Soil building, and pomegranate, fig, olive planting guild suggestions?

Bryant RedHawk wrote:For the soil I suggest you check out this page: Soil threads
This way you can pick where you want to start the soil building journey.

I would recommend you thin the fig tree, keeping it to around 7 main stems (or less) will make adding things around it a lot easier, plus it will make better figs with fewer stems to supply nutrients to.

Olive trees like an equal blend of PKN and a full complement of micronutrients one of the best plants to complement the olives is comfrey, mint is also a good one.  

Redhawk

Shari Bee wrote:
On the fig...also wondered if it's possible to root some of the cut branches, so that I can create more fig trees?

Steve Farmer wrote:Are you going to introduce irrigation or are you looking to setup guilds that will survive without irrigation? If so your challenge is to get something established during the rainy season, as even the most drought resistant plants usually need some rain to get started.

Steve Farmer wrote:Due to the challenge of getting anything started without irrigation I would not be thinking of what is compatible with existing trees but simply what will grow with minimal water - the aim being to achieve a diversity and 100% ground shade. A diversity of cheap/free plants can be used with a shotgun approach, nature will tell you by naturally culling those plants that can't survive. You've already got trees that provide food so you might want to go for some nitrogen fixing legume trees.

Steve Farmer wrote:Other suggestions of low/zero irrigation plants are yucca, loquat (nispero), clumping bamboo, prickly pear, tree tobacco.

Steve Farmer wrote:I prefer to take the shoots that come out of the base of the tree just below ground. You can stick a wood saw into the ground and saw these off a few cm below the surface, and they come up with roots already on them. Same with pomegranates, they throw up loads of baby trees around the base that can be extracted with roots already started. One thing I've noticed with figs and pomegranates is they play dead. They lose leaves or look terrible with yellow leaves and go bare for a few weeks then suddenly hundreds of new leaves show up, so don't give up on them too soon. And don't overwater.

Lennan Bate wrote:One of my techniques for this particular land was to dig swales on the top terraces with ponds to collect the excess water (when it rains here, it floods everything). Hopefully, the water tables will benefit from the water soaking. Does your land has a slope ?

Lennan Bate wrote:Once I set up my design dossier for this land I'll send it to you if you interested, I would be glad to exchange more on your findings and ideas

1) He has lots of ponds.  Some are deep.  Some are shallow.  In the shallow ponds, he puts lots of rocks.  The rocks heat the water and the water evaporates.  The air surrounding his farm becomes humid.  He gets more morning dew than average.

2)  Sepp plants no monocultures.  Everything is a mix of lots and lots of things.  And there is a strong focus on deep rooted plants.  Deep rooted plants reach deep water sources and can transpire the water out of their leaves adding to the general humidity.  Plus, there can be symbiosis between the deep rooted plant roots and fungi.  And between the fungi and shallow rooted plants.

3)  Terraces and hugelbeds do move and hold water when it rains - and then share it properly when it is dry.

4)  Rocks, rocks and more rocks ....  Rocks seem to be a major component in everything Sepp does.  Rocks have a powerful thermal intertia ...  If you stack a pile of rocks, air can move through the pile.  And the rocks in the middle will be quite cool.  If humid air moves through the pile, water will condense on the cooler rocks, thus creating a poor man's drip irrigation system.  

I will attempt the fig thinning - it definitely needs it! - there are so Many tangled branches down low. Would I aim to prune off everything up to about 3 feet above soil level? Which would then start to create a clean central trunk? Then prune back the upper branches into the much reduced main stems?

On the fig...also wondered if it's possible to root some of the cut branches, so that I can create more fig trees?

Bryant RedHawk wrote:

I would try to get down to the base of the branches you want to remove. If you have or can make some willow bark water, that is a good rooting dip, just score the bottom  of the branch, dip in willow water and plant in a container. Cover the branch with some clear or white plastic to form a sort of cloche and wait for a couple of months so the roots have time to form.  You don't have to "clone" the whole branch, I use the fresh growth portion (about a foot of the top).

This is great, thank you RedHawk. Just discovered willow water, have made up a batch for future rootings!  

I'm currently researching/designing a water irrigation system that will pull water from the river without any need for power...a bit more testing but will post observations here once it's up and running and doing what it should be.

Love the photos...your land looks fabulous. Very GREEN! :)

Gurkan Yeniceri wrote:Have a look at this address for a fig guild setup.

You could do a soil test first to see what is missing and try to top those up with the plants in a long term solution.

Lennan Bate wrote:I had personally been very curious as to find a low tech or at least low energy input system for water pumpage. And I came across this beautiful invention the Hydraulic Ram.

So as long as you have flow, you can have water pressure. Then again, good luck in building one of those yourself !!! If you end up buying one (they're quite an investment), I would be very curious what you think of it and make of it. I hear it makes a kind of banging noise (mechanics again !).

Lennan Bate wrote:Or you could do it by hand.. hand pump

Both of those are in French I think but they will get translated, by me too eventually, so if you're very interested in one of those wikihows, give me a shout I'll start translating it ;)

Lennan Bate wrote:To go further in understanding the potentials of such system here's Bill's class on Tromp  and Geoff's contribution through a Tromp animation

Lennan Bate wrote:
And Shari, here you go, I didn't translated myself, it was actually mostly done already, I just had to check the translation and voilà ! http://lowtechlab.org/wiki/Pompe_manuelle_(verticale)/en
Some parts are a bit weird english but you should be able to understand it !
Feel free to translate ome of it in portuguese if you have the time ! ;)

Xisca Nicolas wrote:I just want to be following the thread as it will be useful. I also have pomegranate, fig, olive trees.

I also have parsnip and it is freely self-seeding now (be careful, I got blisters from the leaves!), and comfrey, chicory, and aromatic of course. I don't know what did the job among what I planted, as this is by chance that my tree look better than when I arrived 7 years ago! I can see I do not have enough ruta graveolens and will add more! I have garlic but not the regular one, I use leaf garlic, especially a local one of course.

Jincy Jalving wrote: If you live someplace that is extremely hot and dry, your mulch needs to be at least two feet deep.