Pietro Speroni di Fenizio

Dustin Rhodes wrote:and here's a video:

https://youtu.be/OdEi9akDKns

so maybe growing your seedlings in a plug system(longer, very narrow containers) for taproot species like this would be the way to go.

amazing video! I wish I was that fast! Thank you

Thanks for all the replies.
Mark Shepard uses Utter Neglect. But uses it after it has planted the seedlings. His method is to plant seedlings, and then select. Which is fine.

But let's look at one example I am facing just right now. I have 2 hectars. The first is recovered oak woodland (Farnia). The Nithrogen is fixed by broom (Spartium junceum). The second, just near it, is some hill side with small plants, no trees. Clay soil. We are in the middle of Italy. I just dug with a machine 3 swales in the second one. Total length about 500m. And since this is the season I have thousands of seeds in pods of broom just gathered from the woodland. I still haven't decided what to grow exactly on the now bare land, but one thing which I am sure I will need is some nithrogen fixers for the swales. So I am going to start by planting those seeds on the top of the swales. SO they start growing while I decide the other layers

Here are my options (maybe there are more but I cannot see them):
1) just place one pod after the other on the swale, at 50cm distance, and tell him good luck.
2) take the seeds out of the pods, and then place each seed at 10cm as I walk the contour.
3) take the seeds out of the pods, then place them in water for 24h, then place each seed as I walk the contour.
4) take the seeds out of the pods, then place them in water for 24h, then place them in the fridge for 1 month, then place each seed as I walk the contour.
5) do the same above but grow it until they are seedlings and then plant the seedlings (I could probably do it for 100 plants, not more).
6) do the same above but grow it until they are seedlings transplant it to bigger vase, and then plant the plants (I could probably do it for 10 plants, not more; I just lack the space at home).

Trying to maximise the number of plants which of the 6 would you do? Btw, I can easily gather more seeds if I need them. So if number 1 works, I might do it in 3 rows. Or something else? If I just go for the (1) will I get something growing, or do I really need to go for (4-6) as pfaf suggests (https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Spartium+junceum)?

This is a simple example. And the land is not that big. But I am also alone with no machines.

Let me now answer the questions I received (from Jay):
the land I am working on is italian agricultural land. It used to be walnut woodland, and in the hectar above I have already found about 20 small walnut plants. Small oaks are also sprouting next to the woodland (duh! ;-) ), and there is a corener with already some brooms. For the rest is hard clay, stones. I want to plant many trees because this is what my soul is dictating me. Because in the woodland I find myself. The question is how then to make this sustainable, eadible, and economically viable. Also consider many people around here are approaching me asking me to buy their land. Basically no one wants to buy land here, which I am happy to oblige providing the price is at market price or better (someone asked 3x the price and I told them to ... take a hike... in their land; which they didn't because it is impenetrable). SO yes, prevent desertification is surely one concerne, global warming is a second, having a place to stay during the next pandemic a third, merge with the land a fourth...
As I mentioned there is a woodland next to it.

It has: Farnia (Quercus Robur), orniello (fraxinus ornus), Corniolo Sanguinello (Cornus Sanguinea), Biancospino (Cretaegus Monogyna), Etruscan Honysuckle (Lonicera Etrusca), some brambles (Rubus ulmifolius, Clematis Vitalba). Nitrogen is fixed by broom (Spartium junceum, I think. Or Cytisus scoparius. I never can distinguish them but we are in Italy). Ground (and some trees) is covered by Edera (hedera spp).Near the water there are some huge hazelnuts which haven't been pruned in 30 years probably. So far I have only found two small nuts, so production is not really their strength.
There are other plants but I still haven't recognised them.
In any case this covers the majority of what you will find. The fauna has squirrels, lizards, foxes, wild boars and some very skinny wolves. Above you have some Falchi (Falco). And some say even eagles. Other small animals which I now cannot remember are also present. The area has some truffles. Making a food forest, inoculated with truffles would probably bring everything together. Even some manna from orniolo could be an interesting addition. Although the experts from the south of italy told me that Orniello does not give any manna when it is inside the woodland. So yes, there are many seeds. I will also need to import some species, like mulberry.

Now back to the question above: 1,2,3,4,5,6 or something else?

Thanks again,
Pietro

Hello, this is the first post I make in this forum. I recovered this login from when I registered long time ago just to ask this question.

What do you think is the most efficient way to plant many trees.

If you need to plant a single tree, there are many howto information out there. Videos on youtube. Local culture. Many of us have done it as a kid.

But what if you need to plant many trees. All starting from seed. Tenth, hundreds, thousands. Sure you can follow each, and make it sprout in a container. Then transplant it. But then you risk to break the taproot. And then water it. All this is possible for few trees. But when you have hundreds or thousands, and not much water available, and not much human resources available either this might not scale. So I wonder, is there another way?

Many of you have seen The Man Who Planted Trees:
In this story the main character does none of this, it simply selects the best seeds, and put each in the ground. Yes, many will die, but he plants so many that he still manages to plant a forest.

So this is probably the main question, there are many things I can do to improve the probability for a seed to grow to a mature tree. But each of this will have a cost in terms of money, and in terms of time. Having access to a lot of land, but no human help, is it more efficient to plant few trees, or plant thousands of seeds, with no preparation. Or maybe a a mixed strategy like seedballs, or just some general preparation, and then seeds, or something else.

What are the best-practices in planting forests when human resources are the limiting factor.