MIYAWAKI forest getting WET

Рет қаралды 2,234

2 ай бұрын

This video is part of an ongoing series - like a vlog - about our project aiming to RESTORE soil fertility in Valle de los Pedroches in Andalusia, Spain.
We are located in a landscape called Dehesa in Spanish. It is like an oak savanna and is said to be very biodiverse. However, much of it has been overgrazed and the yearly drought of 6 months with NO RAIN makes recovery difficult. Many good practices from other climate zones with frequent rainfall DO NOT WORK here and have contributed to the bad situation in the past.
First and foremost we are restoring soil fertility and DO NOT AIM to deliver a product into any market at this time. We are not doing agriculture or ranching in order to produce something and turn a profit. We see PROFITABILITY as an OUTCOME that will emerge ONCE we have restored the land.
Learn more about our project at: www.caimito.eu You might also visit our shop there to support this project.
If you want to know more who is behind this project: www.stephan-schwab.com/links
Locations in this video might be referred to using a designator. A custom map allows you to better follow along: www.google.com/maps/d/embed?m...
Some simple guidelines for commenting:
- Questions are far more helpful to other viewers than suggestions
- You are watching past events and we might have solved issues or moved on already
- Most people live in temperate climate zones with ample rainfall and good agricultural practices from there might not apply on our land.
- You are watching us learning and we all want to enjoy the journey and knowledge acquisition. Please refrain from telling us how something has to be done as your situation most certainly is vastly different than ours.
- Understand that culture, rules and regulations vary around the world. Be respectful when speaking about the people you see in the video.

Пікірлер: 61

@bagbroch9339 Ай бұрын

Holy shit the yurt!! Wow!! Big landmark mentally! Wow!!! That’s been such a big landmark. Congrats!!!

@TheEmbrio Ай бұрын

Those trees are well cared for

@rajbaniwal3236 Ай бұрын

I can guarantee that the PhD thesis on Miyawaki Forest in Harvard will at least cite this channel, in about 20 years.

@OviHentea Ай бұрын

Fantastic, nicely done! I wish our Miyawaki was that weed-free... even with mulch, the added moisture + healthy seed bank = green bonanza... Also purchased one of those big bales of hay, €80 delivered, ~400kg to distribute over our modest 200m2

@desmomotodesmomoto2033 Ай бұрын

Bro, make a video about it. Spread the knowledge.

@hotbit7327 Ай бұрын

How old is your Miyawaki "forest"? I think in most cases it's a dumb idea, I have one in the local park. I might be wrong, so trying to learn more.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

No method leads really to the Holy Grail. They are just tools for something and you choose based on what your aim is. If the situation requires a lot of biomass quickly, then deliberately creating competition is good and that's what the Miyawaki method is for.

@OviHentea Ай бұрын

@@hotbit7327 it's 3 weeks old, so the weeds came up in no time - we worked the ground deep, we watered it plenty, so they're all sprouting after many years of sitting there. Hopefully future seasons won't be as aggresive

@darked89 Ай бұрын

Wow, 400kg this is close to 3 cubic meters? Or 1.5cm thick hay mulch layer to start with? Sorry to hear that the weedy seedlings just went through it like a knife through the butter.

@dougayers7517 Ай бұрын

The weeds you are standing in is your mulch. No need to buy anything. But if you can buy straw why not. I think the bare ground in the Miyawaki forest will likely hit 150F during the summer. That will probably scorch those little trees. How about buying a riding lawnmower with a grass catcher and just mow the tall weeds and then spread the mowed weeds from the bag catcher around as mulch. That will then shade the ground from the hot sun reducing the ground temp and will also help retain moisture during the hot summer. If you got any grass seed left, throw out some grass seed. Need the ground cover for many different reasons (ie. erosion control, temp, nutrient sharing, structure, ...). As far as moisture goes, when you see the leaves shriveling or the plant slumped over, that means it needs water. Or you could buy some cloth and string up some curtains above the trees to protect from the sun. But a wind storm will likely shred the cloth so you would have to get out there and batten down the hatches before the storm hits. Hay should be cut when green. So if the weeds are already dried, probably not much nutrition left in them as the plant has already sent the nutrient below ground or in the seed if there is a seed.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

That Miyawaki forest grows its own mulch. Right. That's the idea. Mowing is not an option at all and even walking in there isn't. There is 5 plants per m2 and you have to be really careful. All species are for much higher temperatures than we have usually. These are all locals.

@darked89 Ай бұрын

Cut the weedy plants early is a good idea. Anything in full bloom is likely to produce at least some seeds even if left to dry. I am a bit skeptical that a meant for a small garden electric/especially battery lawnmower will go through woody malva silvestre plants. Mulching thick stems with underpowered lawnmower is quite frustrating in my experience. But frankly for the less than perfect ground cover one does not need to shred things. As long as the cut weeds are properly dead (dry, wet then dry again) and possible to be spread in rows between the trees it should be good enough.

@AntonColores Ай бұрын

At 1:10 you mention a flower that you say is the Kokardenblume in German, Blanket flower in English and Gaillardia in Latin (family Asteraceae). Though if you mean the red flower is your video at that time stamp, they look more like Alcea rosea, the common hollyhock (in German Stockrose) within the family Malvaceae. Completely different families of plants.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

I might have confused them :-) Well possible as I don't really remember what exactly I put there. It was several seeds from older bags.

@mena2138 Ай бұрын

Looking very good, nice dark green from the seedlings. I also think anuals are not gonna shade out them.

@fatdad64able Ай бұрын

If the yurt is made from wool, it should be compostable and perhaps used as mulch?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

That's exactly the plan

@darked89 Ай бұрын

One can also use long strips of wool (or plastic?) to cover a small U- or V-shaped ditch which filled with decent earth can serve as a strip to plant i.e. vetiver close to the pump/water pipe. That way the more mature vetiver plants can be moved easily to the final destination.

@Antagonistic Ай бұрын

The flowers are Hollyhocks.

@SteveNoverini Ай бұрын

Looked like mallow to me.

@TheEmbrio Ай бұрын

Hollyhocks are the mallow family indeed

@steverapisura5418 Ай бұрын

@@SteveNoverini Yep, Hollyhocks are in the Mallow family! :)

@MaxAnfilofyev Ай бұрын

Consider timing your irrigation so that it ends before sunrise to reduce the water loss due to evaporation. You can achieve similar results with less water/electricity

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

There is no solar power during the night

@kassy6373 Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Maybe you should get some battery and play with it to shift away from the hottest times.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

@@kassy6373 Yeah. Quite a bit of battery to save a bit on water that comes out of a pond that sits in the sun anyway. We are offgrid and have no public utilities at all.

@davidnilsson3206 Ай бұрын

The Miyawaki forest looking really good so far ! Did I understand you correctly that you wont plant the Paulownias this year where you plowed earlier?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

That's right. Instead we build a wind break out of Cypress trees first in order to avoid losses

@luciatheron1621 Ай бұрын

Pink flowers looks like hollyhocks.

@mechanics4all405 Ай бұрын

when will you plant the rest of the trees,that were not planted yet ❤

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

In autumn when the rain comes back

@stijnt2377 Ай бұрын

Hope you bought a decent sized cypress because they grow pretty slowly as far as I know.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

2,3m high already

@Greengate777 Ай бұрын

Leylandii. Take a look at that. Fast growing and from around the Mediterranean. That in a row, would make a good windbreak

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Yes. A similar thing. 30 2,3 m tall Cypress trees are on their way for a start. I guess we'll have more of them or similar ones soon. They are pretty and help with the cold wind.

@wimpie031 Ай бұрын

Do you know for how long (years?) the Miyawaki forest needs to have irrigation? Or is that something dependent on how quickly it is more or less established?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

The risers are high on purpose. Once the forest has reached the wobblers it is supposed to live without irrigation

@wimpie031 Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Oh wow, that’s actually a really easy way to do it! Well thought out 😁

@rinskegemen3678 12 күн бұрын

I would call those flowers common hollyhock

@desmomotodesmomoto2033 Ай бұрын

Can you get tax break spending for Miyawaki forest? I know financial gain is not your goal, I am just curious to know.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Not everything revolves around money but yes, it would be nice to get some help. I guess we DID as the plants aren't cheap and the European Union has provided them through Life Terra.

@wimpie031 Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito Might as well look into that. Any coin saved can go back into the soil.

@adammz08 Ай бұрын

what an un ceremonious end to the yurt. what will you use for your happy place now ?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

As that is the future dog enclosure there will be bermuda grass, maybe a 10' container with feed in it and also some dog houses / shade structures. The idee is to have a place where we can keep the dogs while we cannot have them roaming the farmyard. So the plants in there should be a sturdy ground cover and everything that provides shade in the summer.

@adammac4381 Ай бұрын

Its going to be great

@darked89 Ай бұрын

You can use at least the borders of the Miyawaki plots for vetiver. You will get the water being splashed around just for free and as a bonus more biomas and some shade. Supposedly vetiver through mycorrhizis can improve the environment for the trees. No practical experience with it, but in the worst case scenario: vetiver growing too big overwhelming the young trees, you can just cut and drop it in place. Water is too precious to just let it evaporate imho

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

Maybe Vetiver might work for that. We'll see. Regarding the water: it comes out of an open pond - not from a public utility nor a deep well.

@darked89 Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito I am a cheapskate: I try to grow more with gray water :). I guess in your case the limiting factor is manual work to be done, so what it may make sense on a small scale for a hobbyist can be a rather low priority on a multi hectare farm.

@tonto_bsmc2604 Ай бұрын

I’ve been worried about the rain.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

"Making rain" is the solution for the first few years and then a micro climate should evolve. We will see. That's the reason why the risers are so tall. They will be removed once the forest has reached their top.

@srantoniomatos Ай бұрын

What is "the former fertility and glory " of that land? How to define that? When was that?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

I would think 300 years ago

@srantoniomatos Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito whats the different from 300, to 400, or 100? Wasnt it silvopasture, with oaks, olives and animals grazing (and hunting), like it was until...59 years ago?

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

@@srantoniomatos The issue is that a good system - Dehesa - apparently got over exploited and damaged.

@srantoniomatos Ай бұрын

@@ProjectGranjaCaimito so you want to go back to that stage...a dehesa/montado, with grazing animals roamming between trees...seems you only lack animals.

@ProjectGranjaCaimito Ай бұрын

@@srantoniomatos You might want to watch older videos. We did have a lot of animals and started by doing what everybody else does until we learned about the issues.