In Australia, we have drought cycles, over 7 year cycles with a “super drought” every 21 years. The last super drought it didn’t rain for 4 years, the clay that was 400 mm under the surface of the soil turned to fine dust. At 600 mm under the surface, the clay was crumbled dry, at 1 metre, still bone dry. The trees that survived were those with the capacity to “pump” water up over 4 metres to “water” the soil to absorb nutrients.
Geoff Lawton would say: Decrease evaporation [mulch, shade trees (chop/drop beginning and possibly middle of rainy season but leave tall shade trees for dry season), wind breaks] Maximize water capture/storage [swales on contour, plant rows on contour, divert any surrounding running water when it rains onto the property] Prickly pear and banana as “irrigation” is great but less practical/important in my opinion. I agree with another comment posted… drought and dry season have two different definitions.
We use the word "drought" a bit differently in the US. We would use the term "dry season" to describe a predictable annual dry period. A drought is an unexpected dry season.
In our place in Kenya we have a dry season Dec/Jan-Mars/April normally 3-4 months but if it prolongs in to more than that we have a drought. This year for example we had a drought as no major rain happened in 8 months. I do agree with this guys that it's a drought in his place and not a dry season as their annual expected dry season is much less then this years 5 months.
How to contact you? I am starting a 12 acres farm back home in Africa and I would like to incorporate Ernst Gorstch approach along with poultry grazing. Do you offer classes, formation, books? I live in the USA but as I studying this process of farming + a minimal investment in tools and modern agro industrial methods, synthropic agriculture can revolutionize the whole African and sub tropical economies beyond anything even imaginable. My farm will be located in the a few degrees above the equators and, although I am far from being a farmer, I would like to grow plantain, cassava, yams, avocados, orange, and veggies... Etc. How can someone contact you and are you offering courses?
I've been super intrigued by how you guys use bananas for this purpose. Bananas grow very well here with supplemental water even though we only average 33 cm of rain a year. Seems like they could be a very good vehicle for transporting water from areas in a system where it is more available to areas where it is less available.
Are you saying you chop down the bananas half way through the dry season to provide water to the surrounding plants? What do you do with the banana leaves and stump? Do you dig out the corms or let the bananas regrow?
It's OK when done in an abundance of bio diversity. One would choose a variety witch is not the most potent in the oils out of the ones available if you know what I mean
Does anyone have suggestions for a comparable “irrigating” plant (like bananas), but for a Mediterranean climate with some hard freezes? Thank you for the videos!
In Australia, we have drought cycles, over 7 year cycles with a “super drought” every 21 years. The last super drought it didn’t rain for 4 years, the clay that was 400 mm under the surface of the soil turned to fine dust. At 600 mm under the surface, the clay was crumbled dry, at 1 metre, still bone dry. The trees that survived were those with the capacity to “pump” water up over 4 metres to “water” the soil to absorb nutrients.
Geoff Lawton would say:
Decrease evaporation [mulch, shade trees (chop/drop beginning and possibly middle of rainy season but leave tall shade trees for dry season), wind breaks]
Maximize water capture/storage [swales on contour, plant rows on contour, divert any surrounding running water when it rains onto the property]
Prickly pear and banana as “irrigation” is great but less practical/important in my opinion.
I agree with another comment posted… drought and dry season have two different definitions.
We use the word "drought" a bit differently in the US. We would use the term "dry season" to describe a predictable annual dry period. A drought is an unexpected dry season.
In our place in Kenya we have a dry season Dec/Jan-Mars/April normally 3-4 months but if it prolongs in to more than that we have a drought. This year for example we had a drought as no major rain happened in 8 months. I do agree with this guys that it's a drought in his place and not a dry season as their annual expected dry season is much less then this years 5 months.
Great insights!
How to contact you? I am starting a 12 acres farm back home in Africa and I would like to incorporate Ernst Gorstch approach along with poultry grazing. Do you offer classes, formation, books? I live in the USA but as I studying this process of farming + a minimal investment in tools and modern agro industrial methods, synthropic agriculture can revolutionize the whole African and sub tropical economies beyond anything even imaginable.
My farm will be located in the a few degrees above the equators and, although I am far from being a farmer, I would like to grow plantain, cassava, yams, avocados, orange, and veggies... Etc.
How can someone contact you and are you offering courses?
Água se planta!! Awesome job as always guys :)
This is very informative, i'm glad I planted a lot of banana in my 1 hectare property. Thank you.
I've been super intrigued by how you guys use bananas for this purpose. Bananas grow very well here with supplemental water even though we only average 33 cm of rain a year. Seems like they could be a very good vehicle for transporting water from areas in a system where it is more available to areas where it is less available.
check out how we manage them when we bring them down! th-cam.com/video/zLadZYiLN-Q/w-d-xo.html
Thank you guys so much 💚
Are bananas and prickly pear the only "water barrel crops"? Or are there other cool ones I could mix in as well?
Are you saying you chop down the bananas half way through the dry season to provide water to the surrounding plants? What do you do with the banana leaves and stump? Do you dig out the corms or let the bananas regrow?
yes.. and we let them regrow.. check out how we manage the bananas when we prune them..: th-cam.com/video/zLadZYiLN-Q/w-d-xo.html
How do the eucalyptus leaves go when chopped and dropped?
I was told the oils aren’t good for compost/earth worms, love to hear your experience
It's OK when done in an abundance of bio diversity. One would choose a variety witch is not the most potent in the oils out of the ones available if you know what I mean
How many weeks will there be between the banana prune and eucalyptus prune?
I love to prune everything in one go, but this time the eucalyptus just happened to have had the chop not so long ago, so I'll wait another month.
@@AgroforestryAcademy and how many times in a year would a major prune happen?
@@timhills5695 at least twice, going into the rain season and going onto the dry season. I do however often get 2 or more prunes out of a rain season
Does anyone have suggestions for a comparable “irrigating” plant (like bananas), but for a Mediterranean climate with some hard freezes? Thank you for the videos!
Prickly pears..
what is agroforestry? i want to learn this. !
Top !❤