Güneş Bodur

In what part of the landscape in the video have you planted almonds previously? In between the pine trees or the opening between the pine stands?

I hypothesize that mycorrhizal preferences of these tree species might be the reason behind this effect. Pine and oak trees are both primarily Ectomycorrhizal associated species (although various oak species have been shown to also form symbiosis with Arbuscular mycorrhizae, especially in the Mediterranean). Almonds and plums (Prunus genus), on the other hand, seem to form symbiosis exclusively with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

This theory would also explain why there is usually more plant diversity in oak forests than in pine forests, since oak trees also associate with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and usually tend to be more open structured. There are also some reports of Ectomycorrhizal fungi dominating Arbuscular fungi in mixed-symbiont forests.source

Basically, I think the poor results on Almond and Plum plantings in EK1 might be due to the high density of pine trees (through the dominance of their Ectomycorhhizal symbionts) and/or the soil properties of the area. How are the soil properties of the opening and pine stands different from each other? Is the opening a rocky area?

On a side note, the opening got me curious about its history. It looks like a perfect strip. Maybe an old forest road?

How to select the right oak (or other tree) seeds to plant? Individual trees and tree populations vary in their resilience to drought, temperature and poor soil conditions - in the absence of information regarding which trees produce better surviving seeds, having diversity of seed sources is the key. But with conditions getting increasingly worse, can we really afford to not try to increase survival rates of our trees? Maybe we should identify as many source trees and populations producing more resilient trees as possible.

It's an idea that had been bothering me for quite a while. I'm especially interested in any possible guidelines for selecting seed sources, so please don't hesitate to contribute your ideas!

I have read in several restoration project reports that used the direct seeding method that protecting the seeds using small tubes placed around them immediately after burying the seed improved the survival rate, primarily by reducing seed predation. They mostly used PVC pipes cut into lengths of 15-20 cm (with around 5-7 cm of the tube being underground), but I suspect the tubes can be made of a great variety of materials including tree bark.

I have great faith in the results of the experiment on planting oak trees in existing pine forests. Oak trees have already been thriving in pine forests throughout the Mediterranean in increasing numbers over the last few decades, and I see no reason why your trees should be any exception. My only concern is that planting oaks too near the drying/dried trees may cause the young seedlings being damaged by forestry workers who may come in to remove the dead trees.

There is a review paper you might be interested in, which is about the increasing cover of oak-pine mixed forests in the Mediterranean and where these forests may evolve in the future. paper

Have you heard about Restor.eco? It is an online platform that aims to bring together ecological restoration projects all over the world on a common map, providing high-resolution satellite imagery for each site spanning the past and present alongside some other datasets related to success of restoration actions. Posting your sites on the Restor.eco map could bring greater visibility to the methods we are developing and applying here on this forum, and thus contribute to wider adoption of them by other restoration projects. Besides, I would personally love to see your sites on the platform!

Here's the link to the map:
Restor.eco

I don't think the whole project is collapsing, but the initial plantings like the field in this video are definitely failing. It is not the whole picture though, there are better approaches to reverse desertification that are being incorporated into the Great Green Wall project. The "Great Green Wall" Didn't Stop Desertification, but it Evolved Into Something That Might  Regreening the Sahel

I believe that the starting point of this project was more aligned with a conventional mindset, thus resulting in the failure. As far as I know, there was little local knowledge utilized and obviously observations and trial and error (like we do in this thread) were not exactly in the focus as they really wanted to do it quickly and what we do takes time. This happens when reforestation is misguided (or unguided), it is clear as that to me.

Abraham Palma wrote:

What about retama sphaerocarpa? I don't know if it is pest repellant, but it is medicinal.

Retama sphaerocarpa seems not to be native to Eastern Mediterranean (including Greece), but there definitely are native nitrogen fixing shrubs here as well, such as calicotome villosa and genista acanthoclada.

Calicotome villosa has shown to have a higher nitrogen fixation rate in the rainy season. source

Growing a few fig trees in the olive orchard is said to help with the management of the olive fruit fly, and is common practice in Western Anatolia. I think it is important that the fig trees are the sweet fruiting type but I'm not sure at all.

Basically, the earlier ripening figs attract the emerging fruit flies and keep them away from the olive trees.

They are quite productive. They flower a lot and most of them turn into fruit.

I don't think pistacia lentiscus would need much pruning, but you could cut twigs for firewood etc. if the shrubs get too large and obstruct farmwork. I would also expect other trees and shrubs to emege from the pistacia over time as the shrub provides a suitable microenvironment inside.

Do you have a forest near your olive grove? If not, you may want to add some fresh forest soil when you are planting trees and shrubs, so that the beneficial microorganisms can stay alive and work your soil. Though you probably don't need such a thing unless you are in the middle of an industrial agriculture area with no forest in sight.

There is an area I call "olive forest" next to my house. It is likely a conventional olive grove that was abandoned 20 or perhaps 30 years ago, and since has become a forest - grassland mosaic through the processes of nucleation (birds dropping seeds as they are perched on the olive trees) and grassland improvement through ants' behavior.  

The most abundant trees and shrubs underneath olive trees are mastic (pistacia lentiscus) and phillyrea latifolia. I'm sure they help with nutrient recycling and water retention as they drop leaves and they have deep roots. They also have a symbiotic relationship with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal fungi which brings nutrients to trees from further away. In general they create a more forest-like microenvironment underneath the olive tree, which I believe contributes to the health and production of the olive tree more than any exotic nitrogen fixing tree or shrub.

I would plant only a few nitrogen fixing trees or shrubs - if any, evenly distributed, in an olive grove and instead focus on sowing leguminous plants on the treeless parts of the grove alongside a great variety of other herbaceous species. The olive trees will reach to them easily through the fungi.

As with pest repellence, I can only say that I've never seen any pests on the trees in the last 10 years. Perhaps has to do with the mastic and the cistus and thyme growing between the trees.

You are right about the monoculture of pines, yet it is also a fact that pine trees may be better against combatting climate change because of their mycorrhizal symbioses. Pine and oak trees tend to form symbiosis with ectomycorrhizae, which is more effective against combatting climate change as sequesters more carbon than arbuscular mycorrhiza (which often forms symbiosis with common mediterranean shrubland species such as olive, pistacia
and carob trees). I suggest using quercus sp. seeds as well as pine and lebanese cedar.

Also there is a new tool on the internet that may help you with your reforestation efforts.
Crowther Labs' interactive ecological map