundations. I have tons of pin~on, juniper, sage, and these scrubby little cacti.

I've read about soil acidity and allelopathic factors linked to conifers, e.g. in Paul W's video where the Missoula folks are piling up cottonwood for a hugel bed, plus other places as well.

What I'd like to know is, have any of you had experiences dealing with less than optimal chemistry in the biomass you've hugeled, such as in my case? What if I leave the woody stuff out to weather for a year? Does it make a difference if I pile in manure, green "waste" (haha, like it's waste), straw, or other stuff? Wood ash to alter pH (but what about the allelopaths)? I guess I could truck in biomass, just gotta find the cache of gold bars at the end of some rainbow... but biomass I got!

Any advice, experiences, warnings, or other info will be happily received, muchas gracias.