permaculture

[Neil Bertrando <neilbertrando@gmail.com>]

If I were to put in sub-tropical to tropical long term canopy tree legumes,
these would be at the top of my list:

carob, tamarind, ice cream bean, tipuana tipu.  mainly because I like to
eat the first three and would like to get experience with the fourth after
hearing about it.

I'm surprised it gets so cold in Florida, what is your location?  my
understanding was that zone 9 was down to 20 F?  microclimate
possibilities?  perhaps you can get some good varieties from NAFEX
http://www.nafex.org/ or the rare fruit tree associations.
http://www.crfg.org/ florida rare fruit http://www.rarefruit.org/


I love the work Julia Morton did in Fruits of the Warm Climates.  I'm
guessing there is lots more out there now, but haven't been researching
tropics in a while.
Carob, Ceratonia siliqua:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/carob.html

tamarind, tamarindus indica
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/tamarind.html

Ice Cream Bean, Inga edulis
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/inga_edulis.html

tipuana tipu
http://www.public.asu.edu/~camartin/plants/Plant%20html%20files/tipuanatipu.html

Another FAO doc.
http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/T0632E/T0632E02.htm

suggests: prosopis sp as well.

Black Locust??? native to Southeast N. America.

casaurina pines? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casuarina  Awesome
non-rotting building material too.

more for understory? baptisia, lespedeza, ceanothus, tephrosia, senna,
desmodium, perennial peanut, crotolaria, guessing there's many more

have used most of the species noted in the FAO doc you shared and liked
them in Hawai'i.  never had an issue with spreading.  if you like, cut them
before seed formation.

have used cassia trees not sure on the species, birds absolutely loved them
so even without N-fixing nodules, the import to the system was substantial.

other links to check out with some species lists
http://science.jrank.org/pages/3895/Legumes-Native-legumes-North-America.html
http://www.winrock.org/fnrm/factnet/factpub/factsh.htm

i've some palownia planted in zone 5-6. no experience with zone 4.  there i
would definitely use Robinia, Elaeagnus, Gleditsia, and consider Sophora,
alnus, gymnocladus, maackia, and cladrastis  as overstory, many mid-
understory, shepherdia, caragana, elaeagnus, baptisia, Hippophae, cercis,
alnus, maybe amorpha canescens, all dependent on water availability and
soil type etc....
I might even go with rhamnus although I know people are sensitive about
buckthorn in the midwest.

perhaps a useful source is oikos tree crops
http://www.oikostreecrops.com/store/home.asp
and lawyer seed and plant nursery http://www.lawyernursery.com/  worth
getting the seed list/catalog many more species than bare roots

best of luck
hope this helps,
Neil



On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 8:17 PM, venaurafarm <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>wrote:

> On 10/18/2012 8:38 PM, John D'hondt wrote:
>
> > Another new bad thing is an explosion of a new species, the New Zealand
> > flatworm, (Arthurdendyus triangulatus) that is known to reduce earthworm
> > populations below detectable levels. The situation is dire. We even
> noticed
> > 36 immature worms eating a big slug (Arion sp.) and one half grown worm
> > holding a life Tipula fly (big!) on the ground and preventing this from
> > talking off.
> > Interesting times.
>
> I would say that you have the making of a great new nature video, an
> action packed thriller...to say the least.
>
> ......birds eating most of the worms in raised beds causing them to sink
> and become more compacted.....hawks eating the birds doing this
> then flatworms moving in and decimating earthworm populations all over
> again....   what a scenario...document this in a video and sell the dvd
> for $25 each - upload trailer to youtube, let it go viral, make lots of
> money, buy villa on the cote d'azur, retire kick back and relax eat
> truffle quiche .............
>
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