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Cactus Syntropy : establishing polyculture & support species for trichocereus

Quetzal7

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Project research on growing trichocereus in syntropic systems (regenerative agroforestry )


Objective :

-reducing importacion of trichocereus from south america

-establishing a diverse genetic bank of pachanois, bridgesii and hybrids (over 30 different varieties)

-production of food

-production of aromatic plants and fowers for perfumery



DESIGN

Long term species (climax):

-A trichocereus seedling (2-4 years old). Selected crosses from new zealand (guru, dino, decosta, notch...) and from portugal.

-almonds

-oaks

- Damask Rose (end of lines)

Support : prickly pears (condensator of air moisture / chop and drop)



Medium term for both production & support (secundaries)


Rosemary

Lavender

Sages (white sage, officinalis & more)

elaeagnus

Acacia (acuminata, maidenii, longifolia)





Short term (placenta)


Production: pumpkins

Support : Sunflower (VERY IMPORTANT, gives shade from the midday sun the first summer. The cactus really appreciate!) , cruciferas, mostards, and a mix of random seeds of a bit everything.



Implementation :

80m long line, running east-west, with one drip irrigation

Middle line : cactus every 30 cm (240 tricho in total)

Interplanted with the almonds, acacias and oaks (every 4 m or so)

Front line : Prickly pears, aromatics , sunflowers

back line : pumpkins





Workflow :

-cut existing veggetation and keep the biomass aside

-Looseing of the soil over 1.20m wide

-Concentrating top soil in the middle

-integrating manure (300L)



-Planting of all the seedlings

-Adding the support species & the seeds

-Using all the biomass of the area and place it along the line. Then mulching with woodchips (1500 liter) – this is an important step to reduce the amount of grass coming back.

Worktime : 4 days with 2 people



Maintenance :

weeding the grass, thinning the sunflowers (probably keeping one every 30 cm), managing the ground covers to give space to the young aromatics...

->1h every 2 weeks (without counting the time standing there in contemplation... I prefer not to say how much this is)


ps: can't find a way to put the image in the correct orientation :/


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Awesome project! Love me some poly culture gardens! Ben Kamm at Sacred Succulent has a variety of Andean tubers and other plants that Im curious to get into my beds.
Currently my cactus beds include sunflowers, castor, Tulsi, marigolds, ice plant, morning glories, and tobacco. Some other stuff in there I'm forgetting as well
 

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