Jeff Hodgins

One way that not irrigating helps a crop is by reducing weed pressure.
Ideas for growing without irrigation

Drought resistant plants (corn,wheat)
Use cacti to store watering an organic form. This material can be fermented in a closed vat for a few weeks to liquify it and make it's water soak into the soil.
Banana is another common option for solid water storage.
Pit or trench planting.(walipini,zai holes,waffle garden.
Decomposition or digestion. This process creates water from CH²O²∆ CO2 H²O. The trick is keeping the process going in cold or dry times and I guess the reaction has to happen near the plants root zone.

It means dormant or not growing vigorously.
Senescence or biological aging is the gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in living organisms. The word senescence can refer to either cellular senescence or to senescence of the whole organism. Wikipedia

Surely old trees play a huge roll in accumulating nutrients and they provide habitat for bromiliads and lichens. The nutrition in the oak leaves will foster rapid regrowth after the pruning. Big wide trees kill corn by blocking the rain? Trees and things like corn can live together in a syntropic pruning system. In syntropic agroforestry consortiums of species work together for good. As humans our job is to maintain harmony in the system. We do this by pruning and mowing.

I think that thinning could be made profitable if lower branches are cut and used as mulch to enrich the site or grow a crop. I have really been noticing that big low side branches ruin logs and they take away from the diameter of the log. They also block huge areas of ground so people and animals can't even walk. Cedar trees are horrible for sagging right to the ground then growing back up again and even rooting in some cases. It's a huge mess to try and walk through. I like to try and hide all the branches I have cut in a low spot so the pile looks smaller. They rot faster this way. I try to make a point of organizing the material as I go or at least before I finish. Otherwise it weakens the undergrowth that it lands on. I've been doing a lot of thinning and pruning on my brothers small acreage in British Columbia.

The tree is not from my property I think it's a maple but it's a good example of a tree that doesn't really grow very much anymore.

It's not hard to observe that often the older fruiting branches of a tree will have smaller leaves and  be less vigorous than the leaves of suckers sprouting from lower down on the trunk. This year I was observing Oak and Teposan (Buddleja cordata). The oak trees are quite old and have mostly been coppiced at least once. Most of them have 2 trunks or more and have reached maturity again. The large old toposan trees have very few leaves compared to the one tree that was blown down and resprouted with vigorous growth. I pointed it out to my children and I asked them which one of these trees is doing more photosynthesis per square meter of ground? The answer was obvious. We had been watching videos on syntropic agroforestry and they talk a lot about focusing on photosynthesis in order to boost fertility and mulch production. So I decided that what should happen to these old trees now is they should have their canopy reduced by cutting the side branches. This will cause the old trees to put on new growth and it will provide mulch and wood. It will also open up space and give light to smaller trees trying to start out underneath. I believe the smaller trees will have more vigorous growth and that they should replace the older trees gradually but in order to do so it seems like they need my help. The wide spreading canopy of oak leaves blocks much of the rainwater from ever-reaching the smaller saplings and many smaller saplings are dead standing between huge old trees. Opening the canopy will not only benefit the small trees it will also benefit grasses and make it possible to produce some crop species in the forest.

Thanks. Its been a ton of hard work but it's worth it when you can sit in the shade of a tree where once was scorching sun.

Plants to integrate into annual cropping rows rather than tree rows or plants suitable for both.

Canna
Nopal
Napier?

Napier may not die out with normal tilling and could be too thick to cut with tractor discs. Napier could work if it were kept very small so one would maybe plant the Napier late in the season for some extra fall fodder then till it in. Nopal roots and stalks would most likely be soft enough for tractor to cut but it may still become an acceptable weed. Canna would also tend to persist if missed by harvesting but would not be problematic as a weed

Here is a list of the main plants I will be concentrating on.

Non-tree plants

Nopal
Agave
Canna
Napier
Crinum
Castor bean
Agapanthus
Raspberry?
Aloe
Banana?
Natal plum?
Chayote?
Passion fruit?

Tree list

Tejocote
Capulín
Peach
Pear
Poplar
Fraxinus a
White sapote
Loquat
Fig
Mulberry

I have some pics and videos on another thread called "The farm in Puebla" you can search that here on permits.com it's in the homesteading forum.