วีดีโอ

these trees break down really quickly! so the fertility will boom!

thanks for watching!

@ I also started planting

i bet that tree was only 15 years old! they grow so fast here! yeah bummer about the salak, but i do have like 20 more in my nursery and can always get more seed. well just have to mulch the new ones extra heavy to give them a little boost! Ive got a stihl ms250 as the big saw. its so incredible the way it just eats wood. makes me wish my little echo saw was more powerful haha. but man i was sore for 2 days after we were finished, muscles arent used to using that heavy machine

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie Yeah I run an MS250 as well, definitely a beast but wears you out! Hope you can get those other big Albizias managed sooner rather than later. Loving the videos btw, y'all are growing some really interesting stuff, can't wait to see how things develop over the years.

thanks for the support! weʻre really trying to boost the agroforestry education here. and we are also trying to create a farming model based off these types of systems to convince others that it can be economically viable. thats why we are growing the things we love, but also have major marketability, some of them being extremely high valued crops. the experiment is well on its way!

thanks! we really appreciate it!

this is not the double mahoi. the double mahoi is a dwarf cavendish with a mutation. that name came as a marketing ploy to pretend its a hawaiian banana, because there was a double maoli that has now gone extinct. maoli is a Polynesian genetic line with multiple cultivars. this is an old hawaiian cultivar, maoli kaualau. this plant is endangered! its a semi dwarf as it flowers around 12 feet. but the non dwarf version gets over 20 feet tall!

interesting, i havent heard of that one! ill have to look into it. we do syntropic agroforestry, which is based on natural succession, pruning, and high density. we dont have too many unwanted weeds out there, just a vigna species thats somewhat problematic. but that plant is really hard to get rid of, so its more of a weed as its a problem. over time a lot of weeds die from being cut and mulched back into the system. once a weed is fed into the system and the nutrients become available the weed no longer has a job, so it leaves the system on its own!

no i havent tried that. maybe worth a try. i think its just poor germination rate from the manufacturer. the seed is fresh from this year

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie The reason I ask is because I have to do that with some of the seeds I use in Missouri. Admittedly our climate is a little bit different. I hope this helps you in the algorithms

i got it from Aloha 'Āina Seed Company. i ordered from their prior company a few years ago. not sure on comparison of germination rate as i just sow super heavy now. i used a full quart ziplock bag of seed to plant a 12x60ʻ row. tired of my efforts being fruitless so i go hard haha

nope, never heard of it!

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie check it out, just get a cheap magnet and see if it improves the germination.

thanks ill look into it!

no, and im not sure who that is. ive been told i look like another person many times though haha

@ he’s an actor. He played the Joker. I just looked him up though and really there is only a resemblance of a character he plays not really what he looks like in real life

Btw I am really enjoying your content. Thank you

@@jaydnhughes6947 thanks!

no, Iʻm in the pacific on an island

@ Hawaii?

@@TheChariot99 i prefer to be vague

I wouldn't personally grow vines on sugarcane. They like to flop out ward as is. So putting the extra weight will pull them down. Also the vines will outgrow them and make it to the top before they can put out leaves. Most likely effectively killing the canes. They need as much sun as possible. It also takes our varieties about a year before they are making solid canes Pigeon pea is a bush, not a vine. In my experience pigeon pea grows too large to combine too closely to sugarcane. If they're spaced 2 meters it would be fine though

One of the hardest working plants around!

if i recall correctly it's also a type of grass right? similar to how bamboo is it's also a short life perrenial(just my term idk) where you can cut it each year for 3-6 years on average and it'll regrow fairly similarly throughout those years given the same care and similar conditions and experience, ergo weather,disaster,etc. if it is then once dead and dried should (potentially) be treated like a dried grass product for animal feed,like a hay replacement. maybe even shredded and mixed into either a silage or a slurry for feed pellets.

@@bloodlove93 it is indeed a grass, but its not as perennial as bamboo. it could live 10 years if managed well. but i would replant around 5 years. after the first year you can begin to harvest canes. you can cut the whole clump down, but its quite taxing on the plant. so better to remove a couple of canes rather than the whole thing. ive never heard of anyone using it as a feed substitute once processed. i know of people feeding it directly to cows and pigs. but not processing it down

We have two acres but only work one currently. Im on a pacific island

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie Thank you sir, I appreciate you getting back to me

oh awesome! thanks for a recommendation! ill have to see if we can source them out here. glad to hear its Japanese brands youre preferring. we love japanese products. the barnel we use is also japanese, but im assuming they sold recently or something

i know right! we are so lucky to be able to work with such beautiful genetics! so many interesting plants around, you just gotta find them and hold on!

thanks so much! thatʻs wonderful feedback, itʻs great to hear we are reaching people! we will keep on posting!

Jess! I live in Amsterdam, and i am sooo jelous of all those tropical spiecies:) i would really like to experience it in person! Were are you located, if i may ask:)

I'm sure you have wonderful plants around you as well! It's a bit hard not to be envious of other areas, even for us. I love peaches, but we can't really grow them here. Give and take! Im in hawai'i

Jes, i agree, te forest is always greener at your neighbours:) I will be trying peaches here, but why can 't you grow them:) i did like to know:) They do like sun and moisture, and you do have those...

they also need some cold to set fruits! we dont have enough cold. theres one or two cultivars worth trying, so we will try them when we can get our hands on them. but they dont really want to be in our climate

I'm in the pacific on an island. Thanks for watching!

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie that's great! 🌱

There's upsides and downsides to each biome. We have to consistently prune our trees and manage vegetation to keep everyone happy, otherwise the strong beasts will over power the more delicate species. Sometimes I wish things grew more slowly! For the desert its probably worth shredding materials for faster decomposition to cycle the nutrients. I used a flail mower for a while and it was incredible. Could probably shred cactus to get good wet material to feed the other species. I love the desert, I think if I wasn't here, I'd want to be farming in the desert haha. Such different ecosystems. I've seen some incredible desert syntropic systems, but I think they were in Mexico and Brazil, so I think those were frost free climates. But that could be an interesting spot to gain some more insights. I think I saw that on instagram

​@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie I've found during the first growing season after drilling a well that pumpkins and melons can thrive in my high desert, they are strong and quick. So, I think I can produce a lot of biomass from it, maybe even sell something as a produce but not sure I have time for that. I already collected tons of seeds and ready to plant next spring. Also I use straw bales and buried wood to mimic hugul kultur adopted for the desert. Of course I have trees but it's a long term.

@@stanislavegorov5223 sounds like youre on it! excited to see your channel play out!

gliricidia sepium

not necessarily. we are surrounded by forest and with giant invasive trees around. we did just manage one of our fence lines and we plan on planting 20 new clumps. but we had to cut trees 30 feet away from the fence on the adjacent property, which is also ours, to get the sunlight we need.

yeah we are in puna

we are near the coast, and have a rapoza that does ok. its only been fruiting for a year or so and we've had 8 mangoes. but we do also have anthracnose issues. the main problem is anthracnose. so look for anthracnose resistant cultivars. or go into other mangifera species, odorata, casturi, lalijiwa, rubropetala or hybrids. ive tried copper and sulfur to fight the fungus, but it doesnt seem to work much

we have 2 acres, but only cultivate one right now

Not sure on species. but its a Butia. Got seeds from a friends cluster of trees. I doubt they know the species as they didn't plant them. There is one person I could ask about if he knows what species they. I'll try to reach out

Farming is indeed a lot of work. however what weʻre doing actually is not a lot of work, comparatively, and it is the easiest way to do the work. the plants take care of themselves and each other. of course when your working more land its appropriate to scale up and utilize machinery. also less diversity and wider spacing. i could probably manage 3 acres myself without a tractor if i set it up properly. where are you located? the growth rate is insane here, our weedy trees grow over 10 feet per year. we are also only on rocks with no soil. so we need to work the site appropriately. i had a 12 acre farm before we moved to this site. i was doing almost all of the work myself cultivating 5 acres and managing 7 plus the entire fence line of the parcel. i was managing that with about 25 hours per week. here are some of my projects tropicalselfsufficiency.com/agroforestry/ when i was working that larger parcel i did everything with a BCS tractor, weed eater, machete, sickle, handsaw and chainsaw. this is how i would manage my inner rows with the BCS th-cam.com/video/cVz5p37pI1Q/w-d-xo.html this is how my system looked at year 2.5 th-cam.com/video/8WxjEqwaZMc/w-d-xo.html i would say my systems are very streamlined and straightforward utilizing as much efficiency as possible. ive been doing this over 9 years. we use nature to push our systems forward and come in and manage when its time to pulse the system. we currently manage our rows every 3 months. so 10 hours of work every 3 months sounds pretty minimal to me.

Cutnut Barringtonia edulis

Yeah and there's a lot of nuances to consider! Age of plants, if they're direct seeded, if they were in a nursery, intensity of shade, succession level, overhead shade, season, etc. Obviously all shade isn't equal, and all plants don't require the same shade. So its a bit of a figure it out as you go. I like to work with light shade over most of my delicate plants these days. Ingas shade pretty intense when planted in mass

The durians in that row are grafts from a friends seedling. Its two different genetics. She took the fruit from the trees grew out the seeds then approach grafted the mama genetic on them. So hopefully they will be as close as possible to the mother genetic. We plan on keeping the durians 30', 10 meters, tall. So yes we will be heavily managing and pruning them!

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie nice! would love to buy some from you when they produce. last few times we were on the island we can't find any fresh durians (may & nov of this year)

​@@kyniemxotxa98haha I'm sure it will be 5 years before they produce. Still quite young. Send me a message next time you're around. Theres some places to look specifically for them. But we don't have typical seasons here. So its usually a bit hit and miss

we have a handful of things. mostly bananas at the moment. some peanut butter fruits and blue vexator, Myrciaria vexator, off the top of my head. what are you looking for specifically?

but is it dense enough? haha! glad to have connected. ive subscribed to your channel. excited to watch as im from socal and havent seen anyone doing agroforestry out there yet

we also have a hot climate and we love shade, but we also need to cut down the shade regularly. a wise person once told me "the system isn't for you, itʻs for the trees". even if i like shade, i know the plants need their disturbance to flourish. we follow syntropic agroforestry practices. in these methodologies its all about pruning to cycle nutrients and invigorate the system. the more we cut things the faster they grow. we do a heavy pruning to all of our plants pretty much every 6 months from planting. they regrow and shade everything again quickly!

im in the pacific on an island. the biggest pest that enjoys them here is the queensland longhorn beetle. it literally kills the trees. sure the ants like to hang out on them, not super intense like ive heard in some places, but it doesnt seem like whatever they are farming is that big of a problem. i wouldn't say ive noticed a larger infection of white fly or aphids on that species specifically. tithonia is seasonally covered in white fly though

theyre called tripod orchard ladders. we have two kinds, the bigger ladder is 12ʻ, or 4 meters, and the other is 6 foot or 2 meters. Hasegawa is the brand of the larger one, its super lightweight and has a telescoping third leg, super useful. one person can easily move it around. pretty expensive though. the shorter ladder is tallman brand. its great for the shorter stuff. its a fine weight. but definitely consider weight when youre making your decisions

thanks so much for subscribing and for the kind words! we feel its finally time to push out education from our site!

youre absolutely right! yeah the pitch fork is a game changer with mulch!

Who makes the holster? The one with 2 pockets? I currently use a Felco holster with a big pocket for pruners and then a small pocket I put a small sickle in. Is there a saw out there better than Felco?

@@LeviWelch-wh5hp Felco Leather Holster (F 911) is the one we use. id love to see where youre putting your sickle. we typically tuck them into our belts or just throw them on the ground when not in use. not ideal, but i could never figure out a sickle holster. we use silky saws. we use the pocketboy for our belts and sugoi for climbing, bananas and bigger cuts. ive heard zubat is good, but i havent tired it myself. silky is incredible!!

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie wow, the F-911 holster looks like a game changer! I've never seen it before and I thought I had all the Felco products memorized....I currently use the "F-910+" holster, it only holds a small sickle. I use Hubbard's Leather Conditioner and then bake the leather with the sickle in it. This conforms the leather to the sickle. I also put in a sharpening stick in the little pouch along with the sickle. This helps lock it in place. Yeah, I still haven't found an ideal way to carry around a large sickle but then again I don't much care for larger sickles....

@@LeviWelch-wh5hp very nice! the double holster is really nice. im actually pondering moving away from the folding handsaw and move towards non folding. i havent decided what id like to keep in my other pocket, maybe just a knife for eating in the field not sure yet

thanks so much! there's plenty of ways to jump start the systems. in some of my client projects we brought in mulch and mushroom compost. sometimes it worth it to inoculate the zone with fertility then lean into processes! i really like large clump grasses to produce my mulch. in this area we dont have that easy grass mulch so we need to work a little harder to cover the ground. but its also important to prune the trees and reset the zone often. best of luck on your journey! it takes time and efforts but once you finally get it dialed in the system itself takes on the hard work and we just need to intervene at the proper moments.

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie Thank you. Yeah, we're working on it slowly, when my back and weather permits. I realize it won't be overnight but I've already seen encouraging growth and life in a short span.

@@FurFeathersandFlowers that's enough to stay motivated! keep at it!

Did you get my message about Mombasa seed?

yeah I need a few lbs. so Iʻm going to bring in the 17lb then hopefully distribute it to the community

thanks! i figured its helpful to show all the sides of these kinds of systems. the mismanagement is important to recognize and overcome. its not always straight lines and straightforward management! The super skinny leaves cassava i got from Sean in HPP and he said it is a yellow variety. Havent eaten it yet. the purple one is a seedling from a friend and it seems more forest tolerant. but we havent tried eating so no idea on quality. hopefully not bitter!

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie I'm growing out some of Ginger John's variety that he sends to Sweet Cane. Sweet, and super vigorous. I have a 1/2 lb of Mombasa seed I just got, if you want it. Like the seed I got from Ko'olau, not a great germination rate, so I start in flats, then pot them up to separate cell trays before transplanting...

@@davidmackenzie1132 his cassava variety? thats interesting! im trialing out a couple of varieties right now to see who likes the rocks the best. no need for the mombasa seed. i finally ordered some yesterday. thanks for the offer though! i did ask about the pack date and it was from this year at least. but im thinking maybe it always has a bad germination rate

do you mean syntropic agroforestry? here is the best compiled resource ive come across for english speakers adam.nz/syntropy in terms of getting a plant list and planting plan, thats a bit more specific to your needs and your area. so its about learning the concept then applying it and learning in your area. or best if you can find a mentor in your area. but agroforestryx can be a beginning help

Thanks jasmine! If I remember correctly I think yall came over before we got into the back forest. Things change quickly! Its all about the density and regular maintenence to maintain enough biomass to cover your area. If you're gonna mess with the super fast growers you gotta work them regularly so you don't fall behind. Sometimes I wish things grew slower haha

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie I know what you mean! Yes you are right, it was not too long after Hakalau that we saw you guys at Julie's. Maybe time for another visit soon!

@@JasminevandenHeuvel come on by!

Thanks! We have a perimeter fence around the lot

Yeah lilikoi can be intense. Most perennial vines are difficult to manage. But its do able with a solid set up and regular management

@@tropicagroforestryspencerjulie yeah I prefer vines like air potato and uhi that die back periodically. Katuk also acts like a vine but isn't too aggressive.

In my opinion after year 3 yam is too aggressive. I haven't found a good way to eat it. So we just leave it as a famine food. But its all over everything right now. Air potato seems much less aggressive. Obviously there's different kinds of yams as well. We have two and they're both crazy. I think there are less aggressive ones around as well

Cush cush yam from the West Indies is easy to eat (no woody fibre) and isn't an agressive plant.

@@charlesbower2876 very cool to know! thanks!

It's been a really hard one to get. I got some from Chester in town. But I've been really searching for more diversity. There's only a couple of people with fruiting trees that I know of.