Hello all!
First of all, Thank you for creating this great forum, so much info and inspiration to find here!
I am looking for any tips or info on how to build soil for growing vegetables in rainforest soil and climate.
I am working on a land in the Sucumbios area of Ecuador. The land used to be part of the Amazonian rainforest, but 15 years ago or so it was cleared and planted with grass to feed cattle. In 2007 it was bought by a lovely man who has slowly reforested it with native trees and plants, and also many fruit-trees and a cacaoplantation. The place also serves as a lodge where volunteers of different environmental projects are based. I am one of them, and part of my work in the project is to create a vegetable garden where we can grow food for the residents at the lodge. The hope is also that the place may serve as an inspiration and an example to show the local communities that it is possible to produce food here, sp that they dont have to be dependent on expensive imported goods. I also want to do some research on the traditional growing methods of the indigenous cultures here, to see how that corresponds and complements permaculture teqniques.
So thats the context! The challenge is that the soil here seems to be very poor of nutrients. From what I understand all the nutrients and biomass are tied up in the trees and vegetation, and the processes of decomposition and recycling goes so fast that there never builds up a humus layer. When I examined the soil in different places there is thin layer of darker soil on the top, like 1 cm. And below that there is just sand and clay, no roots, no animals. Also the rainwater is flushing through the soil every days, rinsing out the nutrients into the river-
My thought is to get a lot of organic material into the soil. We have made a few banana circles with a pit in the middle filled with organic material, leaves and trunks and some cacaocompost.
We are also mulching all the beds, constantly putting more organic material on to them.
I am also trying out a theory that is more or less my own reasoning, havent found anything on internet on this but the idea is inspired from the bananacircle-tecnique. I would be very happy for feedback on this!
The land slopes down towards a river in quite soft hillsides. In a flatter area below the slope we have planted pineapple and bananas in rows perpendicular to the slope. In between two of these rows we have dug a canal, almost like a swale, it is about 50-60 cm deep, 60-70 cm wide and maybe 10 meters long. We have filled the canal with lots of wood, trunks and branches from trees, and more organic material on the top to create a composting process in the canal that will feed the plants with nutrients and build up soil.
My thought is also that the rainwater that flows down the slope is bringing with it nutrients from the soil above, these are normally washed down into the river but I want to try and catch and store them instead. The theory is that the trunks will absorb some of the water and that the nutrients will cycle in the composting process that is going on in the canal. The excess water i hope will run of. I dont want to create a swale full of water.
Any thoughts on this? Has it been tried before?
And in general I am very happy for any tips and experiences on growing veggies in this climate. Also tips on vegetables that are possible to grow here are warmly welcome!
I have only worked with permaculture in my homecountry Norway, where the climate is quite different... it is very interested to learn about this type of ecosystem and practice permaculture thinking here.
I will only be here for two more months so most of the things we are doing now are just experiments, to see in time how it works.
ok, sorry for long question..Very grateful fior feedback
