Sunday, November 24, 2013

Agroforestry Pruning

More recently I have been pruning some trees at Dalpura, an Agroforestry property in the Otways. 



We have been lifting these eucalypts in order to create longer sections of stem for future harvesting.
We build piles of the prunings to add organic matter to every second row, which are being preserved as both habitat and as felling rows for when it comes time to harvest the trees.

Some trees are 'thinned' or removed to make way for the straighter and more vigorous trees. I addition the felled trees re-shoot from the base and after a time the best shoot is selected as a new stem, a process known as coppicing.




The result is a multi-generational and diverse forest which has both medium and long term yields.


Some of the smaller stems harvested will be inoculated with mushroom spawn for Shitake production, while the rest is harvested as firewood. Eventually the remaining and most vigorous trees will be harvested for varying grades of timber.