Konstantinos Karoubas

Just a brief update

In this location we've been planting acorns in the past 2 or 3 years, and for whatever reasons very few have survived,

And it's not a reason to be discouraged.

Sometimes, and  we don't know why they happen but we move on forward.

That's what this vid is all about.

Kostas

We are  in the process of collecting acorns from the holm oak trees nearby, which are beginning to mature right now and it's a good time to discuss this very important type of an oak tree.

Kostas

Greetings to all,

We are refining our method of planting  acorns.

In the way we're preparing to learn how to plant acorns in more dry climates than northern Greece by adding vermiculite and maybe hydrogels later on.

We will see how these acorns do in the spring, and whether they sprout or not,  and then how they survive the summers, which are getting hotter and dryer unfortunately.

Kostas

Correction,

It's not kermes oak, which is a shrub .

It's an evergreen oak tree, but not a holm oak tree, which is also evergreen.

Similar to Palestine oak or the Cyprus Oak tree

Kostas

Greetings everyone,

This is a short video showing how we’re storing acorns this year. Our goal is to improve our storage method year after year.


Last year, we tried storing some acorns in damp sand, but the results were not good—most of them sprouted prematurely and became unusable for our project.

In this video, we outline our new storage approach, and we’re hopeful it will work better. We’ve also noticed that acorns behave differently depending on the species: the common oak acorns tend to sprout more easily, while the evergreen varieties—mainly the kermes oak, sprout more slowly and in a different manner.

This year, the common oak trees in our area didn’t produce any acorns. We even traveled to Central Greece, where common oaks are abundant, but found none there either.

As a result, about 90% of the acorns we’ll plant this season will come from evergreen oaks.

It will be a good opportunity to observe how these species perform and to compare their survival rates with those of the common oak.

Kostas

Greetings,

The city of Thessaloniki is bordered on one side by the Mediterranean Sea and on the other by a man-made pine forest, about 3,000 hectares (30 million square meters) in size. This forest is now in serious danger. Lack of rain, high summer temperatures, disease, and the constant threat of fire are weakening it, and its future is uncertain.

But this isn’t just a local issue. Across the Mediterranean, the original broadleaf forests were destroyed centuries ago. In their place, pines spread quickly, almost like weeds, covering the land. Now those same pine forests are collapsing, and with them, so are the ecological benefits they provide: cooling the land, attracting rainfall, and cleaning the air. If we lose them and have nothing to replace them, the climate in our region will become hotter, drier, and harsher.

Conventional reforestation has serious limitations. Planting saplings in holes may work along roadsides where they can be watered and cared for, but in remote areas it is prohibitively expensive. To do nothing and hope that pine forests regenerate naturally is also unrealistic. Even if pine seedlings appear, they are unlikely to survive the heat, drought, and fires. And the acorns and seeds of native broadleaf trees have long since disappeared from the soil.

We humans created these problems, and we now have a responsibility to help repair them. Historically, the Mediterranean basin—stretching from Southern Russia to North Africa—was covered with rich forests, dominated by oak trees. In ancient Greece, oaks were everywhere; they are even considered our national tree.

For the past few years, we have been experimenting with planting oak trees among the pines of Thessaloniki. The hope is that if the pines die, the oaks will be ready to take their place and restore the balance of the forest.

This summer, for the first time, I forced myself to check on the young oaks during the hardest months of the year. Most of them have turned yellow or brown. They are still alive below the surface, but I don’t know how many will survive the next two months until the winter rains arrive. If rain comes, they may recover. If the heat continues without water, many may perish. Still, we must continue.

Looking ahead, we can improve our methods while keeping costs low. For example:

Adding a spoonful of biochar to each planting hole may help young acorns survive the summer by holding moisture.

Biochar can be “pre-charged” with compost tea or liquid nutrients, so it provides both water retention and food.

We can run small experiments: planting some acorns with biochar or hydrogel and others without, side by side, to see the difference over time.

These ideas are not theoretical—they need to be tested widely. Already, we have seen how government or volunteer plantings fail when young trees are left unsupported through the summer; most do not survive.

The crisis is clear: lack of rain, rising temperatures, and the decline of tree cover threaten not only Thessaloniki’s pine forest but the entire Mediterranean region. If we don’t act now, we will lose both our pines and the opportunity to restore the resilient oak forests that once thrived here.

Thank you,

Kostas

Greetings,

We revisited the site that burned down five years ago near Thessaloniki.

See the previous vids in this playlist.

We checked on the older holly oaks we had planted in previous years, as well as the new ones planted this year. The young trees planted this season have leaves that have turned brown and yellow. However, their root systems appear strong—no matter how hard you pull, the trees don’t come out, which means the roots are still alive.

From now until December, when the rains usually arrive, survival will depend on the weather. If the drought continues and temperatures stay high, many of these young trees may not make it. We will have to wait and see. In the future, if such hot and unusually dry conditions persist, we may need to use hydrogels or biochar to help retain water in the soil and give the young plants a better chance. We also need to be more selective with the types of acorns we plant—some oak species may be more suitable than others for specific sites, and we will only learn this through experience.

As for shrubs and other tree plantings, the reality is difficult. In such harsh conditions, survival requires watering throughout the entire summer. While it was encouraging to see shrubs planted along the roadside in this area, the cost and labor involved are prohibitive. Planting in more remote areas—one, two, or three kilometers away from roads—is simply not practical if it depends on constant watering and maintenance.

That is why direct seeding remains an alternative. It is not a perfect solution and does not guarantee 100% success, but it is more realistic for large-scale restoration than digging holes, planting seedlings, and watering them all summer long.

Kostas

Greetings,

This is a brief update on our effort to plant oak trees in the abandoned stone quarry near Thessaloniki.

We are now at the end of summer, and hopefully rains will arrive soon. What we observed today is that the acorns we planted did sprout into small trees, but they did not survive the long, hot summer. Recently they turned yellow, and it’s uncertain whether any part of the root system is still alive. If so, we may see new growth in the winter or early spring.

Unfortunately, goats have been grazing in the area. It’s surprising, as there seems to be almost nothing for them to eat—yet they still wander through. Because of this, unless a gate is installed to keep them out (which I am not willing to do), there is no point in continuing to plant acorns here.

We have many other projects to focus on, and cannot afford to waste time.

Kostas

Greetings everyone,

We’ve been experimenting with a new approach: mixing clay with a wide variety of small seeds—arugula, daikon, alfalfa, sainfoin, and many other edible plants. What’s not included is just as important: we’ve deliberately left out vetch and barley, since both establish very well when simply surface-scattered during the rainy season.


Our long-term goal is to establish alfalfa as a year-round ground cover. To succeed, however, it needs to be sown in combination with many companion plants.

For this trial, we’re using a small pellet machine (originally designed for making cat food!) to combine the clay and seeds into pellets. Once the rains arrive, we’ll scatter these pellets and observe the results. Will they dissolve and fail, or will they germinate and grow into a diverse cover of plants—alfalfa included?

If the method proves successful, there are larger electric pellet machines available that could allow us to scale up production.


For now, it’s a matter of rolling with the punches and seeing what the land teaches us.


Kostas

"about 75 percent of the decrease in rainfall is directly linked to deforestation"

Deforestation - NYTimes

That says it all !!!

(Unfortunately)

Kostas

So the answer is simple reforest and provide green cover for the Earth