guilding young trees

I recently put four new fruit trees on our property.  They are 1 gallon starts and about 7 ft tall. 

Most of the information I've found on guilding (here, Gaia's Garden) has pertained to mature trees.  What I've found about young trees has said a lot about nitrogen fixers being very helpful to the little guys.  What about grass suppressors?  Should we wait until the trees are a little larger or should I we get em poppin right away?

Thanks in advance!!

Grass suppressors should be put in, along with nitrogen fixers and dynamic accumulators (such as comfrey or sorrel).

Yes, when fruit trees are young is the most important time to have grass suppressors, as their root systems are yet undeveloped. Alliums tend to do a triple purpose job of 1. bulb barrier, 2. scent confuser, 3. yumness. Add a nitrogen fixing shrub like Eleagnus, some dynamic accumulators like Comfrey (which is also a great medicinal herb and grass suppressor) and you're golden.

what is guilding 

Thanks everyone! 

Maybe someone can answer this better but I understand guilding as grouping useful plants around a central plant in a way that benefits all involved.  In this example I have a young fruit tree that I am planting around. 

The book Gaia's Garden goes into the details more.  I'm sure there are lots of other useful references (to which I would be very interested to hear about) but I'm pretty new to this stuff 

Salamander wrote:
Yes, when fruit trees are young is the most important time to have grass suppressors, as their root systems are yet undeveloped. Alliums tend to do a triple purpose job of 1. bulb barrier, 2. scent confuser, 3. yumness. Add a nitrogen fixing shrub like Eleagnus, some dynamic accumulators like Comfrey (which is also a great medicinal herb and grass suppressor) and you're golden.

I also think so

Pigeon peas are good to use in a guild. Supply lots of nitrogen.

greif wrote:
what is guilding 

Guilding is planting helpful plants together. For instance, one plant could attract beneficial insects, another could bolster the soil and another provide erosion control.

We use pigeon peas and comfrey as our young tree guild. Young fruit trees here usually want partial shade, provided by the pigeon peas. The comfrey should mulch the tree and provide the phospjate we lack, but this takes time, so its really the mulch that holds back the grass at first. Pigeon peas privide nitrogen, shade, firewood, tasty peas if harvested green and aid in the infiltration of water.