nickolas
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Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:04 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

trees for a forest/Arboretum?

I am starting a small 5 Hectare forest/Arboretum on my farm, it is going to take quite awhile to plant out and a lot longer for them to grow but I think it will be worth it. I hate Australian Native Gum Trees as they can be very counterproductive, so I will be planting a lot of useful deciduous tree as well as a few evergreen trees such as pines. I will be planting fruit trees in the forest that will be just for the wildlife to eat. Here is a short list of the trees I will be planting out and if you have any favourite kind of tree that you think I have missed please let me know and I will add them to the list:

Oak, Elm, Ash, Beech, Silver Birch, Japanese Maple, Horse Chestnut, Poplars, Weeping Willows, Fig, Hazel, Walnut, Magnolia, Moringa, Tagasaste, Date Palm, Sequoiadendron Giganteum, Peppercorn.

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lorax
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Location: Ecuador, USDA Zone 13, at 10,000' of altitude

You might also consider Persimmon and if your zone is warm enough, bananas (which are a great plant to provide shade for saplings, and become a great understory plant when your forest has grown up a bit.)

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ElizabethB
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Location: Lafayette, LA

I have no experience and can not help you but I want to commend you on your very ambitious project. Sounds awesome!

DoubleDogFarm
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Nickolas,

Sounds like a perfect opportunity to try Hugelkultur.
Check out this video around 1:30. Green vs Brown. :wink:
www.youte.com/watch?v=Sso4UWObxXg&feature=fvstub

I will be removing several willows and maybe a couple Douglas fir. The debris will be piled along the north edge, buried and planted to trees.

Some of my choices will be, Big leaf Linden ( basswood, Lime), walnut, filbert and chestnut. I may use Red alder as a nursery tree and cut them down later.

Eric

nickolas
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Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2011 7:04 am
Location: Victoria, Australia

I read alot into Hugelkultur but I don't think t is right for my area because we only have native Eucalyptus trees and they are not very goog for Hugelkultur, but I will have the right kind of wood when my forest it alot older.

I have 30 acres all up and I only need 10-15 acres tops for my Permaculture project, so I have a lot of empty space to one side of the property.
It is mainly going to be fore wildlife but having said that I hope to be self sufficient for autumn leaves by 2030, 95% of which will be coming out of my forest. I will spend a fair bit of time in their playing the flute and also relaxing in summer.
I won't ever need it as a wood resource because I back onto a Eucalyptus forest and I am allowed to collect firewood within 100 meters of my fence line. And I wont need it as a food resource as all the people and animal food crops will be on the other side of the block. Not all of the trees are going to be in the 12 acre forest, I am going to have 20 Persian Oaks down the driveway and I am shore that I will always try and fit a deciduous tree in were ever the will fit because other that firewood I really hate Eucalyptus trees.
I am a fairly young man, which means I will be abele to see my forest reach 80 years old before I turn 100.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Wow this sounds like a really cool project.

I'm not familiar with all the trees you listed, but are you planting them into plant communities/guilds with thought to nitrogen fixers and shorter lifespan species' growing spaces to be eventually taken over by longer lifespan species?

Does your land have the different growing conditions that would support the trees you want to grow?

What are the wildlife (insects to birds to animals) species that these trees will support? Will this significantly change their current habitats, and are you intentionally trying to create habitats for specific declining species?

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rainbowgardener
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Agree with Applestar. It sounds like a wonderful project, but I would encourage doing a lot of research before you start planting permanent trees. What is most important to support are native tree communities, which are much more useful to wildlife at all levels starting from the leaf eating insects which are the base of the food chain and support everything else.

What you really don't want to do is plant any more invasive exotics. Australia has suffered severely from the importation of exotic species.

Most pine trees now found in Australia are not native

Even though you don't like the native gum tree, australia has many other native trees. Here's one partial list of some native trees and shrubs.

https://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Australian_native_plants_and_trees

But notice, even though a particular tree may be native to Australia, doesn't mean it is native to your part of Australia. Australia is a very diverse place with a number of different biomes, including tropical/rainforest, savanna, desert. You need to plant trees that are adapted to your biome.

And remember that a working forest does not consist only of trees. It has canopy trees, understory trees, shrubs, and ground level plants.

That's why I suggest a lot of research and perhaps finding an expert (perhaps through a local university) who would be willing to consult with you on how to do this right.

But congratulations on having the resources and the vision to do something like this!!!

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ElizabethB
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I strongly agree with Rainbow on the research issue. This is a mojor undertaking. You want to enhance and not jepordize your environment hence the need for lots of research and as much professiional advice as you can get.

This is obviously not an over night project so the time spent on research and planning will be time well spent.

I admire your plan and wish you the best of luck.

DoubleDogFarm
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Hey Nickolas,

It's been about a year since you started this post. I hope you are around to update.

I have many Filbert nuts in the refrigerator going through chill stratify. They should be ready late Feb. early Mar. Saw this video on Youtube and thought I would share.

[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/iQo4YbUtKJQ[/youtudotbe]


Eric

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Well there is a native you have missed. Macadamia nuts. You could also try cashew, pecan, and a few citrus trees, mango, lychee, coffee would be an understory tree, avocado are the fruit trees I like. The birds here really go after lychee, mango, and figs.
Metrosideros bartlettii is a New Zealand native that is in the myrtle family and closely resembles the Ohia lehua. It has white flowers and is quite rare. White flowered ohia is rare here too. But there are other species with red flowers that are more common. It is a good nesting tree . It grows slowly. There are some New Zealand species of metrosideros growing here and we call them false Ohia. They can be a problem as they compete with the native ohia, but they may be more suitable in your climate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosideros_kermadecensis

tomc
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The last time he stopped in here was in May. It may take an email nudge to get him a-typing again.



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