permaculture

[sinergyinaction@netscape.net]

Hi Kevin,
many thanks for your advise. 
I understand that you only bother with the soil of each single tree rather 
than also the soil in the nearby area.
Do you have any experience on planting trees from seed on this soil type?
What kind of trees have done well? 
Have you used any legume trees? which?
I am planning to fill the available space with as many pioneer trees species 
as possible, but I wonder how close to each other it is advisable to plant 
them.
 
Also is it advisable to postpone introduction of cover crops until the trees 
are established (2/3 years may  be) to avoid competition?
Cheers
Antonio

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Topek <ktopek@houston.rr.com>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wed, 11 Jan 2006 17:49:34 -0600
Subject: Re: [permaculture] preparing soil for planting trees


Antonio,

I feel qualified to address this question since I live on flat gray clay
called Gumbo. From a hand digging perspecrive this is what I do. Dig a hole
almost twice the diameter of the root ball and it's depth. Remove all the
soil and score the sides with a hard wack from the side of a shovel. A
sharpshooter works best for this. This makes infiltation channels so water
will not stand in your newly dug clay pot. Trees drown less when this is
done. Be careful of your shins when wacking the sides of the hole. Lossen
the subsoil and even it off before planting. Loosen your rootball and remove
any girdling roots or excessive growth. Roots grow back quickly. Place the
tree according to branching that will catch maximum sun. Plant it 2 inches
higer than the surrounding ground. The fluffed soil underneath will aid in
height. This allows the roots to establish better on the surface and the
tree will sink over time due to it's weight. Return only the dug soil back
in the hole, preferably layered at the depth that section of soil came from.
This is important, because you do not want organic matter from surface
layers trapped in the clay. Composting will create methane that will air
prune roots in non-porous soils. Mulch the top heavily with compost and
sheet mulch on top of that. Spread the mulches to the drip line, but do not
place any within a few inches of the trunk. Water heavily right away, almost
drown it. This encourages the clay to begin to react with the humic acids in
the compost. Bacteria will bloom in the nutrient rich clay. Earthworms will
feed on the bacteria and loosen the soil. Earthworm voids are the only air
pockets you can hope for in clay. Mulching to encourage their activity is
mandatory. After a lifetime of experimenting here on the Gulf Coast of
Texas, I have had good success with this method in clay soils. If you have
the luxury of time, you can sheet mulch in advance of planting and the clay
soil will be looser than imaginable in three months. Earthworms, bacteria
and slime molds do most of the work and you just sink your shovel into a
substance like smooth butter. Then doing this is really fun!

Kevin Topek



----- Original Message -----
From: <sinergyinaction@netscape.net>
To: <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 5:14 PM
Subject: [permaculture] preparing soil for planting trees


> Hi,
> are there specific techniques for soil preparation before planting trees
in (heavy) clay, almost flat, soils?
> I have seen a web site where Darren Doherty uses some special machinery to
produce earth mounds and successively plant trees on top of these mounds.
> Is this technique always advisable, sustainable etc? (provided one has the
right machine of course)
> Cheers
> Antonio
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