Today I would like to share how we take advantage of and accelerate the natural process called Succession
the natural process of succession refers to the evolution of a terrain, from an exposed one and all the way through to a forest, which is the normal tendency of nature.
it can happen in an open landscape, after a devastating fire etc.
the first to come are the strongest plants, called "Pioneers" as they can handle full sun exposure, winds, frosts and any other extreme conditions.
they grow creating the conditions for other, more sensitive plants to grow among and below them, providing wind breaking, shade, organic material, Nitrogen fixing and more.
we also use the base of these pioneer plants as a physical protection for acorns sawn right at the base where the boars can not fit their snounts to dig them up. in this photo is a young Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea).
a well protected Chestnut growing nicely and soon to overpass in hight the surrounding pioneers that sheltered him when small and brittle
a small Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) under the protective layer of brush. the used car tire around it is one of the best ways we´ve found to protect young trees from wild boars digging them up. they seem to dislike the smell and avoid any contact with them.
thank you for stopping by 🙏
wishing us all a peaceful week
published at 11:11
I think this is amazing work!
I don't know if you are doing that knowingly or just by clever observation but by putting saplings under pioneer trees you are using a natural process called facilitation. Which seems to be an ubiquitous natural process and a very important part of forest regeneration. Thank you for sharing your results!
Observation makes up a big part of the way I work here, common sense makes up another and background in Permaculture and other holistic methods and approaches fills the rest.
thank you 🙏
p.s. never heard this specific term but it sounds like another way to say the same thing.
I will look into it !
As you say, common sense and observation can take you all the way through to success. However, there is a very strong body of literature on the subject. I myself don't work on your kind of ecosystem (it looks like quercus forests) but if you like you can search "facilitation" and "nurse effect" in Google scholar and you will find a lot of scientific papers on the subject. I wish you all the success. I came from an academic background and I think we should move towards what you are doing. It's urgent now to start implementing science and common sense based solutions to environmental problems. My sincerest congratulations and best wishes.
It is a Quercus forest indeed, yes.
and I totally agree.
thanks again 🙏
Thanks to you for your work
This is a great way to grow trees, which I am very inspired by, and I am trying to fill some soil in tires and grow plants like this.
Thank you for stopping by.
the tires have the one disadvantage of turning very hot in extreme hot summer days, endangering further the vulnerable plant inside them.
and of course they have to be removed before the trees grows too big.