Hi
I just helped with a similar upgrade at latitude 46.
Where are you?
We left the existing roof panels,
and added a ground mount array at a steeper angle for season extension and snow shedding.
Your roof pitch looks quite shallow for anything except summer; unless you are equatorial.
Bifacials will not give much extra benefit on a roof; little light from below.
We used an EG4 12kpv all in one, with 2 mppt.
Each mppt can accept 2 identical input strings. The 2 mppt do not have to be balanced.
We needed the EG4 12kpv for cold weather; there are other options for above freezing.
I also agree that tree trimming is a place to start.
cheers Doug
I have a similar battle; acidic clay, to which I foolishly added abundant, partially marine, compost, neutralized the pH, now have chlorotic blueberry bushes.
I am trying elemental sulfur which slowly lowers pH; limited success so far.
Technical comments:
Wood is a composite material made from cellulose (long chains of
glucose, pure carbohydrate). The cellulose fibrils are cross linked by a mesh of lignin.
The cellulose:lignin ratio is major determinant of decomposition rate.
Celery: no lignin
Poplar: some lignin
Oak: lots of lignin.
The lignin itself is complex and diverse across species; a swarm of cyclic structures that are cross linked.
The lignin rings are derived from amino acid metabolism but the N groups are mostly removed during lignin synthesis.
There are other carbohydrates, resins etc depending upon species.
During decomposition the most resistant fractions of the lignins transform to humins and humic acids which are stable and accumulate as soil carbon.
The carbohydrate fractions turn over to CO2 faster.
There is very little N in most wood, but some nitrogen fixing bacteria and directly or indirectly access the wood carbohydrates to fuel fixation of N2 to available N compounds.
So adding woodchips will tend to cause a temporary drop in available N as decomposers take up soil N to build biomass to breakdown the wood.
Others have answered the alkalinization question.
cheers Doug
Hi you are in BC; do you get freeze/thaw?
If so, water b/t the retaining wall and the facer stones will push the facing stones off.
There might have been a cap to divert water from flowing down through?
I have limited experience but have seen it done poorly many times. cheers Douug
Freeze thaw causes plants to burn reserves, because respiration starts but photosynthesis does not.
I am chuckling at the optomistic zone for Atlantic coastal Cape Breton, where there are patches of actual tundra...
