Sean, my 12-year old son put me onto your channel about 7 months ago, as he became deeply interested in permacultural practices. 7 months later we have foraging chickens, a more organized composting practice, water harvesting for ponds, hugel mounds, a high tunnel, and we have tripled our organic garden space, and used woodchips for a variety of purposes including mycellium culturing garden paths. This work has of course made me all the more interested in your channel, which I watch quite a bit. Here is my all important question- after watching you narrate so many of your food gardening practices, I wonder if you catch yourself self-narrating more mundane household activities that may go beyond the purview of your normal material- wiping countertops, folding laundry, putting dishes in cupboards. Does Sasha ever have to rein you in?
So cool to hear about your son getting into all this, so exciting! So far I haven't started narrating the mundane, although some may disagree when watchiing the videos, ha!
Sean, your videos are like balm! I know I've said it before, but your voice is amazing. I imagine you in your old age by the fire reading stories to kids, cats, dogs and other beings, wisely and with so much heart. Thank you for sharing, as always!
I love the way how your place has so many layers and every drop of sunlight gets used by one thing or another. Sure, things end up competing a bit, but I'm sure the overall productivity and biodiversity pays off.
I love these little walk throughs; it feels like I'm right there with you. I can only dream of having the knowledge you possess! I think; that knowledge is just a symptom of your love and passion for horticulture and plants :)
You would be such an interesting neighbor! I have not liked listening to many people for years but you are one of them! You make that cold climate look good man!! Good job
I have thought the same thing. Unless that neighbor is actually growing ailanthus and autumn olive and doesn't prune it before it goes to seed. Then that neighbor has allowed his plants to invade your beautiful woods filled with native walnut, sumac, echinacea, oaks, maples, which will be crowded out in a few years. Local conservation districts are finding stands of ailanthus in undisturbed areas. It's a very dangerous noxious invasive weed.
“Hating plants for trying to grow” and being wary of introducing species to ecosystems they haven’t coevolved with are not the same thing at all… This mindset feels irresponsible for someone with such a platform. Thanks for all the content you’ve posted over the years.
That is a fair way to put it. I actually have a way more complex lens I look through on this but just touched it in a way that was glancing and a bit more dismissive than helpful. I think a video going much deeper into this subject would give it more space to be thoughtful. Thanks for your note.
I've also been surprised to see autumn olive recommended here and on Canadian Permaculture Legacy. I don't feel knowledgeable enough to question it, but I have a friend who works for the Newaygo Conservation District, and he says that autumn olive is so widespread in Michigan that there's no point in trying to control it. It's hopeless. I try to keep up with it on my property in deferral to the invasives list--I figure they know a lot more than I do about it--but sure do listen when I hear it recommended. I guess that was a long way of saying: I'd be interested in hearing more on the topic.
Autumn Olive is nice.... in the right hands and kept under control. Unfortunately, not many people can keep it controlled. I've been to a coal mine in WV where it escaped captivity and invaded an entire 4 acre or more hillside. There is no more native growth in that area. As for Ailanthus, on at least 1 acre of a 12 acre lot near me, it has taken over and all the native staghorn sumac has been forced out of where it was. When we got new neighbors, they didn't keep the fenced in garden that the previous owner had, but they left the fence up. It's now filled with ailanthus. Every week when mowing after the seeds are dropped, there are ailanthus that are 8 inches high that need cut to keep it under control. Ailanthus provides no food for wildlife, it only invades. There are so many other sources of biomass that it is irresponsible to allow the ailanthus to flower and go to seed. Every neighboring property is affected. Also, since the trees grow so fast, they are very weak. This means they break, fall and cause damage very easily. The trees can't be eradicated by cutting down, either. They will then send up hundreds of clones. The only way to kill them is with herbicides poured into a wound or basal painting. I love watching your videos, and respectfully ask you to reconsider allowing the olive and ailanthus to grow, especially the Ailanthus, the tree of hell.
5:00 yeah I used to live in a co-op and there was a problem with an invasive species, mimosa trees were brought to our area because of how they look, but they were rapidly choking out the surrounding areas.
where are the weeds? is mulch the answer, or you spend lots of time pulling? I see lots of diverse mixes on your land, but rarely if ever something you don't want there, like rough grasses and herbacious weeds.
We pull weeds... With enough deep mulch and soil building plants are not hard to pull so that makes it easy as I walk through an area to tug out some grasses, sneak out some dock, etc if I see them happening. I spend time on it for sure, but the beds you see in this video are fast woody perennial dominant nursery beds in year 2. Once they close canopy with some thorough weeding initially they can coast with nearly no work. I'd guess 15 minutes weeding this year.
I've been air layering honeyberries with clear plastic cups at 100% success starting in early spring mine have all rooted well and dozens more already planted out. I stuck pink lady apple cuttings I'm a moist area in spring and a few are branching out so I'll have to try growing pink lady on wild root stock
I really appreciate your unique perspective on "invasive" plants. Creating a healthy balance with all things and not moving to extremes one way or the other seems to be the solution to most, if not all of our problems :)
I have thickets of red buds growing along the sides of my property that I'm intermixing paw paw, hazelnuts and American persimmons into. I like red buds don't get too tall, stand outs in the spring and nitrogen fixing support plants
I recently bought six acres, in western North Carolina, in order to create a permaculture homestead. Initially, I was interested in growing produce and raising livestock to sell at the farmers market. Then I read a couple books about plant cultivation, and I became very interested in that subject. Although I still plan to create a self sustaining permaculture system, my primary focus now will be on establishing a small nursery operation. I feel that this would be quite rewarding; and potentially more profitable. I look forward to watching all of your videos on plant propagation and nursery building. Thanks for all the fantastic information.
Thanks, interesting as always. I know there's a lot of arguing about what exactly constitutes an invasive / non-native / alien plant, so for what it's worth, it seems to me that any plant is welcome as long as it supports existing insect and animal life. If it doesn't, then I think it's potentially harmful to the greater eco-system we live in. As regards Ailanthus, I'm in southern Pennsylvania, and we have a huge problem here with Spotted Lanternfly - and Ailanthus is one of it's preferred habitats, so I do remove them when I see them. SLF is actively harming so many plants here - aside from commercially grown crops I see them damaging Black Walnut, Cardoons, and Stinging Nettle in my garden.
I could imagine that being challenging. Certainly wouldn't say every single plant everywhere is always good :) That said, I wonder what is happening in the ecosystem that allows/facilitates the SLF. Abused ecosystems? Lack of predators? I wonder what other adjustments can happen to support a balance with them. That said, super clear Tree of Heaven wouldn't be a plant to add in your region!
I'm in SW PA. The ailanthus has taken over native stands of staghorn sumac. I just went on a walk with a hatchet and a spray bottle of weed killer to spray in the wounds. I hate herbicides, but they're the only way to kill these trees.
@@edibleacres according to the USDA, SLF was first found in North America in 2014, in Pennsylvania. It is believed to have arrived on shipments of stone from China. Since then, SLF has been detected in 11 eastern states (Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia)." Looking at the comment below, from Samanda, I don't know how else we could deal with it, but I have to think there must be a better means than herbicides killing Ailanthus. I don't know though.
@@colinmcgee5931 Sadly there are not; cutting to ground just results in tons of clones. It’s even worse because the plant itself puts toxin (ailanthone) into the soil that impinges native growth, helping it to outcompete.
Love your honesty about your potential income. I feel many people won't realize that this won't be your profit as your time and expenses need to be taken into consideration collecting your organic matter for example. Even experiments you do and share with us. Everything has a cost in life the good and the bad. Well done Sean and Sasha.
@@edibleacres a labour of love can never be measured. I grew up in a home where my parents were self employed so I understand that you put your soul into what you do, for that I am personally very grateful as your genuine passion is 1 of the main reasons that I choose to watch your videos over others.
ailanthus is beautiful and a tenacious bugger if i have ever seen one...we pollard them several times a season to use as mulch because we learned that cutting them at the ground or trying to pull them just stimulates root suckers...it is also not bad fast growing firewood if you let it get bigger, but when it makes seed watch out!
In our region it is less likely to be a huge seed load producer, but clearly I have no intention of selling or sending these particular plants out into the community to learn.
Ha I like how you try to keep things organized at the same time you like seeing as much growing as possible. Red buds grow fast I have them growing like weeds around my property
Excellent as always. Wondering gour thoughts on redbud trees as a natural hedge between lots? We have a wet heavy clay soils and conifers dont do well. River birch and redbuds taking off have amended border beds with mulch and compost.
I get so much great info from your vids, thank you! I've seen where people quench their finished hot biochar with water to frack open even more pores in it as the steam is driven into it. .even better is to add sea salt in the water that drives the minerals and micronutrients from the sea into the char. Surf and turf.🤪💕 PS: The garlic from you guys is sleeping soundly out back in NH under my mulched snow covered raised beds, so exciting to wait for that come Spring. It was the biggest healthiest garlic of any I ordered, really high quality stuff.
Do you sell to landscapers (I know you sell to the public with a website)? I'm encouraged with this video as I want to start up a small plant nursery. Husband & I are on 1.34 acre. We're trying to clear raw land (I plan on keeping small trees I can to re-plant back into the property). I want to focus on local natives & drought tolerant but would like to experiment with plants/trees. So, thanks for the videos, I truly am so grateful for the content. 🙂
Any advice on an adorable yet hungry groundhog? Its at the community garden so that limits some of what we can do. It is eating all the leaves on our squash plants.
I have to admit that I found large animal skirt guards along my shed is the only thing that has worked - that's where they always lived and now they can't access it. It turns out nothing else in my garden area is convenient enough for them to bother, which is very nice. If you can locate their favorite place to hang out, you might be able to have similar results.
We are right behind a heavily wooded area we like to walk for forage from time to time and the Autumn Olive is growing like crazy but those places are the only places we've found wild Blackberry. I think they are growing quite well with the native trees. Now the Honey Suckle ... thats another story. Where it grows hardly anything else grows with it. Hickory doesnt seem to mind it though.
Story time. We had a huge tree of heaven near our garden plot and yes you are right they are absolutely beautiful. They have a wonderful way about them almost as beautiful as the Kentucky coffee tree in a winter day. The main point was man we had trees of heaven popping up in every corner of our yard especially when we finally did the deed and cut it down we had the roots coming up everywhere and I had to pull pull pull till it finally was all gone. Yes that was a hugeeee amount of biomass but the one take away nobody seems to get is the smell. The tree when you break it leaves one heck of a stench on your skin like I can’t harvest anything after I touch it because it transfers I suppose if you know this then you can harness it’s potential and use it for good cause the growth on it is unmatched. I left a bit of logs and they decompose quick and also leave homes for solitary bees invasives can be a blessing
This video was very inspiring also for someone like me still needing to find space to start a nursery for producing medicinal productive planting all I need it a little area and the trees will do grand for the time being thanks plant man. I hope to see you doing some boxing or marshal arts in the future just defending the trees like the mighty Lorax!!!
Do you shred your leaves for composting or just use as is? I’ve had a maple trees get tar spots. Some have said it’s likely because I composted leaves at their bases. Maybe my compost balance was off… Any thoughts?
Sean, please do some research on the damage invasive species can do to local native habitats. I love your channel, but that Autumn Olive will likely persist in that area and spread long after you're gone. They can displace or crowd out native species that would be habitat for other insects/animals, and spread uncontrollably.
I have been working with and watching closely our Autumn Olive friends in various landscapes. Absolutely have watched them be pretty darn dominant in some landscapes, but only in areas that have been stripped down or super hurt somehow... Beat hay fields, chem based annual ag, road sides, machined and cut ditches, etc. I haven't seen them really displace healthy, balanced, stable ecosystems. That all said, we grow them, we love them, but we do not sell them.
Not planned... Some was transplanting small plants to size up, some was cast seed, a few were cuttings, some were leftovers I forgot to dig out before!
Enjoyed the video very much. I started growing KCT a couple years ago. Did you scarify the seeds at all before tossing them down? I've had little success with the boiling water method but great results with nicking and soaking them for 24 hours. With Autumn Olive, empty fields around here are filled with them. All along roads and wherever there is a gap. Like others, that's my issue with the invasive species. It would be great if there was management of land at all times but in reality these species have various advantages for growth and spread that natives haven't needed and get pushed out of the landscape. You can't spit without hitting a callery pear seedling it feels like.
Could you give corrections if needed?….. was that first tree called.. cena?? And what is the name of the red bush that your service berry grows under? I Love how you let Mother Nature do her thing!!!! I’m in high dry desert area USA 🇺🇸. Have planted 60+ trees & would like to spread out. Mother Nature is amazing!!!!
Senna, not sure which species exactly though. The red plant is Shiso (Perilla frutescens), an herb in the mint family that's popular in Japan. Hard to describe the taste of shiso, but it goes good with rich and savory flavors so its often used in sushi rolls.
Correction, he did mention the species of Senna, its Senna hebecarpa. Other plants mentioned are Northern Pecan (Carya illinoinensis), Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus), Butternut (Juglans cinerea), Honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea), Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata), some species of Serviceberry (Amelanchier), and also Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). The Ailanthus is absurdly invasive, especially in warmer climates like California, it grows very quickly and has poor quality wood so it is very prone to breakage.
@@majorpecan2526 I’ll have to look up ailanthus (?) …. Hot summers here & Freezing winters. I literally live on sand … 1.5 acres of it ROFL 😂. If it grows I plant it 😉 Thanks for the list. Have a great day 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
We have a decent amount of forest-ey areas but so much of it is covered in English ivy, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, and wild grapevine. How do you view or combat those? They’re just smothering everything and creeping closer to the house. Aside from the fact that I’m extremely sensitive to poison ivy.
do you have any recommendations for any perennial nursery crops that can be started in mid to late summer that can be sold in the spring? i'm in 8a, so still have a few months of growing season to go!
Hmm... That is a short window. Maybe stooling existing shrubs of value now so you can divide and pot up / sell in the spring? Personally I'd focus on building beds and soil quality now so that next year can be even more productive. I try to think about the long game.
@@edibleacres thanks for sharing your wisdom. i've noticed that this line of work and stewardship has me thinking of my time, the life of plants and the seasons in a remarkably different and patient way. how fantastic :)
I will take an autumn olive over Amur Honeysuckle any day of the week. I just fed (mulched)my front yard garden with "invasives" My autumn bearing rasberries, my hardy orange tree,and my siberian pea shrub will be fed with the fallen bodies of daylilies ,boxes elder, comfrey , mulberry and tree of heaven.
A note on tree of heaven. To their credit, they grow super fast and could build a bunch of biomass. Apart from that, the amount of seeds and suckering ability are slightly concerning. I’m learning how to become more inviting of fellow invasive species.
I’ve been trying very hard to shift my attitude to bindweed (it’s totally endemic in my area so let’s face it, it’s not going anywhere and I don’t want to feel stressed every time I see some growing, so it’s for my own mental health!) I recently saw a long tongue bumblebee enjoying the flowers (I made a video of it on Instagram) and the flowers are in fact very beautiful. I believe the foliage supports some moths. Apart from that the main yield for me is biomass (chickens won’t eat it, doh) I pull it where I see it coming up and drop it, and I have some brush piles that are covered with it - they are future hugel mounds so when it dies in autumn that biomass will be added to the pile without me having to do anything 👍 I will eventually add soil and then I will cover the mound for a season or two with cardboard, in my experience this clears the bindweed almost completely. Or at least reduces it to manageable levels. I recently talked to my allotment neighbour who was so worried by the sight of bindweed on their plot they started spraying with roundup ☹️ They are new and they felt really anxious and threatened by how quickly it was spreading over their wood chipped area. I showed them that once they find the root, it’s super easy to pull up and clears a large area with one motion! Very satisfying in fact. The root comes out super easily from deeply mulched soil 👍
You may be well served to do some deeper research into bindweed as a strong plant indicator of Calcium deficiency in the soil. We have some areas that had it really bad but with enough rich compost from our chicken yard and a focus on moving up into succession with shrubs and such the presence has dimmed back to a background noise we can easily manage a few times a season. If you search on that connection you may find some info of value...
@@edibleacres I was was thinking about the link between soil deficiencies and "weeds" the other day. I am sure there is tons of info out there on it . Do y'all have any videos on this. I would definitely be interested, with so many chores (I'm supposed to be collecting eggs now😁) of course i can squeeze in time for an EdibleAcres moment. so time consuming for me to find good articles or a videos I can actually sit through. I really appreciate the work yall do. I also wanted to give a big thank you for your chicken dispatch video. As vegetarian farmers we promised to carry on the family tradition of also stewarding chickens. For compost, bug management, and more recently to supplement our dogs/cats diet. Peace and blessings.🌱
@@edibleacres thank you very much, I will do some reading. It makes sense as there’s a lot less bindweed on my original plot that’s now in its fifth season of being mulched with compost, wood chip etc. As I’m growing on an allotment site with a strong culture of tilling the clay soil, bindweed gets constantly propagated all over the place and will keep trying to come back in from other plots and wild areas. So I’m learning to live with it 👍
Loved seeing this garden area, I have a similar space. In recent years, to my great dismay, poison ivy has established itself. Do you have this invasive plant?...And, do you see any redeeming qualities in having poison ivy in the garden? How do you suggest dealing with it? I’m very allergic and I’ve been advised by a landscape architect that this is one time chemical warfare is employed, but I don’t like that option.
I don't think chemicals are the way to go.. i wonder if you can hire someone who is not reactive to it to come in with gloves and digging tools and work it out as thoroughly as possible. Maybe focus on mulches, compost, etc to bring up soil health as well.
Seems the key to growing invasive plants is diligent attention and management to preventing the plants reseeding (by wind or bird drops) into other types of wild, unmanaged environments like native forests where the resilient and fast-growing invasives cause the harm by outcompeting with the native plants. The native plants have a long-established relationship feeding the wildlife. The alien invasive plants do not. I start thinking about the wildlife that rely on all the biodiversity of native plants that lose their habitat when invasive plants escape into the unmanaged, diligently uncared-for areas. I love the poetry of the native/non-native comparison of plants to humans. I consider humans both helpful and invasive. The detriment with “exotic invasives” escaping into unmanaged wild places are the compounding effects of loss of biodiversity and food and shelter for local wildlife. An autumn olive can provide nectar/pollen for pollinators and a berry for birds and mammals but when it displaces plants that are hosts to 50-400 species of insects and caterpillars for birds to feed their nestlings with, there’s no comparison. I believe humans can figure this out with an emphasis on a lifestyle based in active stewardship rather than regulation and punishment. Requires a complete restructuring of conventional quotidian belief systems. Great video!
Lots of good complexity and nuance in these words, much appreciated. The pattern I see quite often is that the areas where people observe 'invasives' taking over are quite often thoroughly degraded and abused spaces. Areas that are less likely to host a rich and complex matrix of the native beings that once were there. Not always, but quite often. I see them through the lens not of some 'invading' army 'taking over' but more like emergency first responders, tent cities after massive floods, earthquakes, fires, tillage, extraction, mining. Rushing in as scab and scar tissue and staying for a while (too long? what is long?). They are allies quite often, not always, but quite often. It makes sense that a colonizer/imperial/extractive culture would wrap their behavior with the language and the 'battle' 'against' them that they do. Could it be in part that those folks feel they should be able to control every aspect of the natural world and these plants buck that ability when intimate management isn't practiced? All so complex, and the reductive binary just lubricates empire as it always does, so worth really stepping back from.
@@edibleacres yes agree 100% and “the scientists” ... not exactly the last word on accurate portrayal of reality, are they, as we are witnessing with such great harm currently, yet our unquestioning obeisance is demanded with great consequences to come if we do and if we don’t. There is much that is old story/empire/colonizer maladaptiveness with the way research and science is done that even brings us the news of the habitat/ecological change afoot. Since the science stems from money and the money isn’t there for long term nuanced observation, all research is short term and hampered by all kinds of bias. Anyway, huge conversation. Would love to hear a podcast discussing these issues. Like you on the In Defense of Plants podcast or you and Akiva and Sasha taking on this subject and going deep, a-wandering. 🧡 my ex has a long running long form interview podcast, The C-Realm. I was a producer and participant a lot during our time together. Many a deep conversation wandering about how things could be and how they actually are, to the best of our tiny, biased perceptions.
Having seen what autumn olive does to the plants that our native pollinators rely on in the wild (choke them out) that's the only thing i really disagree with you about. They're more like colonizers like my ancestors - displacing the original residents to take for themselves. It's fine in a garden but the birds take it where it should not go and that can't be avoided.
I don't think I would characterize them that way at all. When they do start to choke out an area they are amazing chop and drop mulch to feed other plants. Interaction with them can easily manage their expansiveness, and I've seen hugely diverse flying insects get value from their nectar flow... Mason bees and all. Great ally along with natives when managed I've found.
@@edibleacres Ecologists, scientists, specialists, and lawmakers do. What happens when they get into the woods that you don't manage because the birds go where you don't? No one can control every seed where it lands and that's when it over takes forest undergrowth. Frankly it's already too late for the first 40 miles radius around your farm minimum. The reason it's illegal to sell is to keep that from spreading further to keep areas that do still have native plants that so many of our insects co-evolved with so closely that they can't reproduce without that specific plant from being reduced further. (Joepie, catawpa, and many others have insect correlations just like monarchs and milkweed do.)
Its called active management. The natives here before you actively managed every acre of land on this continent. The junk scientists dont understand that the problem is simply that there shouldnt be any wild spaces as you know it. Eradicate colonial patterns and non of these « invasives » are invasive any more- the true root cause.
@@CliffsidePermaculture While I do agree with this for most invasive species, I think regionally autumn olive is quite passive. In New England, for example, while it can be invasive in some depleted farmlands, roadsides, and particularly post-industrial lands, it is largely incapable of growing in truly wild areas, and I certainly never see them entering the woods here. I certainly understand there is nuance to its behavior based on distribution, as I have heard it is quite terrible in parts of the mid-west. The aggressiveness of autumn olive in a garden setting, to me, makes it preferable over more sensitive non-native plantings because it is able to fruit prodigiously despite growing in close competition with other wild plants (such as native species,) thereby not requiring much weeding. Other non-native fruit crops such as cultivated strawberries I think are worse in some ways, because they require much more intensive land management that does not leave as much room for native flora.
Regarding some of the comments about “invasive species”… it’s a tricky subject to tackle. My perspective is that we humans tend to view things on the scale of a human life (decades). Nature works on the scale of centuries and millennia. I have a very basic knowledge of natural history, mostly from watching TH-cam videos, but it seems to be full of instances of “invasive species” changing the landscape- for better or worse, who can say? When the first trees showed up on the planet (however many) years ago, the environment was in a state that would be toxic to life as we know it today. Over many many years, early plant life transformed the environment by converting CO2 and other atmospheric gasses into water and oxygen. I’m sure that at the time, the life forms that came before these early plants would have considered them to be “invasive”. My point is that life is life, and it tends to find a way. Maybe I’m rambling, maybe someone here will catch my drift.
don't you need to graft pecans to actually get proper cross pollination and sizable nuts? my research indicates that seedling pecans will produce very small nuts.
Most of the invasives I see are other folks like me from places other than here. Definitely don't want to spray poison on all the people I see, hoping there are lovely attributes I just don't know about them yet!
I know autumn olive gets a bad rap but I really don’t see how a plant that provides edible berries for us as well as fodder for wildlife all while fixing nitrogen is really a bad thing…. But then again 2 acres of grass and no trees is considered a good look 👀🤷♂️
Autumn Olive is hard to control and suppress. I think that attribute can be infuriating for people when they believe they should have final say in where nature heads. We see them be expansive in areas that have been intensely abused by human activity in the last 10-20 years. Other contexts don't seem compelling to them.
@@edibleacres I guess I haven’t seen the invasion yet as I just planted it in March last year. I’m actually rooting for the suckers though so I can dig up and move them to other areas that need some serious repairing!
Normally quite fond of your super chill attitude towards everything but real letdown to hear you take that same attitude towards invasive species. Sure, you might be able to control your own plants but critters will and do aid in propagation whether you want it. What a shame :(
I look forward to doing a video that is a deeper dive into this topic. The binary of 'invasive' vs. 'native' misses a massive amount of nuance. Follow the money on most invasives research, and it goes back to huge herbicide companies quite a bit. We may have a more complex set of functional allies to work with in the plant and animal world than we're told by science. Not saying every plant is amazing everywhere, but I can think of at least 5-10 lovely attributes of some of the most hated plants.
@@edibleacres I’d be very interested in that video! I agree with you on the money trail. I also agree that it is not the plants fault. But I also think I would stay away from many of them in my own yard. What makes autumn olive a better nitrogen fixer than others?
Giving invasives a “chance” is unfortunate advice to give. All your content is great but I’ve noticed the pattern of justifying, or even promoting the use of invasive and illegal plants suggesting their benefit outweighs the negatives . Perhaps if you involved yourself in your local nature preserves volunteer programs , or educational programs you might have a change of thought. Coming from someone who actively sees and has to deal with the damage they cause I just ask you learn more about that issue.
Sean, my 12-year old son put me onto your channel about 7 months ago, as he became deeply interested in permacultural practices. 7 months later we have foraging chickens, a more organized composting practice, water harvesting for ponds, hugel mounds, a high tunnel, and we have tripled our organic garden space, and used woodchips for a variety of purposes including mycellium culturing garden paths. This work has of course made me all the more interested in your channel, which I watch quite a bit. Here is my all important question- after watching you narrate so many of your food gardening practices, I wonder if you catch yourself self-narrating more mundane household activities that may go beyond the purview of your normal material- wiping countertops, folding laundry, putting dishes in cupboards. Does Sasha ever have to rein you in?
So cool to hear about your son getting into all this, so exciting! So far I haven't started narrating the mundane, although some may disagree when watchiing the videos, ha!
Sean, your videos are like balm! I know I've said it before, but your voice is amazing. I imagine you in your old age by the fire reading stories to kids, cats, dogs and other beings, wisely and with so much heart. Thank you for sharing, as always!
I love the way how your place has so many layers and every drop of sunlight gets used by one thing or another. Sure, things end up competing a bit, but I'm sure the overall productivity and biodiversity pays off.
I love these little walk throughs; it feels like I'm right there with you. I can only dream of having the knowledge you possess! I think; that knowledge is just a symptom of your love and passion for horticulture and plants :)
You would be such an interesting neighbor! I have not liked listening to many people for years but you are one of them! You make that cold climate look good man!! Good job
I have thought the same thing. Unless that neighbor is actually growing ailanthus and autumn olive and doesn't prune it before it goes to seed. Then that neighbor has allowed his plants to invade your beautiful woods filled with native walnut, sumac, echinacea, oaks, maples, which will be crowded out in a few years.
Local conservation districts are finding stands of ailanthus in undisturbed areas. It's a very dangerous noxious invasive weed.
“Hating plants for trying to grow” and being wary of introducing species to ecosystems they haven’t coevolved with are not the same thing at all… This mindset feels irresponsible for someone with such a platform. Thanks for all the content you’ve posted over the years.
That is a fair way to put it. I actually have a way more complex lens I look through on this but just touched it in a way that was glancing and a bit more dismissive than helpful. I think a video going much deeper into this subject would give it more space to be thoughtful. Thanks for your note.
@@edibleacres I’d love to see that. Thanks for your thoughtful response.
I've also been surprised to see autumn olive recommended here and on Canadian Permaculture Legacy. I don't feel knowledgeable enough to question it, but I have a friend who works for the Newaygo Conservation District, and he says that autumn olive is so widespread in Michigan that there's no point in trying to control it. It's hopeless. I try to keep up with it on my property in deferral to the invasives list--I figure they know a lot more than I do about it--but sure do listen when I hear it recommended. I guess that was a long way of saying: I'd be interested in hearing more on the topic.
Autumn Olive is nice.... in the right hands and kept under control. Unfortunately, not many people can keep it controlled. I've been to a coal mine in WV where it escaped captivity and invaded an entire 4 acre or more hillside. There is no more native growth in that area.
As for Ailanthus, on at least 1 acre of a 12 acre lot near me, it has taken over and all the native staghorn sumac has been forced out of where it was.
When we got new neighbors, they didn't keep the fenced in garden that the previous owner had, but they left the fence up. It's now filled with ailanthus. Every week when mowing after the seeds are dropped, there are ailanthus that are 8 inches high that need cut to keep it under control.
Ailanthus provides no food for wildlife, it only invades. There are so many other sources of biomass that it is irresponsible to allow the ailanthus to flower and go to seed. Every neighboring property is affected. Also, since the trees grow so fast, they are very weak. This means they break, fall and cause damage very easily. The trees can't be eradicated by cutting down, either. They will then send up hundreds of clones. The only way to kill them is with herbicides poured into a wound or basal painting.
I love watching your videos, and respectfully ask you to reconsider allowing the olive and ailanthus to grow, especially the Ailanthus, the tree of hell.
I love your garden. Keep up the good work. It's beautiful.
5:00 yeah I used to live in a co-op and there was a problem with an invasive species, mimosa trees were brought to our area because of how they look, but they were rapidly choking out the surrounding areas.
Invasives make the best mulch
where are the weeds? is mulch the answer, or you spend lots of time pulling? I see lots of diverse mixes on your land, but rarely if ever something you don't want there, like rough grasses and herbacious weeds.
We pull weeds... With enough deep mulch and soil building plants are not hard to pull so that makes it easy as I walk through an area to tug out some grasses, sneak out some dock, etc if I see them happening. I spend time on it for sure, but the beds you see in this video are fast woody perennial dominant nursery beds in year 2. Once they close canopy with some thorough weeding initially they can coast with nearly no work. I'd guess 15 minutes weeding this year.
Love it when you put out these types of discussions. Thanks for sharing!
Me too!
Love it, thanks for the refreshing perspective and inspiration!
I've been air layering honeyberries with clear plastic cups at 100% success starting in early spring mine have all rooted well and dozens more already planted out. I stuck pink lady apple cuttings I'm a moist area in spring and a few are branching out so I'll have to try growing pink lady on wild root stock
Good for you! Sounds super promising.
I saw tulip poplar. They have beautiful flowers.
I really appreciate your unique perspective on "invasive" plants. Creating a healthy balance with all things and not moving to extremes one way or the other seems to be the solution to most, if not all of our problems :)
Indeed!
Awesome. Thanks for pulling and stroking things as you go along, it really helps with recognising and getting to know the different friends. :)
You are so knowledgeable, I learn every time I watch one of your videos 😎
Looks beautiful. I love nature and diversity ❤
this one of my favorite channels.
I wish my " messes " were as resilient as yours! Love you guys channel, thanks for all the great content!
"Plant centric model of income" 🙂
That would be nice!
Yeah, isn't that wonderfully put?
I have thickets of red buds growing along the sides of my property that I'm intermixing paw paw, hazelnuts and American persimmons into. I like red buds don't get too tall, stand outs in the spring and nitrogen fixing support plants
They are lovely support plants for sure.
Looks beautiful to me!
I recently bought six acres, in western North Carolina, in order to create a permaculture homestead. Initially, I was interested in growing produce and raising livestock to sell at the farmers market. Then I read a couple books about plant cultivation, and I became very interested in that subject.
Although I still plan to create a self sustaining permaculture system, my primary focus now will be on establishing a small nursery operation. I feel that this would be quite rewarding; and potentially more profitable.
I look forward to watching all of your videos on plant propagation and nursery building. Thanks for all the fantastic information.
Best of luck with your new wonderful adventure!
@@edibleacres Thank you sir.
Thanks, interesting as always.
I know there's a lot of arguing about what exactly constitutes an invasive / non-native / alien plant, so for what it's worth, it seems to me that any plant is welcome as long as it supports existing insect and animal life. If it doesn't, then I think it's potentially harmful to the greater eco-system we live in.
As regards Ailanthus, I'm in southern Pennsylvania, and we have a huge problem here with Spotted Lanternfly - and Ailanthus is one of it's preferred habitats, so I do remove them when I see them. SLF is actively harming so many plants here - aside from commercially grown crops I see them damaging Black Walnut, Cardoons, and Stinging Nettle in my garden.
I could imagine that being challenging. Certainly wouldn't say every single plant everywhere is always good :)
That said, I wonder what is happening in the ecosystem that allows/facilitates the SLF. Abused ecosystems? Lack of predators? I wonder what other adjustments can happen to support a balance with them. That said, super clear Tree of Heaven wouldn't be a plant to add in your region!
I'm in SW PA. The ailanthus has taken over native stands of staghorn sumac. I just went on a walk with a hatchet and a spray bottle of weed killer to spray in the wounds.
I hate herbicides, but they're the only way to kill these trees.
@@edibleacres according to the USDA, SLF was first found in North America in 2014, in Pennsylvania. It is believed to have arrived on shipments of stone from China. Since then, SLF has been detected in 11 eastern states (Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia)."
Looking at the comment below, from Samanda, I don't know how else we could deal with it, but I have to think there must be a better means than herbicides killing Ailanthus. I don't know though.
@@colinmcgee5931 Sadly there are not; cutting to ground just results in tons of clones. It’s even worse because the plant itself puts toxin (ailanthone) into the soil that impinges native growth, helping it to outcompete.
Very inspiring, as always. 🌱🌳🌲👍
Love your honesty about your potential income. I feel many people won't realize that this won't be your profit as your time and expenses need to be taken into consideration collecting your organic matter for example. Even experiments you do and share with us. Everything has a cost in life the good and the bad. Well done Sean and Sasha.
We never calculate our actual time working otherwise it would be crushing to know what we earn an hour!
@@edibleacres a labour of love can never be measured.
I grew up in a home where my parents were self employed so I understand that you put your soul into what you do, for that I am personally very grateful as your genuine passion is 1 of the main reasons that I choose to watch your videos over others.
I can say that ailanthus makes a great chop and drop biomass tree. Never gets a chance to flower and seed but always rebounds from a cutting.
Good to know
ailanthus is beautiful and a tenacious bugger if i have ever seen one...we pollard them several times a season to use as mulch because we learned that cutting them at the ground or trying to pull them just stimulates root suckers...it is also not bad fast growing firewood if you let it get bigger, but when it makes seed watch out!
In our region it is less likely to be a huge seed load producer, but clearly I have no intention of selling or sending these particular plants out into the community to learn.
Ha I like how you try to keep things organized at the same time you like seeing as much growing as possible. Red buds grow fast I have them growing like weeds around my property
Do you have devils walking stick? Very interesting plant
The "wild" videos are my favorite ones :)
Excellent as always. Wondering gour thoughts on redbud trees as a natural hedge between lots? We have a wet heavy clay soils and conifers dont do well. River birch and redbuds taking off have amended border beds with mulch and compost.
They would be an amazing element in a border.
I get so much great info from your vids, thank you! I've seen where people quench their finished hot biochar with water to frack open even more pores in it as the steam is driven into it. .even better is to add sea salt in the water that drives the minerals and micronutrients from the sea into the char. Surf and turf.🤪💕 PS: The garlic from you guys is sleeping soundly out back in NH under my mulched snow covered raised beds, so exciting to wait for that come Spring. It was the biggest healthiest garlic of any I ordered, really high quality stuff.
Neat notes here, thank you. Glad to know our garlic friends are tucked in at your land.
Do you sell to landscapers (I know you sell to the public with a website)? I'm encouraged with this video as I want to start up a small plant nursery. Husband & I are on 1.34 acre. We're trying to clear raw land (I plan on keeping small trees I can to re-plant back into the property). I want to focus on local natives & drought tolerant but would like to experiment with plants/trees. So, thanks for the videos, I truly am so grateful for the content. 🙂
We sell to landscapers sometimes, but mainly individuals.
Any advice on an adorable yet hungry groundhog? Its at the community garden so that limits some of what we can do. It is eating all the leaves on our squash plants.
I have to admit that I found large animal skirt guards along my shed is the only thing that has worked - that's where they always lived and now they can't access it. It turns out nothing else in my garden area is convenient enough for them to bother, which is very nice. If you can locate their favorite place to hang out, you might be able to have similar results.
We are right behind a heavily wooded area we like to walk for forage from time to time and the Autumn Olive is growing like crazy but those places are the only places we've found wild Blackberry. I think they are growing quite well with the native trees. Now the Honey Suckle ... thats another story. Where it grows hardly anything else grows with it. Hickory doesnt seem to mind it though.
Honey suckle is a tough plant to be sure.
Story time. We had a huge tree of heaven near our garden plot and yes you are right they are absolutely beautiful. They have a wonderful way about them almost as beautiful as the Kentucky coffee tree in a winter day. The main point was man we had trees of heaven popping up in every corner of our yard especially when we finally did the deed and cut it down we had the roots coming up everywhere and I had to pull pull pull till it finally was all gone. Yes that was a hugeeee amount of biomass but the one take away nobody seems to get is the smell. The tree when you break it leaves one heck of a stench on your skin like I can’t harvest anything after I touch it because it transfers I suppose if you know this then you can harness it’s potential and use it for good cause the growth on it is unmatched. I left a bit of logs and they decompose quick and also leave homes for solitary bees invasives can be a blessing
This video was very inspiring also for someone like me still needing to find space to start a nursery for producing medicinal productive planting all I need it a little area and the trees will do grand for the time being thanks plant man. I hope to see you doing some boxing or marshal arts in the future just defending the trees like the mighty Lorax!!!
Gotta throw some cold hardy figs into the mix right at the very edge of that driveway/soil border !
Good note, there is a little space on that edge, and it's a nice warm microclimate!
Do you shred your leaves for composting or just use as is? I’ve had a maple trees get tar spots. Some have said it’s likely because I composted leaves at their bases. Maybe my compost balance was off… Any thoughts?
No shredding, just cut with pruners and drop.
Sean, please do some research on the damage invasive species can do to local native habitats. I love your channel, but that Autumn Olive will likely persist in that area and spread long after you're gone.
They can displace or crowd out native species that would be habitat for other insects/animals, and spread uncontrollably.
I have been working with and watching closely our Autumn Olive friends in various landscapes. Absolutely have watched them be pretty darn dominant in some landscapes, but only in areas that have been stripped down or super hurt somehow... Beat hay fields, chem based annual ag, road sides, machined and cut ditches, etc. I haven't seen them really displace healthy, balanced, stable ecosystems. That all said, we grow them, we love them, but we do not sell them.
This is amazing! I love it
How did it started? Seed mixes, intentional planting, all of it? I know you planted some and sow some, but was it planned?
Not planned... Some was transplanting small plants to size up, some was cast seed, a few were cuttings, some were leftovers I forgot to dig out before!
Oh I wish I was closer to buy trees!
Enjoyed the video very much. I started growing KCT a couple years ago. Did you scarify the seeds at all before tossing them down? I've had little success with the boiling water method but great results with nicking and soaking them for 24 hours.
With Autumn Olive, empty fields around here are filled with them. All along roads and wherever there is a gap. Like others, that's my issue with the invasive species. It would be great if there was management of land at all times but in reality these species have various advantages for growth and spread that natives haven't needed and get pushed out of the landscape. You can't spit without hitting a callery pear seedling it feels like.
Could you give corrections if needed?….. was that first tree called.. cena?? And what is the name of the red bush that your service berry grows under? I Love how you let Mother Nature do her thing!!!! I’m in high dry desert area USA 🇺🇸. Have planted 60+ trees & would like to spread out.
Mother Nature is amazing!!!!
Senna, not sure which species exactly though. The red plant is Shiso (Perilla frutescens), an herb in the mint family that's popular in Japan. Hard to describe the taste of shiso, but it goes good with rich and savory flavors so its often used in sushi rolls.
Correction, he did mention the species of Senna, its Senna hebecarpa. Other plants mentioned are Northern Pecan (Carya illinoinensis), Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus), Butternut (Juglans cinerea), Honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea), Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellata), Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata), some species of Serviceberry (Amelanchier), and also Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). The Ailanthus is absurdly invasive, especially in warmer climates like California, it grows very quickly and has poor quality wood so it is very prone to breakage.
@@majorpecan2526 thank you👍
@@majorpecan2526 I’ll have to look up ailanthus (?) …. Hot summers here & Freezing winters. I literally live on sand … 1.5 acres of it ROFL 😂. If it grows I plant it 😉
Thanks for the list. Have a great day 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
I can't find the Kentucky coffee plant online. Is there another name for it?
Gymnocladus dioicus
We have a decent amount of forest-ey areas but so much of it is covered in English ivy, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, and wild grapevine. How do you view or combat those? They’re just smothering everything and creeping closer to the house. Aside from the fact that I’m extremely sensitive to poison ivy.
That is a super complex and challenging situation to work with. I don't have any easy answers for you.
do you have any recommendations for any perennial nursery crops that can be started in mid to late summer that can be sold in the spring? i'm in 8a, so still have a few months of growing season to go!
Hmm... That is a short window. Maybe stooling existing shrubs of value now so you can divide and pot up / sell in the spring? Personally I'd focus on building beds and soil quality now so that next year can be even more productive. I try to think about the long game.
@@edibleacres thanks for sharing your wisdom. i've noticed that this line of work and stewardship has me thinking of my time, the life of plants and the seasons in a remarkably different and patient way. how fantastic :)
I will take an autumn olive over Amur Honeysuckle any day of the week.
I just fed (mulched)my front yard garden with "invasives"
My autumn bearing rasberries, my hardy orange tree,and my siberian pea shrub will be fed with the fallen bodies of daylilies ,boxes elder, comfrey , mulberry and tree of heaven.
All one huge nutrient loop.
A note on tree of heaven.
To their credit, they grow super fast and could build a bunch of biomass. Apart from that, the amount of seeds and suckering ability are slightly concerning. I’m learning how to become more inviting of fellow invasive species.
When u figure out something good about bindweed let me know........its beyond horrible....
I’ve been trying very hard to shift my attitude to bindweed (it’s totally endemic in my area so let’s face it, it’s not going anywhere and I don’t want to feel stressed every time I see some growing, so it’s for my own mental health!) I recently saw a long tongue bumblebee enjoying the flowers (I made a video of it on Instagram) and the flowers are in fact very beautiful. I believe the foliage supports some moths. Apart from that the main yield for me is biomass (chickens won’t eat it, doh) I pull it where I see it coming up and drop it, and I have some brush piles that are covered with it - they are future hugel mounds so when it dies in autumn that biomass will be added to the pile without me having to do anything 👍 I will eventually add soil and then I will cover the mound for a season or two with cardboard, in my experience this clears the bindweed almost completely. Or at least reduces it to manageable levels. I recently talked to my allotment neighbour who was so worried by the sight of bindweed on their plot they started spraying with roundup ☹️ They are new and they felt really anxious and threatened by how quickly it was spreading over their wood chipped area. I showed them that once they find the root, it’s super easy to pull up and clears a large area with one motion! Very satisfying in fact. The root comes out super easily from deeply mulched soil 👍
You may be well served to do some deeper research into bindweed as a strong plant indicator of Calcium deficiency in the soil. We have some areas that had it really bad but with enough rich compost from our chicken yard and a focus on moving up into succession with shrubs and such the presence has dimmed back to a background noise we can easily manage a few times a season. If you search on that connection you may find some info of value...
@@edibleacres I was was thinking about the link between soil deficiencies and "weeds" the other day. I am sure there is tons of info out there on it . Do y'all have any videos on this. I would definitely be interested, with so many chores (I'm supposed to be collecting eggs now😁) of course i can squeeze in time for an EdibleAcres moment. so time consuming for me to find good articles or a videos I can actually sit through. I really appreciate the work yall do. I also wanted to give a big thank you for your chicken dispatch video. As vegetarian farmers we promised to carry on the family tradition of also stewarding chickens. For compost, bug management, and more recently to supplement our dogs/cats diet. Peace and blessings.🌱
@@edibleacres thank you very much, I will do some reading. It makes sense as there’s a lot less bindweed on my original plot that’s now in its fifth season of being mulched with compost, wood chip etc. As I’m growing on an allotment site with a strong culture of tilling the clay soil, bindweed gets constantly propagated all over the place and will keep trying to come back in from other plots and wild areas. So I’m learning to live with it 👍
Loved seeing this garden area, I have a similar space. In recent years, to my great dismay, poison ivy has established itself. Do you have this invasive plant?...And, do you see any redeeming qualities in having poison ivy in the garden? How do you suggest dealing with it? I’m very allergic and I’ve been advised by a landscape architect that this is one time chemical warfare is employed, but I don’t like that option.
I don't think chemicals are the way to go.. i wonder if you can hire someone who is not reactive to it to come in with gloves and digging tools and work it out as thoroughly as possible. Maybe focus on mulches, compost, etc to bring up soil health as well.
Non-native invasive myself TV
Watch for the allelopathic nature of the Ailanthus altissima.
I think you might have ruffled feathers with your autumn olive... or maybe with the metaphor 💕😉
I'm sure I did. Opportunity for discussion and seeing/hearing different perspectives.
Seems the key to growing invasive plants is diligent attention and management to preventing the plants reseeding (by wind or bird drops) into other types of wild, unmanaged environments like native forests where the resilient and fast-growing invasives cause the harm by outcompeting with the native plants. The native plants have a long-established relationship feeding the wildlife. The alien invasive plants do not. I start thinking about the wildlife that rely on all the biodiversity of native plants that lose their habitat when invasive plants escape into the unmanaged, diligently uncared-for areas. I love the poetry of the native/non-native comparison of plants to humans. I consider humans both helpful and invasive. The detriment with “exotic invasives” escaping into unmanaged wild places are the compounding effects of loss of biodiversity and food and shelter for local wildlife. An autumn olive can provide nectar/pollen for pollinators and a berry for birds and mammals but when it displaces plants that are hosts to 50-400 species of insects and caterpillars for birds to feed their nestlings with, there’s no comparison. I believe humans can figure this out with an emphasis on a lifestyle based in active stewardship rather than regulation and punishment. Requires a complete restructuring of conventional quotidian belief systems. Great video!
Lots of good complexity and nuance in these words, much appreciated. The pattern I see quite often is that the areas where people observe 'invasives' taking over are quite often thoroughly degraded and abused spaces. Areas that are less likely to host a rich and complex matrix of the native beings that once were there. Not always, but quite often. I see them through the lens not of some 'invading' army 'taking over' but more like emergency first responders, tent cities after massive floods, earthquakes, fires, tillage, extraction, mining. Rushing in as scab and scar tissue and staying for a while (too long? what is long?). They are allies quite often, not always, but quite often. It makes sense that a colonizer/imperial/extractive culture would wrap their behavior with the language and the 'battle' 'against' them that they do. Could it be in part that those folks feel they should be able to control every aspect of the natural world and these plants buck that ability when intimate management isn't practiced? All so complex, and the reductive binary just lubricates empire as it always does, so worth really stepping back from.
@@edibleacres yes agree 100% and “the scientists” ... not exactly the last word on accurate portrayal of reality, are they, as we are witnessing with such great harm currently, yet our unquestioning obeisance is demanded with great consequences to come if we do and if we don’t. There is much that is old story/empire/colonizer maladaptiveness with the way research and science is done that even brings us the news of the habitat/ecological change afoot. Since the science stems from money and the money isn’t there for long term nuanced observation, all research is short term and hampered by all kinds of bias. Anyway, huge conversation. Would love to hear a podcast discussing these issues. Like you on the In Defense of Plants podcast or you and Akiva and Sasha taking on this subject and going deep, a-wandering. 🧡 my ex has a long running long form interview podcast, The C-Realm. I was a producer and participant a lot during our time together. Many a deep conversation wandering about how things could be and how they actually are, to the best of our tiny, biased perceptions.
💪🏼
Having seen what autumn olive does to the plants that our native pollinators rely on in the wild (choke them out) that's the only thing i really disagree with you about. They're more like colonizers like my ancestors - displacing the original residents to take for themselves. It's fine in a garden but the birds take it where it should not go and that can't be avoided.
I don't think I would characterize them that way at all. When they do start to choke out an area they are amazing chop and drop mulch to feed other plants. Interaction with them can easily manage their expansiveness, and I've seen hugely diverse flying insects get value from their nectar flow... Mason bees and all. Great ally along with natives when managed I've found.
@@edibleacres Ecologists, scientists, specialists, and lawmakers do. What happens when they get into the woods that you don't manage because the birds go where you don't? No one can control every seed where it lands and that's when it over takes forest undergrowth.
Frankly it's already too late for the first 40 miles radius around your farm minimum. The reason it's illegal to sell is to keep that from spreading further to keep areas that do still have native plants that so many of our insects co-evolved with so closely that they can't reproduce without that specific plant from being reduced further. (Joepie, catawpa, and many others have insect correlations just like monarchs and milkweed do.)
Its called active management. The natives here before you actively managed every acre of land on this continent. The junk scientists dont understand that the problem is simply that there shouldnt be any wild spaces as you know it. Eradicate colonial patterns and non of these « invasives » are invasive any more- the true root cause.
@@michaelkliger5167 You are absolutely right!!! That is our ecological role after all - to tend the wild.
@@CliffsidePermaculture While I do agree with this for most invasive species, I think regionally autumn olive is quite passive. In New England, for example, while it can be invasive in some depleted farmlands, roadsides, and particularly post-industrial lands, it is largely incapable of growing in truly wild areas, and I certainly never see them entering the woods here. I certainly understand there is nuance to its behavior based on distribution, as I have heard it is quite terrible in parts of the mid-west. The aggressiveness of autumn olive in a garden setting, to me, makes it preferable over more sensitive non-native plantings because it is able to fruit prodigiously despite growing in close competition with other wild plants (such as native species,) thereby not requiring much weeding. Other non-native fruit crops such as cultivated strawberries I think are worse in some ways, because they require much more intensive land management that does not leave as much room for native flora.
Regarding some of the comments about “invasive species”… it’s a tricky subject to tackle. My perspective is that we humans tend to view things on the scale of a human life (decades). Nature works on the scale of centuries and millennia. I have a very basic knowledge of natural history, mostly from watching TH-cam videos, but it seems to be full of instances of “invasive species” changing the landscape- for better or worse, who can say? When the first trees showed up on the planet (however many) years ago, the environment was in a state that would be toxic to life as we know it today. Over many many years, early plant life transformed the environment by converting CO2 and other atmospheric gasses into water and oxygen. I’m sure that at the time, the life forms that came before these early plants would have considered them to be “invasive”. My point is that life is life, and it tends to find a way. Maybe I’m rambling, maybe someone here will catch my drift.
don't you need to graft pecans to actually get proper cross pollination and sizable nuts? my research indicates that seedling pecans will produce very small nuts.
I can't say for sure, but the tree I collected seed from had decent sized nuts and I believe it was a seedling tree. Very worth trying I think.
The only invasives I see around here are corn, wheat and soy.
Most of the invasives I see are other folks like me from places other than here. Definitely don't want to spray poison on all the people I see, hoping there are lovely attributes I just don't know about them yet!
I see an oak tree
I know autumn olive gets a bad rap but I really don’t see how a plant that provides edible berries for us as well as fodder for wildlife all while fixing nitrogen is really a bad thing…. But then again 2 acres of grass and no trees is considered a good look 👀🤷♂️
Autumn Olive is hard to control and suppress. I think that attribute can be infuriating for people when they believe they should have final say in where nature heads. We see them be expansive in areas that have been intensely abused by human activity in the last 10-20 years. Other contexts don't seem compelling to them.
@@edibleacres I guess I haven’t seen the invasion yet as I just planted it in March last year. I’m actually rooting for the suckers though so I can dig up and move them to other areas that need some serious repairing!
Normally quite fond of your super chill attitude towards everything but real letdown to hear you take that same attitude towards invasive species. Sure, you might be able to control your own plants but critters will and do aid in propagation whether you want it. What a shame :(
I look forward to doing a video that is a deeper dive into this topic. The binary of 'invasive' vs. 'native' misses a massive amount of nuance. Follow the money on most invasives research, and it goes back to huge herbicide companies quite a bit. We may have a more complex set of functional allies to work with in the plant and animal world than we're told by science. Not saying every plant is amazing everywhere, but I can think of at least 5-10 lovely attributes of some of the most hated plants.
@@edibleacres I’d be very interested in that video! I agree with you on the money trail. I also agree that it is not the plants fault. But I also think I would stay away from many of them in my own yard.
What makes autumn olive a better nitrogen fixer than others?
@@edibleacres I couldn't agree more, Sean.
I spy a Redbud!
Giving invasives a “chance” is unfortunate advice to give. All your content is great but I’ve noticed the pattern of justifying, or even promoting the use of invasive and illegal plants suggesting their benefit outweighs the negatives . Perhaps if you involved yourself in your local nature preserves volunteer programs , or educational programs you might have a change of thought. Coming from someone who actively sees and has to deal with the damage they cause I just ask you learn more about that issue.
Non native illegal invasive 🤣