permaculture

[Keith Johnson <keithdj@mindspring.com>]

If there are plenty of hackberries around, whack it. You'll release a 
lot of N from the roots when you do. You can always play with the 
resprouts from the stump and prune them (vigorously) into any shape you 
desire. Figs NEED sun. Or take some more cuttings and plant them 
elsewhere. They grow fairly fast too. I have regularly gotten fruit off 
first year cuttings (not a lot, granted, but that they are able to, is 
amazing).

Gene Monaco wrote:
>  
> Hey folks,
> I have this great fig tree that my Grandmother brought to NYC from Sicily 90
> years ago.  My father and mother have a cutting of it growing on the eastern
> shore of Maryland, and now I have it growing (again by cutting) in east
> Tennessee.  I love this tree.
> After learning about N2 fixers and guilds, I let this volunteer hackberry,
> which I understand is a N2 fixer, grow up next to it.  Hackberries grow like
> crazy around here, and I like to munch the berries in late fall when they
> get crunchy.  A perfect guild so far.  I made a mulched bed around the area
> and planted some vegetables last spring along with some sage and some
> flowers, figuring that the hackberry is fertilizing everything.
> My wonderful daughter, with a new degree in environmental engineering and a
> minor in biology, has informed me that I'm a fool because the hackberry is
> getting too big and will shade the fig--it is to the south of it; less than
> 5 feet.  She thinks the fig will do better getting the direct full sun, and
> it doesn't need the hackberry or at least, it's not worth the trade off.
> So I'm agonizing about it.  She might be right.  My process at this point is
> to observe and communicate with the tree people and see what they tell me to
> do, but I wanted to run it by the geniuses on this list first, especially
> Kevin Topeck, to see if there are any insights.
> What say ye?
> -Gene Monaco
--
Keith Johnson
"Be fruitful and mulch apply."
Permaculture Activist Magazine
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