Miyawaki Report - July 22, 2021
Hello Miyawaki Cheerleaders
Welcome Elaine and Liz from Vancouver who have started a Miyawaki group there... We met via video conferencing and will continue to share each other's progress. They are currently setting up meetings with school board people in view of eventually setting up Miyawaki forests in VSB (School District 39) schools.
National Geographic put out an excellent article on the Miyawaki method: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/why-tiny-forests-are-popping-up-in-big-cities ... I think we are hitting the edge of the mainstream now :-)
I finally finished "Trees of Power" by permaculturalist Akira Silver. So far, this is my favorite book on tree propagation. It focusses on 10 tree species that are particularly rewarding ... several of which are native here.
Since we are thinking of setting up a distributed tree nursery system, might as well include species that are the most "powerful" from all sorts of points of views. I included some my notes to give you a taste of what I got from it (see below)
and finally, in case you have not yet seen this meme going around social media:
My notes from Akira Silver's Trees of Power (part 1 was general propagation methods, here i show only part 2 which covers 10 particularly powerful species from a permaculture point of view)
Trees of Power by Akira Silver
Chesnuts: the Bread Tree
members of the Castanea genus are some of the most generous and productive trees on Earth.
Today orchards in Europe are being planted with Japanese × European hybrids for disease resistance.
The American chestnut may well be the greatest and most useful forest tree to ever grow on this Earth.
Its decline is considered by many ecologists to be one of the greatest ecological disasters to strike the US since European contact.
Castanea dentata dominated the eastern US, making up roughly one-fourth of the trees in its range
It has the durability of black locust, the straight grain and splittability of ash; it’s as stable and easy to work as pine, and very fast growing.
Within just 25 years an estimated four billion trees died
typically live for 15 years before succumbing to blight. In this time they produce small crops of nuts and excellent pole wood. Since the blight cannot kill the root system, the trees sprout back after the blight knocks them down. They can be kept going indefinitely in a coppice system.
Growing American chestnuts from seed also expands the genetics of this magnificent species.
The only tree that comes even close is the oak
Black locust is the gold standard in durability, but it is really hard to work with.
Chestnuts are more of a grain than a nut. They have almost zero fat. Nutritionally they closely resemble brown rice.
If you put them in a dehydrator, be very careful to keep the temperature as low as possible. Over 100°F (38°C) and they are likely to slightly cook and change color. Their flavor will be off if that happens.
run them through a Davebilt nutcracker. This is a small hand-powered device made for shelling hazelnuts and pecans, but it works well on dried chestnuts and acorns.
Chestnut flour even has an excellent shelf life. up to two years without a hint of rancidity.
Chestnut trees can grow on steep hillsides where bare rock is exposed
a high-yielding chestnut orchard yields 2,000 to 3,000 pounds per acre.
rotating livestock through the orchards is a proven sustainable method that has worked for thousands of years.
Chestnuts can live for thousands of years. They can start producing as early as age two, and will increase their nut production each year.
plant rows of trees right into the field and continue to grow annual crops in between the rows.
As the trees get bigger, the alleys of annuals get smaller, until eventually they are totally eliminated.
two or more should be planted less than 50 feet apart
They prefer good drainage and an acid pH,
Chestnuts, like almost all trees, prefer to grow on the mounds. If you have a wet field and want to grow chestnuts—or really any other fruit or nut tree—then make some mounds. Because without decent drainage around their root crown, chestnuts will languish.
In some old European orchards, only four trees fit per acre.
interplant chestnuts with shorter-lived species such as peaches, raspberries, and asparagus. By the time the chestnuts are spreading their shade, these other plants will be on the decline.
plant rows of chestnuts with trees set out only a few feet apart. As the trees mature, thin out all but the best-producing trees. This may sound expensive, but it is far cheaper than purchasing grafted trees,
Chestnuts are one of the most dependable tree crops in the world
in the near future nut-growing cooperatives will cover the country.
accomplish amazing goals, like reversing climate change, improving wildlife habitat, protecting watersheds, and increasing biodiversity simply by eating more chestnuts
Apple : Magnetic Centre
Growing apples from seed is extremely variable, while with chestnuts you are going to wind up with a tasty nut just about every time. Sometimes the nuts will be smaller, but often they’re going to be similar.
raise seedlings under bird netting, with mousetraps all around.
Wild apples tolerate some of the most extreme soil conditions, from overly wet to extremely dry, acidic to alkaline.
Like most trees, apples take a break after a heavy crop.
spray mixtures using clay, cultured microorganisms, plant extracts, and minerals
plant mixtures of wildflowers and sometimes shrubs under the trees to encourage specific predatory insects and biodiversity.
growers understand the life cycles of all the insects and fungi that feed on apple trees.
You can get away with a lot by having a site with good airflow and the latest disease-resistant varieties
largest genepool of apples in the world. In the Tian Shan mountains of eastern Kazakhstan
The wild apple forests are large and remote. Most of what is there is unknown.
Apples are one of the most forgiving trees to the propagator. They callus thickly and quickly under warm or cool conditions. Unions form easily.
Grafting apples is pretty easy compared with other species, and there are more varieties of apple available today than just about any other fruit.
Apple seedlings have a life expectancy of over 100 years. Compare that with a cultivated apple on a dwarfing rootstock, which might live for only 15 years.
virtually all apples can be processed into something edible and delicious—from dried fruit to applesauce to vinegar to hard cider to ethanol
It is okay to plant 100 trees close together in a space where only 1 is wanted.
plant a hedgerow.
Some apple seeds will sprout right away in warm soil, while others will require moist stratification.
They transplant easily and can sometimes be found by the hundreds under a single tree.
They coppice well and can grow back from large wounds easily. They have a powerful ability to heal themselves.
Storing apples at 32 to 34°F (0–1°C) will keep certain varieties in perfect shape for six months or more.
let the fruit cook on low heat in a stockpot with a tiny bit of water in the bottom. When the fruit is soft enough that it mushes easily, then it’s done cooking. While it’s hot, I run it through a food mill to remove seeds and skins.
Homemade apple fruit leather is awesome.
But it is the red cedars in the Juniperus genus that actually host cedar apple rust.
apple rust will be covered in bizarre-looking orange galls.
Poplar, the Homemaker
Poplars are some of the fastest-growing trees in the world. They can tolerate the worst conditions and are heavily favored by wildlife.
In places where land has been degraded or is falling apart, the poplars can rebuild. They produce tremendous amounts of biomass, feed unbelievable numbers of insects, birds, and mammals, and suck tons of carbon out of the sky like gigantic outstretched vacuums.
Birch trees have lenticels (horizontal lines) on their bark, however; aspens do not.
Quaking aspens also have a white powder on their bark
Birch bark, on the other hand, is full of lenticels and peels off in strips with no powder.
Aspens send out horizontal roots that grow like mint
Aspen, Colorado, which is home to a 3,000-acre grove. This grove is one organism—a single tree with a massive root system and many trunks.
quaking aspens create some of the best wildlife habitat in the temperate world. Their buds, leaves, bark, and catkins are highly palatable to many species of birds and mammals. While the groves are young or after a large disturbance is the time when groves offer the most. When aspens are cut, burned, or disturbed, they will send up a huge amount of shoots. These can grow very densely, offering great cover and a lot of food at the same time. The buds and catkins are a big winter/spring food, highly sought after by wildlife of many types.
There are virtually no herbivores that do not feed on poplars, and quaking aspen offers the most food of all the poplars. It grows the most stems with its endless suckering habit.
they can be cut ruthlessly and repeatedly and show no loss of vigor.
the aspen offers us a low-maintenance approach to healing damaged lands.
Young sprouts will not grow under the canopy of older trees.
It’s better to cut trees while they are dormant and their reserves are in their root systems.
Productivity is measured in stems per acre.
aspen groves are some of the most soothing places to walk through
Cottonwoods drink copious amounts of water. They are generally found along riverbanks, canals, and abandoned gravel pits. They drink so much water that they can dry wet spots up
Non-native poplars do not feed native Lepidoptera and other insects the way native trees do.
Native insects have evolved to eat native poplars.
Hybrid poplars are more suitable in mixed plantings or as hedgerows and windbreaks on diverse farms. They make fast-growing hedges, offer a massive amount of wood at a young age, and can be cut again and again. For details on growing and using hybrid poplars, read Peter Greatbatch’s Practical Guide to Renewable Energy Using Hybridized Hardwoods.
Quaking aspens grow easily from root suckers dug up from the edge of a grove.
Cottonwoods and hybrid poplars root easily from hardwood cuttings.
They root so well that truncheon cuttings can be used. These are large cuttings that can be as thick as a small log and 8 feet long.
Live stakes are hammered into the ground. Then smaller-diameter branches are woven through the large stakes to create a living wall.
The seeds have almost no shelf life and should be used fresh.
Ash: Maker of Wood
Ash is quality. It is very light and very strong at the same time
Ash is most famous for its use in baseball bats,
White ash is the greatest firewood in the history of firewood.
Trees grow straight and with few branches
It is considered one of the only woods that you can burn green.
Mulberry: the Giving Tree
a good mulberry tree will have a continuously unfolding enormous crop for months on end.
Some mulberries are just not that good, while others are outstanding
It is almost impossible to find a fruiting mulberry tree that is not covered in songbirds.
Mulberries grow fine under the full shade of black walnuts and still produce decent crops
They are confusingly named by colors that seem to have little significance.
Mulberries can be cut down again and again, and keep sprouting back. They are one of the most resilient species for coppicing.
If a female tree is growing with no males nearby, the tree will make lots of fruit with either no seeds or unviable seeds, while a male tree will never fruit
Softwood cuttings have been more successful for me since I built an intermittent mist system.
Overwintering rooted hardwood cuttings is easier because the plants are so much larger and stronger.
Mulberries are a gift to yourself, your kids and grandkids, songbirds, wildlife, livestock, and the world in general.
If ever there was a tree to love—a tree so generous and fun that every neighborhood, chicken yard, hedgerow, animal pasture, and old field needs at least one—it is the mulberry.
Elderberry: The Caretaker
Sambucus caerulea in western US and makes a large tasty blue berry.
One-year-old shoots from well-established plants can sometimes reach 8 feet tall in a single season.
After roughly five to eight years, elderberry stems will start to die.
Most shrubs have evolved to grow in open areas with abundant grazing and browsing animals, rejuvenated by the disturbance of a large herd of herbivores or by fire.
cut most elderberry plants right to the ground every year or every other year.
cut them in the winter when they are dormant and most of their energy is stored in their root systems.
Second-year canes are generally the most productive.
The flowers are a magnet for pollinating insects.
Elderflowers are eaten as fritters, and they are tinctured and/or dried to make a powerful immune-boosting medicine.
Elderberries are best not eaten fresh, but processed into one of many possible products.
To de-stem the berries, place the cluster in the freezer for 20 minutes or so. Tap the frozen cluster on a cookie sheet and all the berries will fall off easily.
keep them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.
Propagating elderberries is very easy and rewarding. There are numerous methods, ranging from cuttings, to root divisions, to seed
Once dormant, they are easy to transplant.
Elderberries are shade-tolerant, and can do quite well in half a day of sunlight or in dappled shade.
at least 60 species of birds that eat elderberries; They are worth planting for bird activity alone.
The bark, leaves, and buds are highly palatable to herbivores.
vigorous and easy to grow, with no significant pests and very high, reliable yields.
Elderberries are loved by birds, kids, tree huggers, foragers, native-plant enthusiasts, permaculturists, right-wingers, and left-wingers.
Hickory: Pillars of Life
Oilnut, aka Bitternut (Carya cordiformis)
the bitterness is water-soluble.
oil content of 75 to 80 percent.
5-gallon bucket of nuts in the shell will yield ¾ gallon of oil.
Pecan (Carya illinoinensis), the most famous of all the hickories
Usually, hickories will fruit heavily every two to three years or so.
Hickory is one of the toughest woods on Earth
same BTUs as black locust
A green hickory branch can be bent into a full circle easily without cracking.
Whenever squirrels gather nuts, grab a bucket and walk over
Bring kneepads if you get sore, or use a nut wizard. The window is short, usually only a couple of weeks total.
bitternuts can often be gathered throughout the winter in a good year.
if the husk sticks, just forget it and find ones that are ripe.
easier if you either let them dry or let them rot; dry them for about a week before storing.
The key is to store them in the shell
cracked open, the kernels will age and oxidize. If you want to store shelled nuts, then keep them in the fridge or freezer.
get much bigger kernel pieces if the nuts are cracked along the seams rather than just laid down flat.
The Master Nut Cracker works well for butternuts, black walnuts, and hickory nuts.
Cracking nuts on a stone with a hammer is an age-old activity that reminds me of people playing cards. I have seen it keep the most rambunctious kids busy for surprisingly long periods of time.
The more crushed up the nuts, the better. After they have been boiling for a while (10 minutes to two days
a lot of the nutmeat will float to the surface and the shells will sink.
The broth is a great fortifying drink. It can be drunk by itself, or you can add cocoa, maple syrup, or any other spices you’d like.
pound the nuts into a powder with a mortar and pestle. Boiling them this way yields an even thicker liquid that is a high-quality nut milk.
Bitternut and pecan are the only two hickories that can be run through a press with the shells on.
Hickories are most commonly propagated by seed. Cuttings are not a practical method. Grafting is difficult,
Hickories put down a strong taproot when they sprout; damage to it can often kill the seedling.
nuts are planted by squirrels under leaf litter. Mimicking these conditions is the key to sprouting hickory nuts.
store hickory seed nuts in damp sand: in bags in the fridge, in buckets in the basement, or in buckets buried outside
nuts sprout very late, usually in June or July. It is easy to forget about them because they come up so late.
directly seed the nut into where you want the tree to grow permanently
Short tree tubes work well
specialized root pruning pots available if you choose to go that route.
Air-pruning beds work very well for hickory.
Trees will often reach about 6 to 12 inches tall with a strong, fibrous, intact root system their first year. Planted just in the ground, they will usually only be a few inches tall with one straight, very deep taproot.
Most other species of hickory, however, can take 10 to 30 years to make nuts.
Hazelnut: The Provider
Hazels will grow in heavy clay or sand. They can tolerate drought, flooding, and a wide range of pH.
90 percent of consumed hazelnuts come from Turkey, and this is how they are grown and harvested for the most part—in mountain culture.
Italy grows around 10 percent of the world’s hazelnuts, and they are quickly expanding.
3 percent of the world’s hazelnuts are grown in the Willamette Valley of Washington,
To keep hazel shrubs vigorous and healthy, older stems should be pruned out
remove individual stems that are over 4 or 5 years old, or coppice the entire plant every 10 to 15 years.
A hazelnut left unpruned has a life expectancy of around 50 years, but regularly coppiced plants have been known to survive well over 1,000 years.
Each plant produces male and female flowers. The male flowers are dangly catkins.
female flowers are very small, beautiful pink stars that form on the tip of a bud in very early spring.
Hazels are not self-pollinating. They also will not always pollinate one another if their genes are too similar.
It’s best to plant three or more and keep them close together
Usually they will start making a few nuts around age three to five. They can be very productive by year seven or eight.
Harvesting hazels is best done while they are in the husk.
hazel harvest happens in late August, not in the fall.
push on the nut. If it can move back and forth in the husk, then it’s ripe
It doesn’t matter if the nuts are white/green. If they can release from the husk, then they are ready for harvest.
dry them for a minimum of a couple of weeks.
put them in a sack and walk all over them a lot, rubbing your feet vigorously back and forth
The Davebilt nutcracker is a simple hand-operated machine that can crack a lot of nuts in a short time.
Hazel shells are very dense. They give off as many BTUs as anthracite coal.
The ash from burned hazel shells is extremely high in many trace minerals, and is a good fertilizer.
Wattle fences and even house walls are woven from the stems.
The wood is fairly durable and makes a good alternative to bamboo canes for northern gardeners.
Hazel wood also burns very hot and can be used as a fuel, for charcoal, or for biochar.
none have been so marauded by wildlife as the hazel.
Propagating hazels is not complicated. It is limited to seed and layering for the most part.
Black Locust: Restoration Tree
Established locusts that are cut down can put on as much as 10 feet of regrowth the following year.
Within seven years black locust can be harvested for small-diameter firewood. Within a 20-year span, they are often big enough for lumber.
Black locust casts a very light shade.
undergrowth is always rampant underneath them. Most stands of black locust are tangles of honeysuckle and multiflora rose.
typically start falling over by the time they reach 60-plus years of age
Locust is one of the most rot-resistant woods on the planet. It is used for boardwalks, bridges, piers, fence posts, furniture, musical instruments, decks, docks, playgrounds
The rot resistance of black locust is better than that of oak, cedar, and pressure-treated lumber.
Black locust lasts much longer than pressure-treated lumber and is safe
Actual soil is not even required, as these nitrogen-fixing trees make their own.
The inner heartwood of black locust is rot-resistant, not the outer ring of white sapwood
Kiln-dried locust has almost no decay resistance compared with air-dried.
In the ground, posts often last over 50 years.
charred the ends that were in contact with the soil to extend the life of the post.
Seed and root cuttings are the primary propagation methods.
To find root cuttings on larger trees, start at the base of the trunk. Find a root flare and follow it as far as you can, digging around the root as you go. The best material is as thick as a finger, but you can use fatter or skinnier roots, too. Two- or 3-inch sections work well. Plant them near the soil surface in spring. They can sometimes take a long time to sprout—often until midsummer. Growth can be phenomenal, reaching 6 to 9 feet the first year.
the branches are sold as natural pea trellises
If left on its own, black locust will shade out its own suckers and seedlings.
It will live for six to eight decades and leave behind a black soil filled with the roots of native trees.
Beech: The Root-Runner
Drought-tolerant, shade-tolerant, and relentless are the growth habits of beech.
a never-ending supply of dense hardwood, wildlife food and cover, excellent nuts, and resiliency.
Underneath the darkest canopy in the driest, most competitive, nutrient-deprived forest, you can find beech trees.
If the canopy opens up, they will race to fill the space
A single beech root may have dozens of tree trunks sprouting from it.
It probably rots faster than any other wood, except maybe birch
The term renewable fuel is practically defined by beech. Cut again and again and again, they will not cease to send up new shoots of dense hardwood
The sheer biomass of beech stands are tremendous because they are so shade-tolerant that they can retain their lower branches. They can do all this work on very little rainfall, surviving upon the driest ridgelines.
beechnuts will often be empty and the shells will reveal nothing but air. I believe this is a pollination issue
could be grown on a coppice cycle in dense hedges, rather than as forest giants with impossible-to-reach nuts.
Beechnuts are one of the most delicious nuts on Earth.
monkey puzzle trees for their nuts. These trees also take 40 years to bear fruit, but they may live for 1,000 years after that.
grafted beech trees can begin bearing fruit at a young age
black bears are so dependent on beechnuts that their reproductive cycles are closely tied to the masting of the trees.
A few hundred years ago, giant beech trees fed billions of passenger pigeons. The birds traveled from beech stand to beech stand devouring the crop.
can be propagated clonally by root cuttings
Growing beech from stem cuttings is extremely difficult.
A stand of beech can supply an endless and renewable source of shiitake bolts.
blankets of the thickest mulch you will find in the wild. They offer a limitless supply of carbon, beauty, and food.