posted 3 years ago
Couldn't find a group for way out here in west Texas, likely because it's sparsely populated and by many who don't understand permaculture or believe it works here.
So if anyone else here is on this forum and wishes to talk and troubleshoot, brainstorm, plan, etc., well then I reckon we could start a group for this area.
My issue is trees dying. Half the fruit and nut saplings I put in have perished, likely due to exposure to this hott sun. But now I'm losing the Loblolly Pines. So sad. I was watering 2 gallons everyday then every other day then every couple weeks. Read to water twice a week 1 gallon and just started that but they are going yellow/brown so it looks to be all wrong or too late. No idea what is happening, as they were green and put out new growth for many months.
I'm starting again from scratch but this time with seedlings grown in my greenhouse. I have a few Acacia finally coming up plus a group of Mesquites and two other local/natives given to me but whose names I forgot. I also have a number of Eucalyptus, which I know do well here because they dot the landscape in a few places, obviously cultivated but unirrigated. The ones that have reached 8" to 2' will go in the ground this Fall.
All batches of hybrid willow have died before getting planted or after going in the ground. Not sure why. The in ground ones were given buried clay pots, amended soil, mychorrizae, and mulch. The greenhouse pots were kept watered.
All Lombardi and hybrid Poplars died in ground or greenhouse. No clue why. One even got its own Waterboxx. The Waterboxxes haven't worked for locally-procured Sycamore, Silver and Red Maple, Walnut, and Pecan. No idea what's going wrong there either. Followed instructions downloaded from a group using them, as the Waterboxx people don't seem to provide instructions on their site. I will keep trying with them, this time setting them down at ground level inside a swale and heavily mulched around the outside. The instructions said to have them on the flat surface at grade and mound bare soil up around the edges.
I saved a Pear, two Peaches, and an Apple in the Waterboxxes by wrapping the saplings in burlap for shade, but none of the saplings look to be growing new leaves or showing other signs of being happy. My three baby Walnuts are either dead or alive but lost all leaves, which I couldn't tell because the tree protectors made it too difficult to do a scratch test and I got them covered in burlap a few weeks ago.
Sourcing hardy desert nitrogen fixing trees seems near impossible, but I am finding some sparse seed online. So it looks like a long haul to reach Geoff Lawton's first phase of establishing shadeband wind breaks ahead for edible trees.
What species, techniques, and timing have worked for you here in west Texas?
