Hi there Permies! I'd like to share some takeaways from a conversation I had a while back with an expert in fruit forests, durian propagation, and farming with an ethos of sustainability. He's been in the game for over 30 years and has a LOT of wisdom to share on the topic. Here are a couple of little things I thought I might share with you all today.
..."Look at the forest floor. There are sticks, leaves, and all kinds of composting matter that could easily be a foot deep. That's the first lesson. We keep mulching around the trees. This also looks after the microorganisms and creates a nice little habitat for them to flourish. Often times when you pull back the much, you get to see the bacteria and fungus breaking down the leaf litter and the root tips of the trees are feeding in there."
..."If we just throw some leaf litter around the trees, it might not work. Chances are that It's going to be too dry, so we actually apply the microorganisms to the leaf litter, and it needs to be moist for them to grow.
We also make biochar, and we use that as a refuge for the microorganisms to grow."
Peter also spoke about using natural sources of Potassium to induce flowering in durian trees. He uses dried and burned banana trees, and coconut husks for this purpose.
If you're interested in techniques to grow durian or other fruit the organic way, check out the episode for all the nifty little tricks:
https://sharinginsights.net/podcast/peter-kring/
Happy growing!
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