Sepp Holzer's Nursery

Doesn't look anything like the other nurseries I've seen. It might look a little under-impressive at first, but once it sets in...
This is a beautiful example of natural thinking, using but not abusing the resources that nature provides.



Here there was a nut tree over-story just beginning to reach maturity. Because of the steep slope few, if any, of the seeds were germinating. Furthermore all of the water was just running down hill when it rained, causing erosion and taking all of the detritus, hummus, and fallen leaves with it. By creating one little terrace in a strategic position Sepp created a near constant supply of a diverse collection of nut tree seedlings. The terraces slows and spreads the water, allowing it to soak in while also depositing leaves and humus. This in addition to the canopy cover provides an ideal micro-climate for seeds to germinate.

To put this into perspective; for the cost of 2 hours with the right excavator and operator (around $200) Sepp now has a perpetual supply of nursery stock that requires absolutely no maintenance. Because the trees were naturally grown (adapting to a variety of conditions), rather than being babied by a nursery, they are more vigorous, more vital. They will be able to survive a wider range of conditions. In my opinion this makes them a much higher quality product than pampered plants that have been fed a chemical cocktail. It's so incredibly simple once you open your senses to nature.

Nice!

So does he do anything special ,when he digs them up, to get the tap root?

Or does he not worry about that?

How big , or old, does he let them get before he digs them up.

Miles Flansburg wrote:So does he do anything special ,when he digs them up, to get the tap root?

Sepp didn't go into his transplanting process at all, and no one asked this question. I didn't get the impression that he was doing anything special, he usually points it out if he is. Sepp doesn't want anything to do with the weak plants, I would imagine he transplants them when he needs some for a project, or when a client purchases some.

I like the idea of turning the negative of the steep slope washing the nuts off of the hillside into a positive by building the harvesting terrace. Not only easy for harvesting the saplings, but great that it is continually being replenished with the nutrients needed for their perfect growing enviroment, naturally.

Does he use them for grafting stock or gambles with the genetic diversity. I wish i had large streches of land to pllant trees by seed just to see what i get.

Sepp's all about land race, this is how nature does it, why should do anything different? The grafting he is doing is to enable him to grow things otherwise not possible, with the cold hearty root stock. Like grafting cultivated varieties of cherries onto wild root stocks for example so that they can survive the winter. But even then he leaves the wild types of cherries as well, so that the wildlife has something to eat.

Gosh I wish I could rember the brothers names but they have a permiculture project I think somewhere around washington state and they were grafting to wild crab apples to hurry along their fruit probuction and I guess the cold hardy root stock. Back home we have large pecan trees in the yard and so each year we have a large amount of pecan seedlings, I figured when ever I find a place of my own I could use these seedling as free liners. I've met so many people that put a lot of work into starting their own pecan stock but this way is so much easyer and free. Thanks for the responce.

I believe the Bullock Brothers are you are thinking of, a great permaculture demonstration on Orcas Island in Washington.

I do beilive that's it. They made me want to look into grafting onto our local plums but I have yet to look in to the compatibility.