Author Topic: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida  (Read 1215 times)

C24mccain

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
    • Lakeland Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 27, 2020, 05:34:03 PM »
 I did this update video today, November 27 2020. This is a full tour of our 5 year project.

https://youtu.be/s79XvnwL3cY

EddieF

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 394
    • s.e. florida
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2020, 06:52:29 PM »
Very nice.  pH is easy to test yourself with test strips for pool.

C24mccain

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
    • Lakeland Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2020, 07:08:54 PM »
Very nice.  pH is easy to test yourself with test strips for pool.

I have a good digital ph tester that works great. Was a good $120 investment for me.

Iceman716238

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 184
    • Orlando, FL 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2020, 02:33:00 PM »
I did this update video today, November 27 2020. This is a full tour of our 5 year project.

https://youtu.be/s79XvnwL3cY
Nice food forest bro. Keep it up! I think I will add some sulfur as well as there are tons of shells in my backyard(orlando).

Mike T

  • Zone 12a
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9012
  • Cairns,Nth Qld, Australia
    • Zone 12a
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2020, 05:00:31 PM »
Looks good and in developing well. The grass looks like guinea grass. I think there is scope for putting extra Eugenia's. jabs, various sapotes, maprang, abiu, guavas, longan, citrus, Annonas and a few others in a way to ensure year round production and diversity of the best fruits. Did I say Garcinias? I guess spreading suphur strategically would be  bit expensive but as a water additive it could work. You can select the N fertilisers that are most acidifying also.

CowboyFig

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 32
    • USA/Central Florida/10a
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2020, 05:10:29 PM »
Great tour and the growth is phenomenal. You’ve got a beautiful property. Ever thought of adding animals into the system, such as chickens?

C24mccain

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
    • Lakeland Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2020, 08:23:54 PM »
Looks good and in developing well. The grass looks like guinea grass. I think there is scope for putting extra Eugenia's. jabs, various sapotes, maprang, abiu, guavas, longan, citrus, Annonas and a few others in a way to ensure year round production and diversity of the best fruits. Did I say Garcinias? I guess spreading suphur strategically would be  bit expensive but as a water additive it could work. You can select the N fertilisers that are most acidifying also.

Thanks for the ideas Mike. I'm always pondering things to plant. My wife gets a bit worried that I will never stop and we will have no space left on our 2.5 acres. I also have to contend with freezes. A few years ago we hit 25* F. As things get bigger I don't have to worry as much but wife sees me planting new things that will take more effort to freeze protect. I'm sure in time I will get more diversity. We both work full time jobs so we don't get a lot of time to maintain things. Maybe that will change eventually and we will have more time. Thanks.

C24mccain

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
    • Lakeland Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2020, 08:27:25 PM »
Great tour and the growth is phenomenal. You’ve got a beautiful property. Ever thought of adding animals into the system, such as chickens?

I actually got rid of the chickens in year one. I didn't like them scratching under the trees. A dog is good for us but I have considered having a goat or something as a lawn mower. Let grass grow wild and move goat around to trim it down. That's a possibility if the animal doesn't destroy trees and fruit.

CowboyFig

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 32
    • USA/Central Florida/10a
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2020, 09:07:23 PM »
Yeah, chickens scratching can be counterproductive depending on your situation. Goats love woody growth so they would stress the trees for sure and would likely leave a lot of the grass untouched. Hair sheep or geese (believe it or not) could manage some pasture, but that would likely be extra work you wouldn’t want. At any rate, your property is looking fantastic. Man building up your own place is soooo addicting. I’m rooting for that green sapote too. I wanna see that thing fruit!

C24mccain

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
    • Lakeland Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2020, 09:54:19 PM »
Yeah, chickens scratching can be counterproductive depending on your situation. Goats love woody growth so they would stress the trees for sure and would likely leave a lot of the grass untouched. Hair sheep or geese (believe it or not) could manage some pasture, but that would likely be extra work you wouldn’t want. At any rate, your property is looking fantastic. Man building up your own place is soooo addicting. I’m rooting for that green sapote too. I wanna see that thing fruit!

Yeah the green sapote had one fruit on it most of the year and I applied a fungicide (foliar/bark) to it in to large a quantity and burnt many leaves. The leaves fell and the fruit dropped.  The ph around the tree was very high so I recently put down some sulphur. I've noticed that the trees I have which have suffered from root issues due to the extremely wet summer we had a few years ago are trees in spots where the ph is 7.5 or higher. I've pruned some of the tree, put down some sulphur and planted some cover crop seeds around the tree to see if it will turn things around. I really don't want to use the fungicide anymore.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2020, 09:59:08 PM by C24mccain »

C24mccain

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 198
    • Lakeland Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2020, 10:03:55 PM »
Looks good and in developing well. The grass looks like guinea grass. I think there is scope for putting extra Eugenia's. jabs, various sapotes, maprang, abiu, guavas, longan, citrus, Annonas and a few others in a way to ensure year round production and diversity of the best fruits. Did I say Garcinias? I guess spreading suphur strategically would be  bit expensive but as a water additive it could work. You can select the N fertilisers that are most acidifying also.

I forgot to mention that sulphur doesn't seem to expensive for me. I find it to be very effective when ground to a powder and distributed evenly. I don't use any nitrogen fertilizers or any commercial fertilizers except some micronutrient, especially manganese.