Reforestation - Growing trees in arid, barren lands - by Seeds and Clay cubes (no watering)

In this regard as you speak of Palestinian oak, that is what you're doing naturally in fact, spreading better adapted oaks. Do you think it hybridized with local varieties already? And do you ever think of teaming up with people to get some oak seeds from places that receive a lot less rain even than Greece? My friend the botanist is looking into that. He's even mapped out the mediterranean like climate zones in the whole world and we're spreading the word in alternative groups in the hopes to get something going. Or if you know of people who do something similar like you or even an organization, i'm all ears.

It sounds great Hugo, and I will contribute whatever I can. Let me know what I can do.

Yeah the Palestinian oak, is definitely hybridized..no two trees are exactly alike.

Very very strong trees...I was watching some YouTube vids of a tribe in the mountains of Iran. They survive mainly from these Palestine oak trees. Interesting story.

Kostas

Sheffield's ships (and sources) internationally.

Here's a link to their quercus listings:

https://sheffields.com/inventory/show_list/sort_by/best_match-desc/kf/962319/k/Quercus/start/0

In France they make little oakseed plant feeders, the birds come and hide them in the ground.
Article in French, but i guess most people got translation options.
birds help to plant oaks

Hugo
Thanks fir sharing
What a great idea… fantastic idea !!!
I may try
Kostas

Hey Hugo,
I read the article about how jays help spread oak trees by collecting and burying acorns.

Here near Thessaloniki, we have a large, planted pine forest just one or two kilometers from a smaller, older oak forest. Although these forests have been neighbors for 80–100 years, I haven’t seen any evidence of birds carrying acorns into the pine forest and establishing oaks there.

Do you think placing feeding stations stocked with acorns in or along the edges of the pine forest could encourage jays to collect and bury them nearby? It seems worth trying, but I’d be interested to hear whether you think it could work and how best to approach it.

Kostas

Hi kostas. I can't really know if the bird thing works or weather it's just wishful thinking of the people doing it. If it's true that they forget half of them in the winter, that means a lot of work gets done by the birds.
If your pine tree forest doesn't seem to produce any seedlings of oak trees it could just be too dark on the ground, or too acid because of the pine needle layer. Or it could also be that deer who cross this almost liveless forest eat every young tree that despite the darkness and acidity pops up. I can imagine dynamics like this at play in the monoculture.
If you try and plant some in there, you will know. Have  you done this already?

The thing with the feeder is also ... that it's a way of trying something new . Who knows if it works. Maybe there are many more squirrels  in Greece for instance , who will steal the nuts and keep them in one guarded spot, close to their nest. Or rats who just feed on the spot. We cannot possibly know for sure if we don't try. Sometimes trying a new thing and being surprised by the ingenuity of nature to f.. it up and allowing yourself to be surprised  by how she really works is humbling. Those 'failures' can however form great stories and storytelling is important to keep people going. Because halfway your story human arrogance kicks in, people think "of course that works", or "i would do it better". But if they feel you're honest about the rest that surprises them you fascinate them. And it's that fascination that is the life energy for doing things that go against the odds. Like growing trees in arid, barren lands.