Cristobal Cristo

AI is only as good as the multitude pseudo gardening/DYI websites loaded with ads from which AI takes its information. These websites are copies of each other in terms of contents and usually very vague and generic. Because I'm interested in empirical knowledge of real persons and things that work I use Permies as the reference and basically get serious information only from forums from real people with experience. The good thing is that sometimes AI uses Permies as the source, but at the end nobody will guarantee the answer is correct or some algorithmic delusion. I was disappointed so many times on specific questions related to IT or engineering that gave plain wrong answers that I can only imagine that the solutions to more abstract topics may be equally wrong. If AI had robots in all parts of the world that would be doing gardening, building, developing within local conditions and materials THEN it would have some merit.

Jake Schroth wrote:[Where abouts are you located if you dont mind me asking. Up here in central maine being zone 5 we only have about 150 growing days, but generally lots of rain, and cold.

The best apples were developed in countries with cold/temperate climates and these are the apples  I'm trying to grow in my hot, too intensely sunny California location. Some survived and some not.

Smudge pots work by creating blanket (literally) of smoke that blocks intrusion of cold air. I see this phenomenon perfectly in winter - clear sky means freezing, any cloudiness or fog rises the temperature a few degrees above freezing. It basically needs air pollution.

I just checked the Fedco website an indeed they state that:
Standard trees are now grafted onto Malus domestica. (We can no longer get Antonovka because of the war in Ukraine)

It would be probably a seedling of some other apple that will produce a normal sized tree.
The trees I have ordered form them and planted in 2023 have already bloomed and hopefully they will produce some apples this year, so 3 years for the first crop, but in your climate they would probably grow much better.
I like the idea of standards interwoven with some dwarfs.

Site preparation for orchard is to some extent comparable to building foundation - it's difficult to change after the orchard is established.
I would recommend to dig all stumps and roots with a rented/hired excavator, use chipper for all wood material and mix it into the soil with deep plowing/ripping. This is how they prepare the ground for planting new orchards here. At that point I would also add some additional organic material - more if the soil has high clay contents. For the area of 2000 m2 it would be at least 200 m3 so rather impractical, so in case of poor soil it would be better to preserve the extra material for individual plants.
Most fruit trees prefer very well draining soil and it makes sense to ammend it just at the planting hole. If I hit a spot with high clay on my orchard when planting new trees I replace it with at least 50% compost and this year also started using coarse sand.
I would also second John on full size trees. Apples on Antonovka will be well anchored, will taste better, produce a lot, live long and look majestic after two decades - a heritage orchard. Fedco (in Maine!) has a good (maybe the best online) selection of apples on standard rootstock and I purchased from them in the past. Sone cultivars have died - being unfit for my climate, but the others are growing healthy.

Daniel Andy wrote:I agree adobe or mudbrick are best for thermal mass, but a freestanding adobe/mudbrick wall between rooms would be significantly thicker and take significantly longer to make than roundwood, right?

For adobe/CEB  it's recommended for the height to not exceed the 10 times wall thickness, so for 300 mm/12" block you could build 3 m tall wall.
Do you mean cordwood wall or just using round logs to make a rough looking wall?
In general I would recommend to not mix many building systems and reduce them to two main materials. It reduces number of tools needed and number of future problems of incompatibility and imperfect workmanship.
It would help if you shared with us some info about your location, terrain, soil type, etc.

Midge,

Plaster layers should start with the strongest, going towards weakest. Applying one type of plaster already has its challenges and mixing two mediums needs testing (at least a full year cycle).
In my opinion there is no point to use clay plaster on concrete block on the outside. It would make perfect sense to use it on interior concrete walls in an inhabited building, so some wall breathability would be added to low porosity concrete and would improve air quality in such a building.
I would suggest to plaster it just with lime. Concrete plastering is pleasant, because it wicks plaster moisture slowly, giving enough time to finish it perfectly.

I think the greatest downside of strawbale is that it's some form of a cavity wall that at some point will host bugs and rodents which is unacceptable to me. If there is a place for pest to live in, they will find it, no matter what preventive steps are taken. Nature is powerful and merciless.

https://permies.com/t/113626/Straw-Bale-Don

Strawbales were originally used in western Nebraska, which is drier and sunnier than the rest of East and Midwest and i think it's best fit for such climate.

Where are you located?

John, "wythe"is used in US English.

Keenan, you mentioned 3000 psi. Is it the compressive strength of a mix (on par with concrete) or entire, reinforced wall?

John, do you prefer to have quality, heatlhy, fireproof house or just piece of mind that you can resell it? Please take into consideration that building a custom structure from custom materials will take a great part of your life to build it and finish.
Have you checked Faswall blocks?
Where are you located?