I was lucky to be at Sadhana Forest during the time of planting trees!
They plant trees 1 month out of the year, the rest of the time they do water conservation work- creating bunds and reservations of water.
It was great to see how they planted trees because I had never seen anything like it before!
Planting a Tree:
what you will need:
-Shovel or a mumtee (Indian Shovel)
-3-4 buckets of water
-1 bucket of compost
-Cut plastic pipe - 2 feet high with a diameter of 2ft
-Pick axe or a crow bar
-2 wheelbarrows full of mulching material (dry leaves, woodchips, dried plants, paper, etc)
-a tree!
If you are feeling extra ambitious
-an empty water bottle- cap included
-1.5 foot long rope
-small cut pipe or hose 3inches long with a diameter of 1 inch
-adhesive- glue
- Instructions for the latter -
This is new technique we started using in Sadhana forest to increase watering efficiency for the trees, typically when you water trees from the top, only about 40% of the water makes it to the tree- if that.
- cut a hole in the bottom of the water bottle a little over an inch in diameter.
-put the rope through the pipe and tie a knot at the end of the rope.
- Put the side of the pipe with the knot into the hole of the water bottle. Make sure that the knot is inside of the water bottle, while the pipe can just be touching the hole of the water bottle from the outside.
-Glue the pipe to the water bottle so that the hole of the water bottle meets the hole of the pipe. Ensure that there is no point where water could leak.
Instructions:
-Find a place to plant your tree! If you know what kind of tree you have, it would be helpful to look online how big your tree will get, and plan your place accordingly. Read up on what type of soil your tree likes and what kind of climate it's used to, as well as how much water is needed. Also consider if your tree does best in full sun, partial sun or shade.
-Get a crow bar and make the point you wish to plant the tree, draw a circle around that crowbar, leaving a circle with about 1 meter in diameter.
-Place your 2ftx2ft cut pipe in the center of that circle.
-Start digging outside of that circle you just created. Don't dig inside of the circle. All of the dirt dug from outside of the circle will need to be put next to the pipe - not inside of the pipe. This will eventually create a mound surrounding the center pipe.
-Once your mound is created, pour 2-3 buckets of water inside of your central pipe. This allows water to be absorbed where it's needed the most. The reason we dig outside of the circumference of the circle is so that we don't disturb the soil directly in contact with the tree roots. There are many processes at work under the surface, and for maximum tree growth efficiency those processes need to be left as is. This is why we dig outside of where the tree will be planted and have direct contact with the soil.
Day 1 is complete!
Continue your work the following day, to allow water absorption!
- get 1 bucket of compost.
- one tree
-one special water bottle (made above) optional
-1 bucket of water
-lots of mulching material - few wheelbarrows.
- First place the water bottle in the center of the pipe, make sure the rope attached to the bottle touches where the tree will be placed.
- Put the tree in the pipe.
-Start pouring the compost in the pipe, burying the roots of the tree and the waterbottle
- Once the roots of the tree is covered, pour about half of the bucket of water over the compost.
- Make sure the soil on the outside of the pipe and the compost on the inside of the pipe are about at equal height. Try to flatten the soil within a 5'' radius of the outside of a pipe - preferably create a small mote with you hands in this area. Pour some water into this little mote.
-Take out the pipe! You may need two people to do this.
- Smooth out and pat down the area that the pipe was. Making sure the tree is well secure.
- Fill the water bottle with water, and close the lid - the water bottle can now water the tree slowly over the next few days. However, the tightness of the lid will determine how much water is able to flow out. The tighter the lid, the less water will trickle to the tree, the more open the lid, the more water. -Experiment with what works best for your tree!
- Now cover the base of the tree and the sides of the mound with mulch! We used dried leaves from the forest, but whatever you have access to will also work - dry grass clippings, hay, straw, saw dust.. any dry plant material would be great! This prevents erosion and increases soil processes which keep the tree healthy, it's also a great way to preserve water in the soil!
Happy Plantings!
They plant trees 1 month out of the year, the rest of the time they do water conservation work- creating bunds and reservations of water.
It was great to see how they planted trees because I had never seen anything like it before!
Planting a Tree:
what you will need:
-Shovel or a mumtee (Indian Shovel)
-3-4 buckets of water
-1 bucket of compost
-Cut plastic pipe - 2 feet high with a diameter of 2ft
-Pick axe or a crow bar
-2 wheelbarrows full of mulching material (dry leaves, woodchips, dried plants, paper, etc)
-a tree!
If you are feeling extra ambitious
-an empty water bottle- cap included
-1.5 foot long rope
-small cut pipe or hose 3inches long with a diameter of 1 inch
-adhesive- glue
- Instructions for the latter -
This is new technique we started using in Sadhana forest to increase watering efficiency for the trees, typically when you water trees from the top, only about 40% of the water makes it to the tree- if that.
- cut a hole in the bottom of the water bottle a little over an inch in diameter.
-put the rope through the pipe and tie a knot at the end of the rope.
- Put the side of the pipe with the knot into the hole of the water bottle. Make sure that the knot is inside of the water bottle, while the pipe can just be touching the hole of the water bottle from the outside.
-Glue the pipe to the water bottle so that the hole of the water bottle meets the hole of the pipe. Ensure that there is no point where water could leak.
Instructions:
-Find a place to plant your tree! If you know what kind of tree you have, it would be helpful to look online how big your tree will get, and plan your place accordingly. Read up on what type of soil your tree likes and what kind of climate it's used to, as well as how much water is needed. Also consider if your tree does best in full sun, partial sun or shade.
-Get a crow bar and make the point you wish to plant the tree, draw a circle around that crowbar, leaving a circle with about 1 meter in diameter.
-Place your 2ftx2ft cut pipe in the center of that circle.
-Start digging outside of that circle you just created. Don't dig inside of the circle. All of the dirt dug from outside of the circle will need to be put next to the pipe - not inside of the pipe. This will eventually create a mound surrounding the center pipe.
-Once your mound is created, pour 2-3 buckets of water inside of your central pipe. This allows water to be absorbed where it's needed the most. The reason we dig outside of the circumference of the circle is so that we don't disturb the soil directly in contact with the tree roots. There are many processes at work under the surface, and for maximum tree growth efficiency those processes need to be left as is. This is why we dig outside of where the tree will be planted and have direct contact with the soil.
Day 1 is complete!
Continue your work the following day, to allow water absorption!
- get 1 bucket of compost.
- one tree
-one special water bottle (made above) optional
-1 bucket of water
-lots of mulching material - few wheelbarrows.
- First place the water bottle in the center of the pipe, make sure the rope attached to the bottle touches where the tree will be placed.
- Put the tree in the pipe.
-Start pouring the compost in the pipe, burying the roots of the tree and the waterbottle
- Once the roots of the tree is covered, pour about half of the bucket of water over the compost.
- Make sure the soil on the outside of the pipe and the compost on the inside of the pipe are about at equal height. Try to flatten the soil within a 5'' radius of the outside of a pipe - preferably create a small mote with you hands in this area. Pour some water into this little mote.
-Take out the pipe! You may need two people to do this.
- Smooth out and pat down the area that the pipe was. Making sure the tree is well secure.
- Fill the water bottle with water, and close the lid - the water bottle can now water the tree slowly over the next few days. However, the tightness of the lid will determine how much water is able to flow out. The tighter the lid, the less water will trickle to the tree, the more open the lid, the more water. -Experiment with what works best for your tree!
- Now cover the base of the tree and the sides of the mound with mulch! We used dried leaves from the forest, but whatever you have access to will also work - dry grass clippings, hay, straw, saw dust.. any dry plant material would be great! This prevents erosion and increases soil processes which keep the tree healthy, it's also a great way to preserve water in the soil!
Happy Plantings!
If you feel like it paying it forward, Sadhana Forest is creating a second community in Kenya. http://www.wethetrees.com/campaigns/lets-create-a-food-forest-in-north-kenya
ReplyDeleteAmazing project!