I've requested that the posts that I have created over a year ago but suddenly put in moderation be deleted and they still remain in purple messages. Could someone just delete the posts + I'm just no longer interested in them.

Thanks

I had a purple message about a month ago, but them 9 others showed up a day after demanding I change my posts. The posts were there for over once year or so and frankly I don't have the time and patience to deal with some thought police bot and/or staff member who has had their nose bent over somethignwithout explanation. It's now my wish you just delete everything. Thanks in advance.

"I understand why we clone, I do it too. There isn't a better way to plant fifty trees without spending a dime "

I understand what you mean, but depending on the fruit or nut (or any other tree) it's lke tossing the dice. You could get something fantastic or get a dud of a tree hich produces nothing or very little and low quality. Unfortunately you have to often wait many years to find this out. But I had an interesting experience with a volunteer Pecan Tree nut which volunteered (planted by a scrubJay) back in 2005. In 2006 I left the San Diego California area and moved here to Sweden. The first years growth was rapid and straight as an arrow. It was just in the perfect spot and the straight tall nature of this tree was ideal. I knew it was a Pecan tree, but that was not the reason I let it stay there. It was for ornamental landscape reasons behind a little house in her backyard. It was the perfect tree & only tree for that location. Plus I've always love Pecan's bright attractive green foliage and tey thrive in hot dry climates. The bonus has been it has become a huge producer of very sweet pecans with a thin easy to crack shell and my mum called me to tell me this is the largest crop yet, even all her dogs love them. Not sure if dogs are ssupposed to eat them though. Here is a post I did.

 Pecan Tree Volunteer  

Dale Hodgins wrote:I am going to keep my lips away from tall grass and brush piles.

Admittedly, this potential for Rattlesnakes is what has spooked me about the idea of a building a Hugelkultur brush pile and then finishing it later.
Looking at a animated illustration of one, it looks like an Rattlesnake Igloo

Cody DeBaun wrote:Sounds like a chicken deficiency, to me. OR an area lacking lizard/frog/toad/snake habitat.

Are they causing problems? Chewing up any plant leaves/stems/roots? Some arthropods are great decomposers and soil aerators. Them being there might be beneficial, like weeds on dirt.

Agreed, where are the predators. When I wrote about this latest science fad of demonozing earthworms for killing forests in North America, one of the authors from University of Minnesota posted a comment on my post and flamed me for not having the academic credentials he and hs colleagues had for the subject. This is a common tactic done by such Elites when confronted with their own flaws and lack of common sense. A big part of my criticism to him was, "Did you even consider to look for lack of predators ?? You know like, birds, frogs, moles, etc ??"  They never looked at or addressed lack of predators in their research. also he wouldn't address the fact that Night Crawlers had always been there since the 1960s when I lived near there as a kid. Anyway I would look for natural enemies of the insects or lack of them.

Tyler Ludens wrote:When I'm raising young chickens I scoop these up by the handful for them - the chicks go nuts!

I agree, the best way is to have some chickens running loose to take care of the over abundance. As long as I've been alive (60+) and been gardenng, I have always experienced at one time or another an overpopulation of one type of insect or another (snails, wasps, grasshoppers, etc). Oddly enough however, some recent research has expose how insects period are becoming scarce in many areas, even in protected national parks where toxic chemicals are not used. So while over abundance may be a monir annoyance at times, in our modern age of negative news like that from Germany, abundance could be almost celebrated.

Obsession with Biodiversity is overshadowing loss of Bioabundance

To be honest I'm thinking some type of willow. The trunk looks almost cottonwood, which would rule out alder or birch for me. Plus the calkins don't look like the small cones of alder. But I'm not overly familiar with Canadian trees. Alder cones generally come in bunches and look like this image below.

I'm adding this post to this section so as not to waste forum space. It is definitely related to illustrating the value of floodplains and the concept of farm fields and fish coexisting together. This is a continuation of my floodplain series. Floodplains are rich and biologically diverse environments that can support an abundance of plants, birds, and other species on land and in the water. For example, I'm posting info on recovery efforts of Chinook Salmon who rely on floodplains during the freshwater phase of their life cycle. I'm also referencing the same recovery efforts of the Colorado River's Razorback Sucker which also requires floodplains for juvenile growth success. Maybe there are ways to create artificial floodplain nurseries in what is now farmlands where the two businesses can coexist.

 Floodplain Farmlands Benefit Juvenile Western Native Fish  

Jon Snow wrote:My groasis waterbox just arrived in the mail a few days ago! Can't wait to use it. I definitely need it since I don't live in the high desert. I'm only there a few weekends a month. I'm also thinking of making something similar to a groasis waterboxx with 5 gallon buckets. The groasis waterboxx are pretty expensive. I paid close to $60 for one shipped to L.A. I'll keep you guys posted.

I'm in ongoing contact with Groasis over here in Europe. I'm in Sweden and they are in Nederlands. I recently put them together with a friend here(who is also American) who has a process of turning tree lignin into a type of long lasting plastic. To me the original price for the box was expernse, but they have two manufacturing contracts with companies in South America right now. Like the USA, it's just too expensive to make cheap things here in E.U. because of high minimum wage requirement, plus all those socialist welfare entitlements. Not to mention here in Sweden sales tax is 25%. Mexico is purchasing one million of the Groasis boxxes. The biodegradable ones are the cheapest to purchase. You definitely have to provide a wire mesh around the plants to prevent herbivore browsing. Hope it works well for you.

The Nederlands people have already done much experimentation with hundreds of waterboxxes in Yucca Valley and Coachella Valley restoration sites with Joshua trees and other plants like Mesquites, etc.

Sam Fel wrote:   Picture updates


                 

I would suggest planting directly into the soil where you wish the tree to be established permanantly from the start. I once did an experiment when i was in my late teens. I acquired some seed pods from Cat'sclaw Acacia from hiking in the Santa Rosa Mountains just above Palm springs. I did the old paper towel in the large jar trick with presoaked seeds inserted in between towel and glass at the top of the jar. Then I filled the bottom of the jar with 3 inches of water. The capillary action of the paper towle drew up moisture which in just a couple days triggered the seed germination of the Cat'sclaw Acacia. For some few weeks there was not leaf sprout, only a single taproot growth from one seed. At the third week a single stem with leaf emerged. So I decided it was time to plant on the mountainside above my parents property. What was fascinating about this taproot grwth was the fact that when it reached the bottom of this large tall jar, it merely kept growing and spiraling around the bottom several times. When I finally planted, I had to dig a hole that was almost a meter in depth. What all of this told me was that the blueprint instructions within the DNA of this Cat'sclaw Acacia was programmed to survive within a harsh hot dry desert environment. The programming cause the plant to put all it's resources into developing a very long deep taprooting system because that was the only way this plant would survive a life under those conditions.

I've since done other desert tree seed experiements with the same results. Very rapid germination and development equally as rapid with deep taproot infrastructure. Most of the native desert plants believe it or not actually germinate in the middle of summer during the monsoon rainy season. That doesn't mean they may not germinate if there are winter rains, but I've just never seen them like summertime monsoon rains a week later. If you do not have a Groasis Waterboxx Planting Cocoon, then simply deep soak the planting hole, refill it with soil, plant the seed, water again and mulch as you've done in the black pot container, then find some large flat rocks to place around where the plant will germinate. Roack are a perfect desert muclh which will not allow any water to escape. The seed itself will take surface water and move it downwards as the taproot moves deep as well. The seed drilling mechanism is very similar to mechanical human constructed drills for water or oil wells which also pump water down and spit it out ahead of the drill for easier soil penetration with less frictin. Of course the taproot will no doubt have other enzyme it uses along with the water for a disolving type of penetration. Mycorrhizal fungi do the same thing when mining for nutrients in solid rock particles.

Below is one of my more recent experiments when I brought back seed from the pea family from our visit to Tennerife in the Canary Islands a couple of years back. (Seed from Paloverde, Cat'sclaw and Mexican Red Bird of Paradise) All experienced same rapid germination and taproot growth. Container systems stunt that deep root infrastructure and set the plant back. Hope this makes sense.

Sam Fel wrote:

There were actually two praying mantis in the picture too! Not sure if anyone noticed them.

I only saw a large blue-green one on the Bamboo

Are you going to actually plant those oak acorns ? You will definitely need all the help you can get with both Ecto & Endo Mycorrhizal fungi. Don't plant them without inoculating. A Goasis waterboxx would be perfect for the establishment process in developing straight downwards deep root system.

Jon Snow wrote: I just bought a small cabin on 5 acres in Johnson Valley, not too far from Barstow. The high desert is AWESOME!!  I'm also looking to plant some native Mesquite trees. There is a nursery that sells plants and trees in Yucca Valley called Unique Garden Center. I have never been there (but will soon) all the locals say this place is the best.  Search for these helpful facebook groups: Joshua Tree Permaculture and Eden Regenerative Design. Here is a pic of my shack, I just bought it 5 months ago.

I love your vision there Jon of wanting to create something spectacular in such an isolated and challenging spot. I love deserts, but have lived over here in Sweden now for over 10 years now. People here freak when I mention missing the deserts southwest over there. I lived in Anza California for over 20+ years prior to moving here. I lived east of the town of Anza up on Table Mountain at the doorstep of Anza Borrego State Park. My brother still lives in Ranchita to the south in San Diego county just above Borrego Springs. I have written quite a lot about Anza Borrego desert and Imperial Valley. My last post was on my wishes for reclamation of a landscape that is basically a black canvas. The post was about a natural mechanism for rebuilding called Tardigrades. I mostly write about Mycorrhizae, bacteria, biological soil crusts and various native plants with deep rooting infrastructure, but these little guys have become recently more and more interesting to me.

     Tardigrades: Pioneers in Creating a New Earth        

Here is my dream black canvas landscape below or something close to it. This is Font's Point in the Anza Borrego Balands. I was once chastized by the Desert Protective Council who once posted a similar photo on their site when I made the comment, "Most people see a totally desolate worthless wasteland. But I see it as potential." The Desert Protective Council Administrator took offense as did some of their members. I wasn't talking about development, but rather enhancing the landscape again with native desert plants. They were still irritated. To each their religious ideological own I guess.




You mentioned planting Mesquites. I've written a lot about utilizing Mesquite as a windbreak plant component to large berms created as windbreaks. This would realistically biomimic a natural Mesquite Mound which are almost gone in that part of the world because of housing and country club development. The early Farmers and the Ag Extention Science Experts made a huge mistake in bringing over Middle eastern and North African Tamarisk trees to do this job. They suck far more water and have replaced most of the native riparian habitats there in the southwest. But my plans and blueprint ideas included building large permanant rock and soul berms with multiple native desert trees and plants like Mesquite (Velvet, Honey & Screwbean), Cat'sclaw Acacia, Foothill or even Blue Palo Verde, Desert Ironwood & Baja Fairyduster. Once established they would need little or even no watering (especially if located on Imperial Valley floors where water table is high).

     Lessons from a Mesquite Dune Project    

My other area of interest is deep pipe irrigation as opposed to drip irrigation.

    Deep Irrigation Methods for Deeper Rotting Infrastructure      

Hope some of this is helpful

John Polk wrote:

Shawn Harper wrote:I drive around farm country regularly for my work. I rarely see hedges of any kind. In my area even getting normal hedges would be a huge step up.

It used to be that every farm property, and most fields were lined with hedgerows.

I have heard  that when the hedgerow was ripped out, farmers often commented that it was the most fertile soil on their farm.  The ground nesting birds took care of most of the insects.  The myriad of critters, big and small, created their own bio region, helping everything near it.

A well planned hedgerow will do more than bring native wildlife to your land.  It will provide nuts, berries, rose hips,  medicinals and a variety of foods with no work other than the harvesting.

Another one of the things that has fascinated me about Agricultural fields and the otherwise weedy patches and field margins where non-native invasive annuals thrive is that these are all havens for all the pest insects. So the contrast of a chaparral hedgerow is more interesting as far as a pest prevention and control.

Shawn Harper wrote:I drive around farm country regularly for my work. I rarely see hedges of any kind. In my area even getting normal hedges would be a huge step up.

I love the concept of Chaparral Hedges. I've used chaparral for a number of landscape health reasons for the entire project to ensure landscape balance as far as pest management and have chosen specific chaparral for that purpose. Believe it or not, many forestry officials have demonized the shrubs as invasive withi their native home range because they sprout easily after fire and officials will lament them taking over after wildfire and replacing forests. Actually they enhance forest establishment as I've proven back in the 1980s where I was often at odds with local forestry official reforestation policy which advocated total mechanical and chemical of chaparral prior to planting. I made a successful effort to gather a few large property owners to purchase bare root pines [Coulter, Jeffrey] and Incense Cedar to building a woodland where none existed before. Our of four landowners, all but one followed the forestry's scortched earth policy of stripping vegetation to the ground before planting. The landowner I care took did meticulously remove about one third of the chaparral to open up space for seedling planting. Chaparral acts as a deeply rooting hydraulic lifter and redistributor of water from subterranean sources which helps the trees survive the long dry periods of the southwest. We also inoculated those trees with Pisolithus tinctorius which for those hotter dry summertime regions almost guarantee seedling success. Thus far I have found no better mycorrhizal fungi for pines and oaks. The one success story is in Anza California where planting took place back in 1983. I revisted back in 2013:

   Establishing a Forest where the experts said it would fail        

You need to understand something about acquiring these trees from the State run Nursery or contracted Nusery L.A. Moran. Initially they said it would fail because of geographical location and climate. They emphesized strict stripping of the land to be planted because chaparral was considered an agressive competitor. This is a lie propagated by a blind faith religious concept known as Survival of the Fittest. Nature today is being admitted as mutually cooperative, so you can imagine the idiocy I had to deal with back then. Heck, even the fire bosses who ran the control burns back then didn't even know  that one unique particular forest tree, Big Cone Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa) actually sprouts back from it's trunk and branches after being completely burned with fire. Take a look at this photo from my post linked above. Take note of a spefici chaparral we left because I had always found it to be the biggest promoter of seedling/sapling establishment. It's called Redshank or ribbonwood (Adenostoma sparsifolium)



Here is a link to it's cousin which is called Chamise or known by the purposely derogatoey name, "Greasewood" because it is blamed for wildfires. It too is one of the best soil erosion controls shrubs and forest pioneer seedling establishment during times of wet climate periods in Southern California. The scientific name is Adenostoma fasticulatum. This partuclar shrub like most are endomycorrhizal, but under rare occasions where wet rainy El Nino seasons take place, an epigenetic trigger switches on a signalling message for the ecto-mycorrhiza, Pisolithus tinctorius to colonize it's root system. This is what helps the seed to survive after scrub jays have planted them. Below the link is an image of Cuyamaca Cypress sprouting through Chamise which has acted as a nurse plant. This is an area south of Julian California which receives more moisture than most areas as a result of microclimate.

  Chamise or Greasewood (Adenomstoma fasticulatum) Worthless Brush or Potewntial Nusrse Plant    




This next link is of an area called Mountain Center where this entire area was obliterated by fire (with the exception of several large tall trees) and no planting or reforestation was ever undertaken because it was private land. Both Pines and Chaparral plants grew back together furiously after this fire. I also wrote this to document what inspired me to respect chaparral and make the comparision with what I did in Terwilliger. There are more trees here now than previously before the fire. Nobody touched the chaparral and in most cases plant succession response has been the trees now replacing the chaparral that once nursed them along through life.

   1982 Wildfire in Mountain Center & the Forest Regeneration      

Take not of the long tall trees which the forest fire couldn't kill and the younger full vibrant health of the younger trees now which has now replaced the chaparral nurse shrubs.



I know this is a lot of A to Z to take in, but you'll get my drfit

This post is about Chaparral Hedgerows for Agriculture and particularly about one of my favourite shrubs, California Coffeeberry which is a beneficial insect magnet. Chaparral Hedgerows in the Central Valley of California are proving to be real holistic pest management resources where synthetic pest control can be totally eliminated if installed properly. This was mainly about California and the southwest, but practical application and adjustments for like native shrubs within different global ecosystems could be researched to further tailor results for biomimetics

    California Coffeeberry and Chaparral Hedgerows for Pest Control      

Well, this isn't exactly desert fences, but rather Swedish Fences. The main reason I post it is because of the natural materials and designs used here which can be experimented with any where.

 Swedish Fences  

I've always had an obsession with finding clues for biomimicing the way nature creates various stages of life in colonizing and transforming a wasteland landscape. More and more of this type of landscape is being created every year. The term given is "Desertification", but I like deserts, so we'll ignore the term for now. I've been hammered by many environmentalists in Southern California who wish the desert to stay the way it is. But the facts are, even with native desert plants, these regions were more historically vegetated than they are at present. Still, it's tough sell to those who are so dogmatic in their belief system. The subject is Tadrigrades or Water Bears" and how they could be used in transformation of sanitized regions of the earth.

  Tardigrades: Pioneers in Creating a New Earth ?    

The image below here is near an area I used to live in called Anza. This plave below is called Font's Point which was named after one of the Spanish Friars Fray Pedro Font who also wrote a journal about his observations of the environment on the exploration trek back during the winter of 1775-76. These badlands don't really have any vegetaion on them. Even the native desert vegetation which has been in the region for 1000s of years has trouble getting a foothold. Can this really be reversed and this moonscape reversed and greened up ? I really believe so. So much so that I'd love one day to have such a patch of ground and turn it into something native green. This moonscape phenomena is increasing globally and it has done so since I was a kid in the late 1950s to late 1960s. When I was a scout, just north of this location is an area called San Felipe Valley. This valley was always lush bright green. Water flowed down San Felipe Creek for miles until is reached the desert alluvial fanes and washes were it went underground, but the vegetation continued. Now all of that is gone. So are the native fish, turgles and indignous Leopard Frog. There were massive extensive Fremont Cottonwood forests, Mesquite Bosues and the surrounding hills in mid-summer were bright green with Cat'sClaw Acacia which covered all the hills for miles and miles. That's all gone too. Irresponsible cattle ranching (which is gone now) and numerous bush fires destroyed most of this landscape. But I have made extensive land restoration using techniques which encourage underground deep rooting infrastructure. This article about the Tadigrades is just another piece of the puzzle for recreating green living deserts. If one can accomplish greening desert hils and mountains, then floodplain valleys below will be rich for converting to responsible systainable agriculture. As I referenced in this post, I would love a blank canvas once again. I think this time however, with the change in climate and disruption of normal rainfall patterns here and elsewhere, that Groasis Waterboxx is about the only last resort for plant establishment left in the absence of rain. Once a forest is established, then these deep rooted desert trees will utilized hydraulic descent and pump 1000s of gallons of water into the deeper subsoil layers where it needs to be. With such a system in place, then the conductivity of the region will encourage more cloud formation during summer monsoonal rains from Mexico and recreate a cycle that was lost decades ago.

I know this may have been a subject posted here before, but I've added my take and recommendations to this and added some science research which I'm not sure even Groasis has ever reported on as I cannot find it on their website. Hopefully I've put enough relevant resources together to provide a clear understand of the potential for this practice and product.

I've written a few posts on Pieter Hoff's Groasis Waterbox system which is incredible simple to understand for all cultures around the globe. He and his organization have done some amazing projects in almost every country around the globe and education programs which incorporates all ages and cultures. This is my main post on Groasis Waterboxx Cocoons. I wished I had these or something like them decades ago. Too late now to experiment this far into the end of the system, but others may have a go at it and even teach their kids. This is the quickest way I can find in establishing plant ecosystems and restoration of damaged ones. The main thing is the ability to water once and allow the system to train roots straight downwards into the subsoils. Native plant restoration can be far easier and more successful.

 Groasis Waterboxx - Desert Greening, Root Infrastructure, Water Savings, Education of Children, etc, etc, etc  

Wow, there were so many subheadings to choose from for this topic and I could have gone with any of them. I wrote this post with respect to Carob Trees and their association with Pisolithus tinctorius ectomycorrhizal mutualism. This is something almost missing from all the conventional literature on the subject of what exactly is a host plant. In California where I come from it is only used as a street tree. Yet around the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East it is grown and used quite extensively for it's use as livestock fodder, food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics etc. In fact for those who know of the Biblical account of the Prodigal Son, the young man was so down on his misfortune and starving that he desired to eat the Carob Pods his master fed the swine with. Anyway, just some interesting personal observations of mine long prior to the literature coming out on this symbiosis between Ectomycorrhizae and Ceratonia siliqua or Carob tree. For those who are into Permaculture and living off the grid so to speak, this could be a great forage tree for hot dry climates which are becoming more common these days. For Permaculture folks living in hot outback sites where drought is common and heat resistence is a must, this Carob Tree is a great source for animal feed and fooder. Great storage holding life as well.

A Pisolithus tinctorius Truffle collecting hotspoy @ California State University San Bernadino

Thekla McDaniels wrote: But I followed Kevin's link to find out what he had to say about epigenetics, and had a lot of fun watching the video about the complexity of language. Those guys Rhett and Link are zany fun guys. I tried to bring the link of their video but couldn't. You'll find it if you follow Kevin's Epigenetics Mechanisms link. His article is pretty interesting too.

Here is the Youtube link




And you're right about Lammark. When secularism took over Academia and Science away from Europe's Christendom, they structured their own version of an Ecclessiastical Hierachical structure which was actually pattern after the religious orthodoxy they replace. Complete with all the newer lines of dogma and conduct that the former orthodoxy used with they ran things. Unfortunately all the flaws common to imperfect human nature rode along for the ride as well. Academic jealousies, scientific envy, pride, etc. So Lammark was dismissed for decades for´his seemingly unorthodox views on inheritance. Even when Epigenetics was first starting to gain interest, academics, especially those who were diehard Darwinians were adamantly opposed. Then begrudgingly open slightly, now they are saying Darwin new this all along. The direction science takes as time goes on is sad. And our planet continues to degrade. One is forced to ask, how much do they not really know contrary to public relations propaganda.

Tyler Ludens wrote:

Kevin Franck wrote:This is the practice using their new toy called CRISPR which they tout as safer

How can it be safer when they claim their current practices are perfectly safe?

Yeah, no kidding

The biotechnology companies are all moving in a different direction. The new terms coming up are going to be Epigenetic Engineered Oroganisms pr Epigenetically Modified Organism. This is the practice using their new toy called CRISPR which they tout as safer amd more effective than the inserting of foreign genes using a viral vector. In fact it's already begun with the gene silencing of a gene in White Button Mushrooms which causes browning. They insist it is safe and there will be no consequences. This is a lie because genes have multiple functions depending on the context they are used within any organism.

Anyway, I've added it to a post I created here

Epigenetic Mechanisms Defined and Illustrated

Terry Frankeberger wrote:So I found this great video series on you tube explaining how to use nature make soil.

He uses diagrams and even a demonstration to simplify his ideas so most people can understand.

This is the link to the first video.

Enjoy
tfrankeberger

To be honest, I've never used wood chips in such a gardening way, only within the commercial and home landscape application. I never have to use fertilzers in the landscape as the micro-organisms and insects which live in the soil and under the mulch. I have often had to apply three six inch layers of mulch a year under my landscaping because the breakdown was so rapid and the trees and shrubs growth was phenomenal.