Love the concepts you are teaching. The thoughtful and ethical design, or as you say, "intimacy of management," support the connection to the process of being good stewards of our natural resources
Great stuff. One of my favorite permaculturalists! I appreciate the experimentation and quality information you always put out. Everyone needs to subscribe and upvote!
I just stumbled upon your channel and are binge watching all the precious experiences you so generously share with us. Your down to earth backyard tech solutions and the deeper understanding you display in the design of your projects resonates with my core beliefs of how we should live our lives and steward planet earth. Thank you!
I love your thoughtful and respectful attitude to the work you do with these plants. I also love that you do everything as simply as possible and with the most basic of tools. It makes what happens in my neighborhood look like savagery and gross wastefulness in comparison.
I’ve watched this several times and each time I hear more information, learn more details applicable to my situation and comprehend more. You linked this video in a comment reply to your most recent video and it is highly valuable, thank you!
Love the way you think. Thank you so much for your time you invest in sharing your message! One day I hope to deal with plants daily instead of turning wrenches, but it keeps the lights on...
Glad it was helpful! It's just one of a million ways to go about it, but after 10 years of practicing it I would hope to be able to share some useful starting points for folks.
I am struggling with being in a hurry versus just enjoying the process. My land is 10 acres and your channel makes me enjoy the idea of a 10’x10’ area as much as a 1/2 acre area. Especially when the whole thing is just a beautiful playground of ideas and areas to grow. I am in the process of setting up a 16’x32’ area for some small piglets with the idea being in a year or so to turn it into a great garden area. I am starting to plan and prepare that area to make the most of it. I have already started the native pecan tree, peach trees, and tons of comfrey in pots for this area so I am really ready in a year. I plan on having so many plants in the understory and I am enjoying every part of the project. I really enjoy your channel!
Great stuff Sean. It raises a couple of questions for me: 1) what do you do about vines and climbers? I have an abundance of viney, climbing, thick and dense ornamentals on my property. Its everywhere, with broken up weed matting underneath that the last owner planted / laid. There are alot of plants in there that I just cannot find out what they are too. I want to put the spaces to better use, and clearly it can all be used to support other plants in a chop / drop / mulch fashion - but cutting everything up with loppers / pruners takes an AGE. It really is back breaking. Would you consider a chipper in the first establishment / clearing if there is one? I am considering a small electric one, not petrol, just to muscle through the awful work done before me and find space to plant into. 2) How long do you think this will take to break down at the lengths you are cutting? Really happy that this channel is growing. I interpret your subscribers as 72k people, all interested in taking responsibility for their little corner of the world and learning from someone who only has goodness in his heart. Makes me feel better about the world and the people in it. Thank you.
1) I'd argue that this method doesn't take any more time than chipping... maybe much less since it gets chopped and put right down, instead of then being dragged to a chipper, cut up enough to fit in the chipper, run through, collected in a container, brought back, spread around the plant, etc... Skips a ton of steps. Go at it a little at a time, starting with cutting through the vines and untangling them first, then moving to the other elements. 2) Break down to what point? Pure finished perfect compost? Years... Enough to protect the soil from drying and erosion and support soil life? Day 1. Everything else is on a continuum that doesn't matter much to me, it all moves in the right direction... Thanks for the kind words!
This is such good inspiration, and it is also working wonderfully for managing excellent root mass along my cliff so I'm not at risk of land slide, while also allowing for maintenance of my view - so perfect! I use the pole wood for low cost retainer wall supports to expand my growing space too! Thanks for sharing!
I've been chopping and dropping black locust suckers. I covered the branches with some hay as well. More to aid in the retention of moisture and helping the wood break down faster. Keeping it moist helps. I have a little mantra as I'm working: "It has to lay down to break down."
U could live that long on a healthy diet. Also a society grows strong when a man plants a tree he will never experience the shade of thanks for making America one piece better u Rock Sean qnd Shasha, rock on !
Toward the back of our property there is a very steep drop off (about 45 degrees) that goes down to a marsh. I've fallen down it many times & have even seen deer stumble & slide down. A few years ago we started digging out all the sand in the area I wanted to have as a garden & dumped it over the hill after I laid several dead trees horizontally with steel fence posts to hold them in place. Every time I cut down volunteer buckthorn, mulberry, ash & alder, I piled it up on the slope. When a neighbor's old barn fell down, he was going to burn the barn with all the old hay still in it. I took home many truck loads of rotted straw & threw it on the pile of trees & branches, plus had another neighbor dump his grass clippings on it & I spread it around. More sand, weeds, garden debris, chicken manure & sawdust, sticks & clippings got added. Last year it was no longer a steep slope, but a nicely terraced hill with weeds growing like crazy. I covered it all with wet cardboard & then a full load of wood chips. This year I tossed in buckwheat seeds & had a beautiful area buzzing with pollinators & I did not spend one dime on it. Next year I plan to plant all my squash in the 2 new terraces, each about 12x50 feet, all thanks to scrub trees & my hard labor.
You also get more nutrients from a branch full of living leaves, than a dormant one. I am not sure about the effect on roots, it may be that summer pruning will cause a root reduction, and a nitrogen release to the other plants.
Hello again! (sorry for not knowing you name, yet!) As a photographer I wanted to give you one hint on the video quality: If you fix the white balance to a certain value (like cloudy or manual) you will not have the colours changing all the time (green looking blueish etc like the difference at 4:01 and the following seconds!). I am sure your camera has such a function! Playing around with the white balance makes nature look more natural! Greetings and thanks for your great videos!
Creating good soil and helping with water retention with chop and drop is what I do a lot of here with my normal sized lot. But making soil takes time. I have found that if I cut to the end product, which is under trees that have been "dropping" for years, making their own good soil, that I can access a lot of excellent soil without waiting. I go into the alley behind my house, or under my starfruit tree in front, and dig down to where I can access fully decomposed materials. That means that there are no or few big pieces left in the dirt. I fill containers with this dirt and put it around my plants, up close to the stems or trunks, but not touching. I put as much as I want. If the weather is dry and hot, I may build a couple or three inches high, which helps keep the dirt underneath cooler and slows evaporation. When a good rain comes along, all the nutrients in the new dirt seeps down to the plants roots. The plants respond really well. It's free, and I can access different locations around alley or city trees or bushes to get the best dirt. I always cover the hole back in so no one will step in it. Another thing I do is every couple of weeks or so, take a long-tined fork and I stir up the top inch of dirt around plants. I don't dig, just scrape and stir. This changes the bonds within the dirt, letting in air to the soil beneath, and it loosens the packing so that nutrients are released more easily into the soil. The combination of these two practices has give me great results. Additionally, it encourages me to pull the weeds growing around the plants, which I can then toss onto the base of another plant to use as green mulch, or I just shred it up with the lawn mower.
I try to always keep in mind that most of my pruning and chopping actions can be compared to the megafauna that coevolved in the past hundreds of thousands of years
This is very interesting. I really haven't been thinking more than 20 years in the future. The Asparagus Patch lasted 20 years, and fruit trees seem to last about 20 years. We have a Blue Spruce that is dying, so it may be my last chance to plant a tree that will outlive me. My daughter did plant a Willow in a wet part of the yard that is really taking off.
Alder is also a great wood to use in a smoker, just remember that if you want to smoke with it "green" peel the bark off first. great for chicken or pork.
Love your channel - and your man bun - and your voice is so soothing. Have learned a lot from watching your videos. Am curious. It looks like your shirt is inside out. Just wondering if you did that on purpose.
You gave me some good ideas. I have a 1 acre meadow that weedy elm and ash are taking over. I was going to cut them and just make large habitat piles but now I think I will chop and drop around fruit and nut trees. Its gonna be a lot of work, though ☹.
Have you used any of your border plants to create hedge rows? I see so many beautiful hedge rows made up of many different plants/trees in England. TY.
Too bad we in Vegas are having a heat wave of over 110 temps. Otherwise, I'd have been inspired to start chopping and dropping all the elm trees in my front yard... Good point, we want to use the chipper sparingly because it is a carbon emission plant. Better to use loppers and enjoy the exercise benefits.
I love this living wall. I just did the same thing 'chop and drop' with black locust shoots and comfrey. I haven't used hay to cover it up but was wondering about seeds in the hay. Or is that a concern for you? Do you use old composted hay or does it matter.
No concern about the seeds at all... They wouldn't germinate in this context in any way, and if somehow some did, they'd be under the canopy of other plants. Really 0 concern there...
Also noted your pruners are Okatsune ones - high carbon steel? How do you keep them rust free? I cannot seem to find a way to keep it away, even with camelia oil and attention.
any particular reason you haven't planted an evergreen hedge along the main road? Could help reduce noise pollution year round and produce a lot of biomass for chop and drop!
Hi Sean, as usual fantastic content. What is the botanical name of the Alder that you grow? We have evergreen Alders in Australia but the look alot different. We use Alnus jorullensis. Thankyou
Question, why are your walnuts planted so close together? Looking fifty to one hundred years out these should be 50 to 75 feet apart. BTW; I like your video and I just subscribed. Sincerely, - Chaos
What's the long term idea with having english walnuts planted 4-5' apart? Will one be selected out eventually or will both be encouraged to grow to maturity?
We'll let them grow for however long it works... One may be cut, one may die for some random reason, or both may thrive and be in competition for a while. The benefit of being a nursery is we can plant at the spacing we see in nature :)
@@edibleacres That's a good point. I've been propagating many more plants the last few years and there's much less worry about cramming things together. My mindset hasn't reached the point of planting big tree this close just yet. Might have to start doing it.
I think that mulching with anything over it is not because of aesthetics, but because of damp/dark environment, to fasten the wood to break down, mycelium forming. Otherwise, these branches are quite curvy and are not touching the ground, and will dry and decompose for a very long time. Am I right? I am new to syntropy and I see the chopping being made into a little shorter pieces, so they touch the ground as much as possible - only when touching the ground, the mycelium starts forming and breaking the wood down. I am just asking if my logic and understanding is right? Thanks a lot
Good note to add, thanks... If you don't care how long it takes to break down, you can simply drop after chopping... If you want to fuel the soil health you want either 1) a little more chopping or 2) to cover it all with some mulch and step all over to break things up. I like 2 better in general :)
The way I see it, there is a "best" time to do cutting/transplanting... And then there's the convenient time, or "when you have the time". The latter may out weigh the former.
So is doing this in late summer getting the nitrogen from the green where in the fall or winter you would be getting just the carbon from the brown? I cannot get an answer for this so far. Thanks
I don't know that I can give you deep science-y answering on this, but yes to the idea that I believe WAY more nitrogen and nutrient is available when put down on the ground now rather than when it's all dried down in later fall.
Was the primary reason to start with alder to build a green wall quickly? Does the ecological succession of plants itself provide an important function besides the chop and drop? If I had just put the productive species in first and mulched them, would it be less effective? Do I ask too many questions?
One reason for Alder was we found an area loaded with seedlings when we were planting this... Ha! Nitrogen fixing, local, free and fast it was a great fit. They all provide value in building soil, protecting the plants around and being biomass ready to shed and promote whoever is next. You could just plant productive plants and mulch, thats fine, but more expensive and less resilient sometimes... Not too many questions :)
i do have some suggestions/questions!! why dont you chip/shred it nd then use it as a mulch ? or after you shred them why dont you put all them in the water for 48 hours or more and then put it under the trees with the same water in was soaked in!?
Chipper would cost a huge amount, need gas, to be maintained, etc etc and just more work. This is a process that lets the material be cut and put to use in just about one stroke, with tools I have available that I can carry and maintain without much fuss...
Ramial mulch is the best kind of mulch you can put on your plants. This video shows you don't even have to finely process it! I did the same with my mullberries earlier this year. They grew in too dense for where they are and they finally breached the fence's height to get some nice air, so I trimmed their rust-speckled-leaf bottoms and laid it around exactly like in this video to support the higher canopy's growth and the other random things I have around them. The birds are loving the pile too!
Hello, i have a little area of my plot of land with lots of robinia pseudoacacia, they starting to be a little bit invasive. Do you think i can make a chop and drop to enrich the soil of nitrogen and to slow down his growth? They formed a little forest, they are tall around 4-5mt, and i started to plant some trees and small bushes in it
Yeah, Sean actually has a video about black locust chop-and-drop. Be prepared for fast rebound and root sprouts many meters away. The foliage rots down *really* quick, and with established trees you may get several cuts a season. Also, black locust can make great pole wood!
So one area I struggle to understand is knowing when to chop and drop and when to compost … if I chop and drop everything then I’ll have very little to compost. If I compost it then that material is not breaking down and providing that food to the plants. Most kitchen scraps go to the chicken yard …
Reasonable question... It makes sense that the most nutrient dense materials move into the chicken yard to feed them directly and become rich and active compost. The chop and drop approach makes sense in the context of this video whhere we have trees and shrubs with woody branches that need to go somewhere. Do I drag them out, run a chipper or chop them over and over or simply put them nearby where they can be useful over time? I don't believe there is a hard rule on what goes where, but it's a nice practice to know about and integrate and see what makes sense to you.
Being in the shade here with a fair bit of tall grasses around and an overall quiet cool/moist climate most years, the material generally breaks down before drying out. Some years are super hot/dry and it stalls but on average all the material moves towards being broken down.
Fire hazard is very relative to region of country. Afew years ago we moved from NM, where everything burns, to OH, where everything rots. Judging by the greenery, it seems like central NY is more the latter :)
Those two Juglands regia ( the lands/seeds of Jupiter) are way too close to each other. They became gigantic trees. If they came from seeds, they do not need a polinator but can polinate other nut trees like the Lara variety
Wood chipper will get results faster and won't be as much of an eye sore. chips take up less space as well. Those branches will take years decompose but if you chip them they will break down completely and feed the soil the same year. Chop and drop is good with leaves but no bueno with the branches and sticks and such. Plus when you use a chipper or chainsaw you are giving your plants the air they breath to survive which in turn gives us oxygen to survive, so it's a win win.
NO really not. You can't burn carbon sources, get more carbon dioxide, therefore get more oxygen. To say nothing of the carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Of course you also don't want all that decomposition to happen immediately, better it happen slowly, to avoid waste and feed for longer time periods. So, it's lose lose.
You're behind on the current systems. Back to Eden is so 20th century! Now syntropic agriculture is the new sexy! :) Climates matter to soil building strategies. Closer to the tropics you get, the faster things rot. There they actually want to slow the rotting as the biomass on the soil surface is important for water retention, erosion prevention, etc. The are dropping large chunks of wood on the surface. But if making compost, more surface area is better as it allows more microbes access quicker. Chop & drop also more closely models natural systems in the forest than pre-chewing things up. Another advantage (in at least some situations) is due to wood chips floating off in torrential rains. Larger pieces hold in place better (though with enough water dumped fast, can still float off! As to aeration, depends. Some chop and drop is better for aeration as the pieces are large and allow better air flow than smaller pieces which pack more densely. If you want to see an example, check out Agroforestry Academy on youtube.
That is definitely an opinion that you're entitled to. But it doesn't fit permaculture ideas, which is how Sasha & Sean operate their business & home growing.
@@tamarab5751 Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. The facts are that we are burning carbon sources; the carbon in the atmosphere is increasing; this is changing the climate. If carbon dioxide REALLY increased the amount of Oxygen we breathe, that would be the reflected in the atmospheric gas mix, it isn't.
You’re the Bob Ross of plants. Love it man.
Great analogy
Exactly my thoughts as wel!!
"Seems less rude to the plant"
That's such a sweet sentiment, totally borrowing that. ^_^
Welcome to use anything!
Me: where's my machete? ...😉
It's rare to come across anyone who respects nature so much as to consider the tree they are cutting. "Seems rude to the plant" warmed my heart!
Love the concepts you are teaching. The thoughtful and ethical design, or as you say, "intimacy of management," support the connection to the process of being good stewards of our natural resources
How could anyone give this channel thumbs down, I'll never understand. I love everything you do.
Great stuff. One of my favorite permaculturalists!
I appreciate the experimentation and quality information you always put out.
Everyone needs to subscribe and upvote!
I just stumbled upon your channel and are binge watching all the precious experiences you so generously share with us. Your down to earth backyard tech solutions and the deeper understanding you display in the design of your projects resonates with my core beliefs of how we should live our lives and steward planet earth. Thank you!
Really happy to have you in our community now :)
It makes me happy the way you treat the plants with respect :-)
I love your thoughtful and respectful attitude to the work you do with these plants. I also love that you do everything as simply as possible and with the most basic of tools. It makes what happens in my neighborhood look like savagery and gross wastefulness in comparison.
I use chainsaws sometimes and other power tools but it's nice to use hand tools for most stuff, more relaxing!
I’ve watched this several times and each time I hear more information, learn more details applicable to my situation and comprehend more. You linked this video in a comment reply to your most recent video and it is highly valuable, thank you!
So glad to hear that!
Love the way you think. Thank you so much for your time you invest in sharing your message! One day I hope to deal with plants daily instead of turning wrenches, but it keeps the lights on...
I like your ethical considerations when you explain how you do and think
You are my favorite teacher when it comes to gardening. I really enjoy your channel.
Thanks so much for the kind words. Just trying to share what I'm learning as I go.
This is going to save me TONS of work clearing. Great idea and use! Thank you!
This video inspired me to finally go handle that poke/knot/grape situation we spoke about.
Yay!
By the way, That is the best explanation and demonstration of Chop and Drop I've ever seen/heard! Thanks!
Glad it was helpful! It's just one of a million ways to go about it, but after 10 years of practicing it I would hope to be able to share some useful starting points for folks.
I am struggling with being in a hurry versus just enjoying the process. My land is 10 acres and your channel makes me enjoy the idea of a 10’x10’ area as much as a 1/2 acre area. Especially when the whole thing is just a beautiful playground of ideas and areas to grow.
I am in the process of setting up a 16’x32’ area for some small piglets with the idea being in a year or so to turn it into a great garden area. I am starting to plan and prepare that area to make the most of it. I have already started the native pecan tree, peach trees, and tons of comfrey in pots for this area so I am really ready in a year. I plan on having so many plants in the understory and I am enjoying every part of the project.
I really enjoy your channel!
Great stuff Sean. It raises a couple of questions for me:
1) what do you do about vines and climbers? I have an abundance of viney, climbing, thick and dense ornamentals on my property. Its everywhere, with broken up weed matting underneath that the last owner planted / laid. There are alot of plants in there that I just cannot find out what they are too. I want to put the spaces to better use, and clearly it can all be used to support other plants in a chop / drop / mulch fashion - but cutting everything up with loppers / pruners takes an AGE. It really is back breaking. Would you consider a chipper in the first establishment / clearing if there is one? I am considering a small electric one, not petrol, just to muscle through the awful work done before me and find space to plant into.
2) How long do you think this will take to break down at the lengths you are cutting?
Really happy that this channel is growing. I interpret your subscribers as 72k people, all interested in taking responsibility for their little corner of the world and learning from someone who only has goodness in his heart. Makes me feel better about the world and the people in it. Thank you.
1) I'd argue that this method doesn't take any more time than chipping... maybe much less since it gets chopped and put right down, instead of then being dragged to a chipper, cut up enough to fit in the chipper, run through, collected in a container, brought back, spread around the plant, etc... Skips a ton of steps. Go at it a little at a time, starting with cutting through the vines and untangling them first, then moving to the other elements.
2) Break down to what point? Pure finished perfect compost? Years... Enough to protect the soil from drying and erosion and support soil life? Day 1. Everything else is on a continuum that doesn't matter much to me, it all moves in the right direction...
Thanks for the kind words!
your voice is so soothing. thanks for all the info!
My pleasure
I love the insights and knowledge shared. Will definitely be taking this along when I develop my future farm.
That is some impressive growth, thanks for the video!
Definitely one of your most excellent videos!
So glad you think so!
Thank you, Sean. That works well here in Tempe, AZ. I love your work and knowledge you share. Blessings
Hardest working dude on the youtubes! Thanks 😊
I definitely don't think thats true.
I learn so much from your channel. Thank you for all that you do 🙏
This is such good inspiration, and it is also working wonderfully for managing excellent root mass along my cliff so I'm not at risk of land slide, while also allowing for maintenance of my view - so perfect! I use the pole wood for low cost retainer wall supports to expand my growing space too! Thanks for sharing!
Having long branches laid out on contour of a steep slope can be super helpful.
@@edibleacres indeed! That combined with planting density and pollarding trees is working out better than I expected. Thank you :)
I have those same exact pruners! They are great!
The big, two handed, black and orange one.
Fiskars makes great loppers for sure
Which model is it?
You described things I’ve been doing. How nice
I've been chopping and dropping black locust suckers. I covered the branches with some hay as well. More to aid in the retention of moisture and helping the wood break down faster. Keeping it moist helps.
I have a little mantra as I'm working: "It has to lay down to break down."
Makes sense. My little mantra is 'mulch the mulch with some mulch' so I think we're on the same page :)
@@edibleacres I like that.
U could live that long on a healthy diet. Also a society grows strong when a man plants a tree he will never experience the shade of thanks for making America one piece better u Rock Sean qnd Shasha, rock on !
Such brilliant content!! Love what you guys are doing. So educational.
So glad you find it useful.
Toward the back of our property there is a very steep drop off (about 45 degrees) that goes down to a marsh. I've fallen down it many times & have even seen deer stumble & slide down. A few years ago we started digging out all the sand in the area I wanted to have as a garden & dumped it over the hill after I laid several dead trees horizontally with steel fence posts to hold them in place. Every time I cut down volunteer buckthorn, mulberry, ash & alder, I piled it up on the slope. When a neighbor's old barn fell down, he was going to burn the barn with all the old hay still in it. I took home many truck loads of rotted straw & threw it on the pile of trees & branches, plus had another neighbor dump his grass clippings on it & I spread it around. More sand, weeds, garden debris, chicken manure & sawdust, sticks & clippings got added. Last year it was no longer a steep slope, but a nicely terraced hill with weeds growing like crazy. I covered it all with wet cardboard & then a full load of wood chips. This year I tossed in buckwheat seeds & had a beautiful area buzzing with pollinators & I did not spend one dime on it. Next year I plan to plant all my squash in the 2 new terraces, each about 12x50 feet, all thanks to scrub trees & my hard labor.
Hard labor indeed but what huge value you are helping add to the landscape. Kudos!
Beautiful area.
I have those loppers & they're an indispensable tool! It sounds like your living wall is doing a good job also !
You also get more nutrients from a branch full of living leaves, than a dormant one. I am not sure about the effect on roots, it may be that summer pruning will cause a root reduction, and a nitrogen release to the other plants.
That sounds about right to me.
You can chop and drop, you can chop chop and drop, you can chop chop chop and drop..... I love you guys!
Nice instructional video 😁👍 We are going back to some of these principles and make sure we are not getting to calculated and farming in a box.
Hello again! (sorry for not knowing you name, yet!)
As a photographer I wanted to give you one hint on the video quality:
If you fix the white balance to a certain value (like cloudy or manual) you will not have the colours changing all the time (green looking blueish etc like the difference at 4:01 and the following seconds!).
I am sure your camera has such a function! Playing around with the white balance makes nature look more natural!
Greetings and thanks for your great videos!
Good input here, we definitely have a ways to go to improve our video quality.
@@edibleacres Having 70.000 Subscribers it is worth it! :)
Please post the 50-year update video when that time rolls around. :) Great content!
I put it on the calendar.
Creating good soil and helping with water retention with chop and drop is what I do a lot of here with my normal sized lot. But making soil takes time. I have found that if I cut to the end product, which is under trees that have been "dropping" for years, making their own good soil, that I can access a lot of excellent soil without waiting. I go into the alley behind my house, or under my starfruit tree in front, and dig down to where I can access fully decomposed materials. That means that there are no or few big pieces left in the dirt. I fill containers with this dirt and put it around my plants, up close to the stems or trunks, but not touching. I put as much as I want. If the weather is dry and hot, I may build a couple or three inches high, which helps keep the dirt underneath cooler and slows evaporation. When a good rain comes along, all the nutrients in the new dirt seeps down to the plants roots. The plants respond really well. It's free, and I can access different locations around alley or city trees or bushes to get the best dirt. I always cover the hole back in so no one will step in it. Another thing I do is every couple of weeks or so, take a long-tined fork and I stir up the top inch of dirt around plants. I don't dig, just scrape and stir. This changes the bonds within the dirt, letting in air to the soil beneath, and it loosens the packing so that nutrients are released more easily into the soil. The combination of these two practices has give me great results. Additionally, it encourages me to pull the weeds growing around the plants, which I can then toss onto the base of another plant to use as green mulch, or I just shred it up with the lawn mower.
I try to always keep in mind that most of my pruning and chopping actions can be compared to the megafauna that coevolved in the past hundreds of thousands of years
Your pruners are helping you eat the plants and poop them out around other plants!
@@edibleacres Exactly!
This is very interesting. I really haven't been thinking more than 20 years in the future. The Asparagus Patch lasted 20 years, and fruit trees seem to last about 20 years. We have a Blue Spruce that is dying, so it may be my last chance to plant a tree that will outlive me. My daughter did plant a Willow in a wet part of the yard that is really taking off.
Many trees live 100 years or more, those are so important to get going too!
Alder is also a great wood to use in a smoker, just remember that if you want to smoke with it "green" peel the bark off first. great for chicken or pork.
Good to know!
@@edibleacres It's just another beautiful facet of this resource. Thanks for your reply.
He and I are doing the exact same practice of chop and drop. I’m managing a small wooded area of my backyard so not nearly acres.
That is great!
Love your channel - and your man bun - and your voice is so soothing. Have learned a lot from watching your videos. Am curious. It looks like your shirt is inside out. Just wondering if you did that on purpose.
Shirt was on inside out because it's how I put it on... ha! Definitely not paying too close attention to how we look when we make these videos :)
You gave me some good ideas. I have a 1 acre meadow that weedy elm and ash are taking over. I was going to cut them and just make large habitat piles but now I think I will chop and drop around fruit and nut trees. Its gonna be a lot of work, though ☹.
No ash borer? They’re being decimated here
The good news is you can do it as you have time/energy. No reason why it has to happen all at once, so that takes the pressure off a bit.
@@jennleighwesson6089 Yes our woods are full of dead ash, that is another reason I want to just cut them down when they are young.
as always, great material
What's the forbe with huge leaves by your left hand at 6:00?
Jerusalem Artichoke
Have you used any of your border plants to create hedge rows? I see so many beautiful hedge rows made up of many different plants/trees in England. TY.
Too bad we in Vegas are having a heat wave of over 110 temps. Otherwise, I'd have been inspired to start chopping and dropping all the elm trees in my front yard... Good point, we want to use the chipper sparingly because it is a carbon emission plant. Better to use loppers and enjoy the exercise benefits.
Yikes. Hoping you get a break from that insanity.
@@edibleacres - 4 more days then the weather peeps say we are going to "cool off" to around 105.... LOL
Interesting way of mancuring a hedgerow.
What does it look like in a month ?
It has filled out quite a bit in there
Curious about how you got some of your trees. I would love to have black walnut, hazelnuts and pecans. Were yours volunteers or did you buy them?
Too funny, I just came in from doing this exact thing and here you are doing it too! XD
Haha, I chop and drop cactus and I just get more cactus! Great demo, thank you!
love it... Just keep getting better.... not only that it also makes sense...lol cheers guys....
I love this living wall. I just did the same thing 'chop and drop' with black locust shoots and comfrey. I haven't used hay to cover it up but was wondering about seeds in the hay. Or is that a concern for you? Do you use old composted hay or does it matter.
No concern about the seeds at all... They wouldn't germinate in this context in any way, and if somehow some did, they'd be under the canopy of other plants. Really 0 concern there...
Also noted your pruners are Okatsune ones - high carbon steel? How do you keep them rust free? I cannot seem to find a way to keep it away, even with camelia oil and attention.
They get rusty... I think rust free comes from using the constantly!
any particular reason you haven't planted an evergreen hedge along the main road? Could help reduce noise pollution year round and produce a lot of biomass for chop and drop!
It grows slowly and not as adjustable prunable. If I cut back evergreens hard once in a while it may very well kill them...
Hi Sean, as usual fantastic content. What is the botanical name of the Alder that you grow? We have evergreen Alders in Australia but the look alot different. We use Alnus jorullensis. Thankyou
I should know, but I don't know for sure! I believe they are Red Alder or Speckled Alder, but not quite sure.
Well done!
Question, why are your walnuts planted so close together? Looking fifty to one hundred years out these should be 50 to 75 feet apart.
BTW; I like your video and I just subscribed.
Sincerely,
- Chaos
What's the long term idea with having english walnuts planted 4-5' apart? Will one be selected out eventually or will both be encouraged to grow to maturity?
We'll let them grow for however long it works... One may be cut, one may die for some random reason, or both may thrive and be in competition for a while. The benefit of being a nursery is we can plant at the spacing we see in nature :)
@@edibleacres That's a good point. I've been propagating many more plants the last few years and there's much less worry about cramming things together. My mindset hasn't reached the point of planting big tree this close just yet. Might have to start doing it.
I think that mulching with anything over it is not because of aesthetics, but because of damp/dark environment, to fasten the wood to break down, mycelium forming. Otherwise, these branches are quite curvy and are not touching the ground, and will dry and decompose for a very long time. Am I right? I am new to syntropy and I see the chopping being made into a little shorter pieces, so they touch the ground as much as possible - only when touching the ground, the mycelium starts forming and breaking the wood down. I am just asking if my logic and understanding is right? Thanks a lot
Good note to add, thanks... If you don't care how long it takes to break down, you can simply drop after chopping... If you want to fuel the soil health you want either 1) a little more chopping or 2) to cover it all with some mulch and step all over to break things up. I like 2 better in general :)
Have you ever made sumac lemonade or sumac spice?
Sasha harvests Sumac flowers and dries them for winter cooking.
The way I see it, there is a "best" time to do cutting/transplanting... And then there's the convenient time, or "when you have the time". The latter may out weigh the former.
So is doing this in late summer getting the nitrogen from the green where in the fall or winter you would be getting just the carbon from the brown? I cannot get an answer for this so far. Thanks
I don't know that I can give you deep science-y answering on this, but yes to the idea that I believe WAY more nitrogen and nutrient is available when put down on the ground now rather than when it's all dried down in later fall.
Was the primary reason to start with alder to build a green wall quickly? Does the ecological succession of plants itself provide an important function besides the chop and drop? If I had just put the productive species in first and mulched them, would it be less effective? Do I ask too many questions?
One reason for Alder was we found an area loaded with seedlings when we were planting this... Ha! Nitrogen fixing, local, free and fast it was a great fit.
They all provide value in building soil, protecting the plants around and being biomass ready to shed and promote whoever is next.
You could just plant productive plants and mulch, thats fine, but more expensive and less resilient sometimes...
Not too many questions :)
i do have some suggestions/questions!! why dont you chip/shred it nd then use it as a mulch ? or after you shred them why dont you put all them in the water for 48 hours or more and then put it under the trees with the same water in was soaked in!?
Chipper would cost a huge amount, need gas, to be maintained, etc etc and just more work. This is a process that lets the material be cut and put to use in just about one stroke, with tools I have available that I can carry and maintain without much fuss...
@@edibleacres great point! i didnt see the cost of chipper and what comes with it!. thx to response.
Ramial mulch is the best kind of mulch you can put on your plants. This video shows you don't even have to finely process it!
I did the same with my mullberries earlier this year. They grew in too dense for where they are and they finally breached the fence's height to get some nice air, so I trimmed their rust-speckled-leaf bottoms and laid it around exactly like in this video to support the higher canopy's growth and the other random things I have around them. The birds are loving the pile too!
Awesome!
Hello, i have a little area of my plot of land with lots of robinia pseudoacacia, they starting to be a little bit invasive. Do you think i can make a chop and drop to enrich the soil of nitrogen and to slow down his growth? They formed a little forest, they are tall around 4-5mt, and i started to plant some trees and small bushes in it
Yeah, Sean actually has a video about black locust chop-and-drop. Be prepared for fast rebound and root sprouts many meters away. The foliage rots down *really* quick, and with established trees you may get several cuts a season. Also, black locust can make great pole wood!
I don't mind the chop and drop aesthetic, but I have a couple busybodies down the road. But if I put it behind my garage they're none the wiser.
You're the Bob Ross of permaculture. I can't picture you being angry and yelling.
Agree and just not in his nature to do so. 😊🌱
I'd say Mr. Rodgers, lol.
I can picture him getting angry but only due to a tree being cut down or the like
Your shirt is inside-out?
Could very well be inside out... Sometimes that happens :)
So one area I struggle to understand is knowing when to chop and drop and when to compost … if I chop and drop everything then I’ll have very little to compost. If I compost it then that material is not breaking down and providing that food to the plants.
Most kitchen scraps go to the chicken yard …
Reasonable question... It makes sense that the most nutrient dense materials move into the chicken yard to feed them directly and become rich and active compost. The chop and drop approach makes sense in the context of this video whhere we have trees and shrubs with woody branches that need to go somewhere. Do I drag them out, run a chipper or chop them over and over or simply put them nearby where they can be useful over time? I don't believe there is a hard rule on what goes where, but it's a nice practice to know about and integrate and see what makes sense to you.
@@edibleacres thanks for the reply and info as always. Doing my best to mimic your systems and grow as much food and medicine as possible!
Don't you have any concern about slugs? I'm terrified of mulching. If I leave anything on the ground I get a tonne of slugs.
Those cut pieces are going to dry out very fast. It seems like you are fostering a fire hazard. Any thoughts?
Being in the shade here with a fair bit of tall grasses around and an overall quiet cool/moist climate most years, the material generally breaks down before drying out. Some years are super hot/dry and it stalls but on average all the material moves towards being broken down.
Fire hazard is very relative to region of country. Afew years ago we moved from NM, where everything burns, to OH, where everything rots. Judging by the greenery, it seems like central NY is more the latter :)
When you say elders, do you mean elderberry?
I believe I have heard him use "elders" for elderberry bushes/trees. But in this video think it was mostly alders.
Thanks, I have elderberry and was hoping it applied. I'm a newbie.
Alders... But everything spoken about and shared about management for Alder could happen for Elder too!
❤️
Those two Juglands regia ( the lands/seeds of Jupiter) are way too close to each other. They became gigantic trees. If they came from seeds, they do not need a polinator but can polinate other nut trees like the Lara variety
No machete? Pity!
I've tried using machetes... I feel like they are rough on the woody plant material and don't give me the level of control I'd like.
I use a curved machete / hand sickle. I love it, but I do worry about cutting myself. Loppers certainly look safer for doing a lot of this...
@@gunning6407 Definitely takes practice to feel like you aren't on the verge of a huge mistake. It is a sword after all
if you mulch some of your weed you'll make those deer very happy...
You seem like a really cool dude. Also, you look like a young hippie version of Jordan Peterson!
you might want to plant more than 2. incase your slower trees die. you don't want one living and one dying. then you gotta wait another 4 or 5 years.
Could very well be worth doing...
I nice machete would make the work a bit easier.
...
Wood chipper will get results faster and won't be as much of an eye sore. chips take up less space as well. Those branches will take years decompose but if you chip them they will break down completely and feed the soil the same year. Chop and drop is good with leaves but no bueno with the branches and sticks and such. Plus when you use a chipper or chainsaw you are giving your plants the air they breath to survive which in turn gives us oxygen to survive, so it's a win win.
NO really not. You can't burn carbon sources, get more carbon dioxide, therefore get more oxygen. To say nothing of the carbon monoxide, sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Of course you also don't want all that decomposition to happen immediately, better it happen slowly, to avoid waste and feed for longer time periods. So, it's lose lose.
You're behind on the current systems. Back to Eden is so 20th century! Now syntropic agriculture is the new sexy! :)
Climates matter to soil building strategies. Closer to the tropics you get, the faster things rot. There they actually want to slow the rotting as the biomass on the soil surface is important for water retention, erosion prevention, etc. The are dropping large chunks of wood on the surface. But if making compost, more surface area is better as it allows more microbes access quicker.
Chop & drop also more closely models natural systems in the forest than pre-chewing things up.
Another advantage (in at least some situations) is due to wood chips floating off in torrential rains. Larger pieces hold in place better (though with enough water dumped fast, can still float off!
As to aeration, depends. Some chop and drop is better for aeration as the pieces are large and allow better air flow than smaller pieces which pack more densely.
If you want to see an example, check out Agroforestry Academy on youtube.
That is definitely an opinion that you're entitled to. But it doesn't fit permaculture ideas, which is how Sasha & Sean operate their business & home growing.
@@tamarab5751 Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. The facts are that we are burning carbon sources; the carbon in the atmosphere is increasing; this is changing the climate. If carbon dioxide REALLY increased the amount of Oxygen we breathe, that would be the reflected in the atmospheric gas mix, it isn't.
If you watched the video (or the channel), you would know that "years to break down" is part of the point.