Hey you all ! I’m starting to document all the plantations I’ve designed and planted and plan to update you every few months so you can track growth and refer back to past videos. This is the largest plantation I’ve designed and planted so far—with the help of volunteers, it covers 6,000 m². This is an almond grove with seedless grapes climbing eucalypts in between. This is what I call a “hybrid infestation – plant all at once”, as we’re really seeing the planting in two steps: 1- The placenta and secondary species - letting the myoporum, eucs, casuarinas and acacias form a continuous hedge in between the almonds. 2- Years down the line when appropriate - when almonds start producing well - coppice the acacias, eucs, casuarinas, tamarix and myoporums let them regrow for the ones that recover. Then plant the next wave of succession on a growth pulese : grevillea robusta as a long-term emergent - Planting it now alongside the eucalypts is an experiment to see if it can survive next to their sizable trunks; some may need replanting. I would also plant the low-ish strata - Main : Viburnum tinus good drought-resistance and reliable - Others: Prunus lusitanica, Ruscus apophyllum, and Acanthus mollis (testing them out) The only ick is that I have to make sure that I find a plant that can handle coppicing really well when harvesting the almonds. One challenge is finding plants that can handle coppicing well during almond harvesting. One idea is to have two people pulling nets while another shakes the tree, allowing almonds to drop without stressing the understory. The other is to use plants like Acanthus mollis, which go dormant in summer, then the ground is free to put nets down. Finally, I’ve considered seed bombs of primary forest species like carob, olive, lentiscus, Italian buckthorn, etc.. - an idea Scott Hall gave me. Birds might naturally assist with this in 5 years, but adding seed bombs then would act as “biomass insurance.” Although slow initially, with improved soil fertility after 5 years, these species should establish much faster than in the current poor soil.

Hey you all ! I'm really excited to share the progress of the oldest syntropic system I’ve designed and planted. One of the biggest lessons from this site is that trees don’t always thrive right away - even the toughest species (such as casuarina, false pepper or eucalyptus) On highly degraded land, there are a couple of key limiting factors: - Compacted or poor soil can prevent taproots from penetrating deeply - Strong wind exposure can limit tree growth. Because of this, it’s essential to plant a good density of your placenta 2 to secondary bushes such as tagasaste, tree alfalfa and your typical Mediteranean herbs. They play a crucial role in : - breaking up the soil and create channels for roots - reducing exposure and create microclimates - preparing the space for your main trees to eventually take over This plot has been a really valuable trial for me, and I highly recommend doing something similar on your land. Start with your poorest soil on site. It gives you a true reference point and shows you which species can actually handle extreme degradation. And work from there !

First time using an air prune bed, so I’m curious to see how root development compares to traditional trays. The goal is to have strong seedlings ready for transplanting into the land by early October. I’m working in a Mediterranean climate (Mallorca), so timing is pretty critical for survival through next summer. Would love to hear from anyone who has experience with air-prune beds: Anything to watch out for in the early stages? Maybe keep it covered with plastic until germination since nights are still cold?

I have been struggling with my Apple farming land and it's really affecting me so much and I've spent a lot of money to get equipment but they keep dying even though I change the land. Please I hope you can guide me on how to start up again with good ideas.

So stoked to share this interview with you guys ! Josh has got some really deep insights into syntropic ag, with his 15 years of experience, having worked on conventional orchards and pruned hundreds of thousands of trees - mangoes, avocados, olives, peaches, ect. Where he is now - Ibiza, he's working on a chicken broiler operation along with 8km of syntropic rows including peach, citrus and olive ! He's got some really good insights into the philosophy of syntropy. He loves nerding on it and reads and watches everything that concerns syntropy and syntropic agroforestry, no better person to talk about it !