Which plants to grow in the forest understory?

Hello All!

I have the opportunity to farm about 10 acres of forested land in SE Pennsylvania. The trees are mostly deciduous hardwood, and the condition is that the land is not to be cleared. Rather, I will be growing crops that are happy beneath a forest canopy.

I'm thinking of ramps in the short term, as well as mushrooms. For longer term crops, ginseng (this land is well off the beaten path), black cohosh, bloodroot come to mind. I need to earn a living off this land if at all possible so although the long-term crops will produce good returns in time, I need other crops that will pay the rent until they are at harvest stage.

Any suggestions as to which plants will work? I have slopes facing in all directions, canopy cover varies from 60% to 95%.

Thanks in advance!

There are five species of squashes. If you select one variety of each species, then you can grow them and never experience any hybrids. Establishing volunteer colonies of squashes should be sustainable. Make sure you have no other squashes growing within a 1/2 mile radius.

Squash: within the genus of 'Cucurbita' there are 5 species of squash that are commonly used for food.

Gardening multiple varieties of a species of squash near each other will normally result in useless hybrid seeds. If you grow squashes [squishes?] of different species next to each other and save your seed, then those seed should remain true for the next year's crop.

With that in mind a quick review of squash species is in order.

Cucurbita argyrosperma [mixta] - cushaw pumpkin, Japanese pie pumpkin, or pipian

Cucurbita ficifolia - Siam pumpkin, Thai marrow, Thin Vermicelli pumpkin, Asian pumpkin, fig-leaf gourd, pie melon, or
Malabar squash

Cucurbita maxima - Arikara squash, banana squash, Boston marrow, buttercup squash, hubbard squash,
Jarrahdale pumpkin, Kabocha, Lakota squash, Turk's / French turban, and some varieties of gigantic pumpkins.

Cucurbita moschata - Butternut squash, Calabaza pumpkin, Dickinson field /Libbys pumpkin,
Giromon, Kentucky field pumpkin, Long Island cheese pumpkin, Long of Naples squash, Neck pumpkin,
Seminole pumpkin, and Tromboncino.

Cucurbita pepo - Acorn squash, Cocozzelle, Crookneck, Delicata squash, Dodi marrow, Gem squash,
Heart of gold squash, Pattypan squash, Some types of Pumpkin, Scallop, Spaghetti squash, Straightneck,
Sweet dumpling squash, Yellow crookneck squash, Yellow summer squash, and Zucchini.

For sustainable gardening with the intent of saving seed, you can safely grow one variety of each species of squash.  In this manner most of your seed should be true to species and provide you with the next year's seed.

Thanks Galen. However, I'm talking about growing in quite dense shade. I've grown various kinds of squash in the past, but they have always been in full sun. Are they happy growing in the shade?

My land is dense forest. I am still learning what will grow here.

My climate here on the other coast is rather different than yours, so hopefully someone with more experience in your area will chime in.

But, in my neck of the woods, I have red elderberry, thimblerry, salmonberry, red huckleberry, trailing blackberry, strawberries, bunchberry (of the dogwood family), violets and nettles (nettles are edible AND delicious) growing under my forest canopy. Serviceberry also grows in part shade. You might also be able to grow ginger and maaaaaybe pawpaws (they supposedly like to start out part shade and then have more sun as they age) and hostas (edible and supposedly young shoots taste like asparagus, though I haven't tried them yet).

Ferns might also be sold to florists, if you have ferns in your woodland and your local florists want them.

I hope that helps!

Thanks!

I have a bit of experience with ginseng.  In my estimation it will be difficult to make a living on 10 acres growing medicinal herbs such as ginseng.  There could possibly be good money in it, but the return on investment is a long time coming.  Growing ginseng in the forest to simulate wild grown would take 8-10 years at least. Cultivated woods grown would be less time, but a lower return on your investment.  You would need north, or at the least an east facing slope.  It likes about 75-80% shade and cooler is better than warmer along with moist rather than dry.  I don't want to discourage you as it is a fascinating plant to grow.  Read up on it and make your own decision as to whether it would work for you.

I knew one gentleman that planted about a half or one acre under his White pine "tree farm" (Had reclaimed a pasture to row planted white pine about 25-30 earlier). He planted between rows of trees, planted two rows the first year and then kept planting a row or two each year and had a harvest each year after the first was ready to dig.  His was termed "forest cultivated".  It was planted densely and was sprayed as needed for disease.  At five years old I could tell it from true wild ginseng as it had grown faster, but was really nice ginseng root.  He made good money off it once it began producing.

Morels would be a big seller.  Wineberies are rampant in your area, and there may be a market for locally grown jams, jellies and syrups.  The berries are a beautiful red color.  They freeze really well.  Garlic Mustard is an invasive green that cooks up nicely.  I used to give it to a friend who sold it baked in quiches.  If you have been invaded by Japanese Knotweed, harvest those shoots in early spring.  I really miss foraging in the eastern PA woods.

Blueberries!  They need a good bit of shade, you can harvest them over a fairly long season, and they fetch a good price.

Thanks all. Yes, Blueberries - and especially if I have pine forests to acidify the soil for them!

Sandy, yes, I've been thinking of a variety of mushrooms. Aside from those that will self-spore, there are a lot of felled hardwoods which would be ideal for inoculation. And absolutely to Japanese Knotweed. Aside from culinary uses, this plant is widely used now as part of a herbal regimen to help with Lyme disease, so there are a lot of places to use that.

Walt, yes, understood. This is why I'm looking for things to grow that I can harvest on a shorter time frame, to keep the rent paid while I wait for the Ginseng (and others - Goldenseal, for one) to come to adult, harvestable stage.

We've got a pawpaw patch that grows in thick shade, though it hasn't fruited in four or five years.

Wild blackcap raspberries grow all over in my woodlot.  They aren't nearly as productive as cultivated raspberries, though I don't know if it's because they are wild instead of cultivated, because they get little sunshine, because they grow in large patches rather than more spaced, or some combination thereof.  In any case, they do produce delicious berries.

Gooseberries also grow all over our woodlot, though the ones growing on the edge are far more productive than the ones growing further in, to the point that the ones growing anywhere but the edge are hardly worth picking.  But perhaps there is a cultivated variety that produces better in nearly all shade?

Elderberries seem to grow well in the woods, but again don't seem all that productive.

Black walnuts will still be productive in a thick woodlot.

I've got at least one sapling feral peach growing somewhat near the woods edge.  Still waiting to see if it'll produce, though it has flowered the past two years.

Colin McGee wrote:

Walt, yes, understood. This is why I'm looking for things to grow that I can harvest on a shorter time frame, to keep the rent paid while I wait for the Ginseng (and others - Goldenseal, for one) to come to adult, harvestable stage.

Did you get Goldenseal going?

Thimbleberries, black raspberries, along the edges of forest, wild sasparilla

Wild sasparilla is a medicinal known in the past as an effective cure for syphilis which is closely related to Lyme

If you're growing ginseng and goldenseal you'll have no problem growing it -- it's related to American ginseng except they root along the ground so they are like one big organism benefiting from more sunlight in one part and more moisture in another, making them much easier to grow than ginseng -- so if there are sections where ginseng won't grow, it might be an option to try

I also grow nettles, also chicory seems to enjoy shade

Red clover

In my experience, strawberries and blueberries do ok in dappled shade (with varying levels of productivity), but I've never seen any in true deep shade. They are generally found along the edges in natural settings, and that's also where I place them in my yard.

Now for a few "do not recommends":

I've been recommended honeysuckle for my most shaded area (nearly true shade, with a little bit of dappled shade at some points in the day) and the plants survived but did not fruit. Flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus) produces fruits, but it's uninteresting in terms of taste and the fruits do not all mature at the same time, so it's not convenient for harvest. My kids eat a few here and there, but I couldn't see myself turning a profit out of that.  

I'm hoping to establish wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) as a groundcover in that area, and I've seen it produce in true shade in actual forests. Not a huge market for that, though (it's interesting for tea, but that's a limited market. You'd probably be better off foraging existing colonies).

Is there something you could benefit from apart from actual edible plants? Invasive vines that could turn into a basketry-workshop type of thing? Foraging for medicinal herbs tours?

Kena Landry wrote:

Flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus) produces fruits, but it's uninteresting in terms of taste and the fruits do not all mature at the same time, so it's not convenient for harvest. My kids eat a few here and there, but I couldn't see myself turning a profit out of that.  

Perhaps your thimbleberries are different (same latin name) because mine are to die for

Nurseries sell these plants for good money and they are really easy to propagate, so perhaps they might be worth trying along the W/N/E roadside and advertise.thrm in an online buy and sell at half the price and still make a bundle?

You could build some raised beds in the forest with logs and grow some shade tolerant greens. Caucasian Mountain Spinach is a hardy perennial green that can grow up trees. Most Asian Greens have very little sun requirements. Bok Choy in particular requires very little sun. Also carrots and radishes can do well in shady conditions. Spring will be a key time for you to grow annuals before your trees fully leaf out.

Rhubarb is a good candidate for forest garden. Forced rhubarb goes for a lot of money.

As Nicole Alderman mentions, ginger would be a good option for you in PA. Ginger's natural home is a rainforest.

A forest driven vermicompost operation would be an asset. Since any annual beds you make will need a very rich soil biome, with diverse microbiology. Vermicompost is rich in biology. With a rich, diverse soil biology you can grow full sun plants in partial shade because the plant will get more nutrients for the smaller amount of sugars it produces. Liquid plant foods will help too.

Growing aside, you can also supplement your income with other sustainable forest products, like biochar, birch oil, wreath making, and green woodworking. I recommend the book Woodland Craft by Ben Law.

E Sager wrote:

. Spring will be a key time for you to grow annuals before your trees fully leaf out.



A forest driven vermicompost operation would be an asset. Since any annual beds you make will need a very rich soil biome, with diverse microbiology. Vermicompost is rich in biology. With a rich, diverse soil biology you can grow full sun plants in partial shade because the plant will get more nutrients for the smaller amount of sugars it produces. Liquid plant foods will help too.

Growing aside, you can also supplement your income with other sustainable forest products, like biochar, birch oil, wreath making, and green woodworking. I recommend the book Woodland Craft by Ben Law.

Great point about Spring; I think ramps were mentioned but I grow a lot of onions on steep compost rows against tree lines where the trees can take extra moisture on one side; carrots, radishes of all kinds, and ground cherries as well.

Tons of great ideas! That's why I am addicted to permies!

You're in Maine right?  Does someone have to tell you about bears and blueberries?