Cassia trees

Geoff Lawton mentions very briefly on the Food Forest DVD using Cassia trees for mulch.

That's about the most information I've gotten about the tree from a Permaculture perspective and I've been scouring the internet for info too.

I planted 4 or 5 Cassia trees on my property over the past few weekends, hoping I was lucky with picking the right tree. I guess I'll find out how they do with the minimal amount of rainfall that is normal for the Carrizo Plain. When I bought the trees I was told they were extremely drought tolerant and well I sure hope that's true because I don't plan to irrigate and every year is drought like conditions on the Carrizo Plain. What I wanted to know, and I guess is too late now for the trees I did plant is, do I need to innoculate in order to get the nitrogen fixation? Or does them being in a container and transplanted mean that they are already producing nitrogen?

Also, I collected a ton of seeds from the pods that were on the trees. I must have several thousand. I plan to plant them, all of them actually. Do I need to innoculate them or will they develop over time with the necessary bacteria that finish the nitrogen fixation cycle?

Also, where does one obtain the innoculation supplies? I'm just learning as I go along..

Hi Off the Grid
if your cassia trees had nodules on their roots when you took them out of their pots the already have been inoculated and you can carefully check that out by digging around their root zone, you can then just add some of the soil to the area you are going to plant the new seeds. If you cannot find any nodules you can find trees that are nodulating and grab some of that soil and add it around your trees or mix with your seeds, you only need a tiny amount of soil to add millions of nodulating bacteria.

Geoff Lawton wrote:Hi Off the Grid
if your cassia trees had nodules on their roots when you took them out of their pots the already have been inoculated and you can carefully check that out by digging around their root zone, you can then just add some of the soil to the area you are going to plant the new seeds. If you cannot find any nodules you can find trees that are nodulating and grab some of that soil and add it around your trees or mix with your seeds, you only need a tiny amount of soil to add millions of nodulating bacteria.

Thanks Geoff, That's good to know information. I will attempt to inspect the root area on the trees I just planted last weekend without hurting anything, but just the same I think also I discovered a source for inoculum at Prairie Moon Nursery and if it's the correct kind I'm going to buy some for the seeds. But what about if I were to mix some up in water and then irrigate existing trees with that water? Would that work or is inoculum treatment only for seeds?

Hi Off the Grid
yes you can water in the inoculum but do it quickly after mixing it in the water and wash it in well.

God bless you Geoff! Thank you so much! You're my hero I want to do the things you do, and certainly want to bask in all that food forest goodness! hehe. I think my property is a long way away from a food forest, but at a bare minimum I intend to reforest the land there.. to green the Carrizo Plain. These Cassia trees I intend as keepers instead of 100% mulchers. I'll grow others from seed to devote entirely to mulch like in your Food Forest video. I am sort of possessed with a general idea of surrounding fruit trees with legume trees, permanently, and then around a bunch of them would be Afghan Pine and Arizona Cypress as wind protection and winter microclimate creation to perhaps allow for some more temperate arid species like olives and pomegranates and figs like you did in Jordan. Without that microclimate there's no way olives and figs will survive the -5 farenheit lows which happen about once every 10 years. Don't mean to ramble on, thanks again!