Hugelkultur YouTube video—interesting, legit sources?

https://youtu.be/FKvBRtE13jw?si=6DPZInBsoE9akmqU

The algorithm sent me this very encouraging video about Hugo culture that cited some academic studies about this, but I’m wondering if it’s AI hallucination. A lot of the information was accurate, but some of it was a bit, unsure about it.

If it is all accurate, then this is a really great corroboration of a lot of things that folks and Permies have been observing.

The other thing that was interesting about this was it said that a researcher had documented the origins of hugelculture in the 60s, and that it was a 500 -year-old practice. Maybe this can clear up some of the confusion of whatever’s gotten lost in translation between Sepp and America.

I would generally ignore AI-generated content and do my own research. Maybe there is a thread here on the history of hugelkultur?

I found this one: https://permies.com/t/57478/History-Hugelkultur

The gist seems to be it is a recent invention. I would guess that is the case because it seems very unlikely to me that people of previous ages would have had surplus wood of any diameter. I believe bundles of small diameter wood were commonly used as firewood for heat and especially cooking.

On the other hand, biochar has a documented and very ancient history. That doesn’t mean that hugelkultur is less relevant or useful—far from it!—only that it is only very recently in the age of oil that a significant surplus of wood was possible. Not only is wood valuable for heat and cooking, but it also takes a lot of effort to cut and transport. All of this would have been done with the work of the hand and by animal labor, which only in modern times could be done by chainsaw, truck, etc. Wherever wood was abundant but the population was elsewhere, wood was typically burnt down to charcoal to make it easier to transport to the consumers.

Thanks, M, to be clear I don’t know whether it is AI generated or not. And even if it is, I don’t know whether it’s scraped valid information or not.

Quick web search on research brought me this list of references, many of them are fairly new:



Adams, A. 2013. Hügelkultur Gardening Technique Does Not Result in Plant Nutrient Deficiencies and Is a Potential Source Reduction Strategy for Yard Trimmings Wastes. University of Wisconsin-Madison Student Project Report.
Beba, H., and H. Andrä. n.d. Hügelkultur—die Gartenbaumethode der Zukunft, 10th edition. Waerland-Verlagsgenossenschaft, Mannheim, Germany.
Binns, H.J., K.A. Gray, T.Y. Chen, M.E. Finster, N. Peneff, P. Schaefer, V. Ovsey, J. Fernandes, M. Brown, and B. Dunlap. 2004. Evaluation of Landscape Coverings to Reduce Soil Lead Hazards in Urban Residential Yards: The Safer Yards Project. Environmental Research 96(2): 127–138.
Chalker-Scott, L. 2013. The Science Behind Biodynamic Preparations: A Literature Review. HortTechnology 23(6): 814–819.
Chalker-Scott, L. 2021. Using Arborist Wood Chips as Landscape Mulch. Washington State University Extension Publication FS160E. Washington State University.
Cogger, C. 2017. Raised Beds—Deciding If They Benefit Your Vegetable Garden. Washington State University Extension Publication FS075E. Washington State University.
Harrison, E.Z., J. Bonhotal, M. Schwarz, and L. Wellin. 2005. Compost Fact Sheet #6: Compost Pads. Cornell Waste Management Institute.
Haspel, T. 2015. In Defense of Corn—The World’s Most Important Food Crop. The Washington Post, July 12, 2015.
Hazan, S.M., J.S. Cowan, Q. Kang, and H.C. Cartagena. 2021a. Evaluating Hügelkultur for Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) Production in Kansas. Hortscience 56(9): S89.
Hazan, S.M., J.S. Cowan, Q. Kang, and K. Fan. 2021b. Evaluating Hügelkultur for Season Extension in Lettuce Production. Hortscience 56(9): S191.
Laffoon, M. 2016. A Quantitative Analysis of Hügelkultur and Its Potential Application on Karst Rocky Desertified Areas in China. Western Kentucky University Honors Thesis Project.
Miles, C. 2013. Home Vegetable Gardening in Washington. Washington State University Extension Publication FS057E. Washington State University.

The article has a lot of flaws in it, from what I’ve skimmed, and it concludes hugelkultur is not viable. The reasoning makes very little sense, and goes against about everything commonsense that Redhawk said in his post.  So, the jury is still out in my book, it would take some more digging to find out if these particular references are valid. I don’t know if there are actually some listed in the description of the video itself, and this is not really a high priority for me to get to the bottom of it.  I’m just going to conduct my own tests in my landscape.

Methods like this have been used since at least medieval europe and adjacent cultures. I think a version is also mentioned that book of asian a agriculture,  4000 years of farming or something like that.  But, what we now know as hugelkukture with the large above ground portion, I haven't seen mentioned before large scale digging machines became easily available.

Is it tried and proven, absolutely.

Is it scaring big ag... highly likely.

Is the video helpful in promoting this awesomeness?   Not at all.

I recognize some of the sceens from other videos.  The ai parts don't make sense to gardening.   Like how the tomato bush is harvested by pulling out of the ground, then suddenly turns into hot peppers.

There is something wonky with the frame rate making it hard to watch closely.

If the goal is to decrease interest in hugelkulture, while pretending to be on the side of the gardener, then the video does a great job and I'm sad that I helped promote it by giving so much watch time to it.

The 500-year claim is interesting but I'd be skeptical without a solid source. Most of what gets called "ancient" in permaculture circles turns out to be much more recent once you dig into it. The practice itself clearly works regardless of age, but the history tends to get romanticised.

Joao Winckler wrote:The 500-year claim is interesting but I'd be skeptical without a solid source. Most of what gets called "ancient" in permaculture circles turns out to be much more recent once you dig into it. The practice itself clearly works regardless of age, but the history tends to get romanticised.

Also, a lot of techniques used in permaculture that are "new" were considered normal in medieval times that they didn't have a word for it.  

Spunky wood as a base for a new garden is mentioned in a few medieval agricultural texts from york and al Andalusia (Muslim spain).  It's very good, apparently, for starting  a new kitchen or hanging garden in dry climates.   I seem to remember Henry Stephen's book of the farm or another text from early Victorian england also mentioned this technique.   And the text i mentioned on Asian farming going back thousands of years.  That's all before the 1600s.  500 years seems a weird number as there wasn't a big change in agriculture about that time anywhere I studied,  most of the big change (known as the agricultural revolution) in Europe is circa 1320s to 1490ish.  Then not much changes until we get steam power... and the change is slow until about 1950.

Spunky wood is great for holding water, but crap for building or burning.  It's perfect for the foundation layer of a garden.

But also, the big earthworks we call hugels today seem to arrive after big earth moving machines.