Fodder Trees

Now I wish I had a cow. I have plenty of desmodium!

 

Your scale is a lot larger than mine. Are you doing all this planting by hand?

Leucaena inoculant is easy, as well as seed variety. https://www.qaseeds.com.au/product.php?c=1&a=3

You may find other varieties there that will interest you. I have a bag of Cunnigham seeds left over you are welcome to if you'd like. Psyllids attack them so I'm not sure what advancements have been made with varieties of pysllid resistance. Free is worth trying though?

I'm not aware of the species name for the Salix, I was told it was a sterile cultivar from NZ and has never become an issue where they are.

I'll get some photos of the Alba.

 

I am indeed hand planting- I estimate a grand total of about 10, 000 shrubs, but that is quite manageable if I do it gradually over five years and minimise the time spent on each one (hence preferring bare root cuttings and direct seed where possible). If I could click my fingers and have it all planted today I wouldn't do it- I know I have to learn about spacing, location/combinations and variety selection as I go and I am pretty sure I have made plenty of suboptimal choices with my first few acres of test plantings.

The Leucaena seed would be most welcome. I had collected weedy types from all over the place but a proper strain would be a vast improvement. I wasn't aware of the QA supplier you sent the link for. Very interesting- I will be getting in touch with them in the new year. I think I have to get over my paranoia of a field legume becoming a pest in my very small vegetable growing areas. I have plenty of weeds already, so another one that at least fixes nitrogen can't be too bad a problem.

Should we private message to organise postage on the Leucaena seed? I am wondering what I can offer in return. Do you have any particular interests? I have collected all sorts of odd things in the last few years that would be worth sharing.

 

I also want to share something that i am hoping that the fodder trees can fill the gap during the dry season when the pasture becomes a bit thin on the ground. We have a long road ahead of us with soil improvement before our "grass" will sustain anything for more than a few months. Thanks for sharing..
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I am already finding it very promising that the small plants I established during our wet autumn last year are hanging on and even growing a little through what has now been over six months without substantial rain. Once these shrubs are more mature they should be able to continue growing through seasons like this- the mature ones in other areas around my garden and our village are still growing contently despite the dry. Whoever thought it was a good idea to base feeding animals off pasture alone must have had better grass and rainfall than we do.

 

Checked out my Albizia today, still struggling. Nearby Leucaena are 10 times as big, Casuarina are growing well too. Waiting on rain and there was a short burst today.

Came across this for a low-grade forage, not a tree but will work with trees:

https://vetivernetinternational.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/vetiver-grass-as-forage.html

 

What a great thread! I hadn't thought of using mulberries as forage, but I can see they'd be really good for that purpose. They thrive in my area as though they were natives, are the first plants to produce berries in spring, can be kept cut back as shrubs, or grown to tree height. There are always many volunteer seedlings coming up everywhere, and they also readily grow from cuttings if one tree happens to produce extra-good berries. Funny how one can get into the habit of thinking of them only for shade and fruit and overlook the fact that herbivores find the leaves tasty.

I've been thinking of planting carrizo grass (Arundo donax) as a silt-catcher in a creek bottom where the soil tends to wash away into the creek when there's significant rainfall. Carrizo thrives in my climate, isn't picky about soil type, and yet isn't terribly invasive. I've never heard of anyone feeding it to livestock, and far as I know, no part of it is edible for humans. For that reason, I've hesitated to plant it (although I do have some growing in containers that I could plant out if I decide I want to). It can be useful as a building material, and it produces a large amount of high-carbon stems that can be used as mulch. Has anyone here ever tried feeding it to livestock?

 

Coppiced mulberry and acacia overstory:



Source: https://permaculturenews.org/2012/02/25/perennial-staple-crops-of-the-world/


Arundo dorax:

https://irrigation.org.au/documents...e_papers_2008/200508_Stream3_CMJWilliams2.pdf

After googling, low-grade fodder for cattle on young stems only. Weed risk when attached to creeks though as parts can wash away and re-establish.

 

Another angle of the photo of Mulberry above:

https://apiosinstitute.org/sites/apios.rivervalleytechcollective.org/files/DSC02393.jpg

Source: https://apiosinstitute.org/morus-x-hybrid-mulberry

 

do ya recon the thornless varietys of honey locust would be legal in QLD?
or what about gleditsia sinensis?
or some sort of mimosa?

 

Mimosa naturalised in areas.
Thornless Honey Locust - no.
Gleditsia sinensis seems to be under Gleditsia spp so No.

 

Morus alba for you void:

 

Nice! Thanks for putting up the photos, S.O.P. I had some mulberry seedlings in containers and was inspired by your photos to plant some today in a pecan / pawpaw (Asimina triloba and Asimina parviflora) group.

I'm holding off planting out the Arundo dorax for now, but I don't think there would be any danger of it spreading if I plant it around the oil well. No creek near that location. I know I wouldn't want to eat anything grown in the contaminated soil around the oil well. I don't suppose I'd want to use it as mulch either, except around the oil well. I'm not sure ... I think there are bacteria that eat oil, break it down into carbon and hydrogen.

 

Would bamboo be better then?

Maybe some research into bioremediation plants or fungi? Vetiver, for example, holds heavy metals in its roots so the tops can still be used with a lower risk. Climate specific though.

Back on fodder, our chickens are eating Willow and Moringa freely.

 

I've planted a few kinds of bamboo here to see how they'll do. The climate is a bit of a challenge. We have at least a few days of freezing temperatures every winter, so bamboos that are frost sensitive die back to the ground. (the soil never freezes). If I could find a type of clumping bamboo that can tolerate temperatures down to 15 degrees F (-9.5 C) or even a little colder for short periods, that doesn't need a temendous amount of water, and that will grow to 30 ft or higher, it would be ideal.

I planted some timber bamboo this past summer (Bambus Oldhamii) that's supposed to be good to 18 degrees F. Put it in a protected location south of my house, but it's looking quite stressed at the moment. We've had an especially cold winter this year, although I don't believe it's gotten below 20F.

Vetiver does great here in protected locations, but it tends to die back in cold years. I use it extensively in my San Antonio garden, which is on a south-facing slope that stays around 12 - 15 degrees F warmer than the surrounding area in winter.

The oil well is downhill from the houses and to the north-northwest. If I could dig swales to hold water, stabilise the berms with vetiver, and plant cold-hardy bamboo (or carrizo grass) on the downhill side to block the cold NW wind in winter, it might work. I've had vetiver stabilizing a berm around some mequite trees here for 2 years, and it's gone through severe drought and low temps. It did die back once when the temperature went down to around 13 F, but the roots remained healthy, and the clumps grew back thicker and taller than ever the following summer. Vetiver doesn't seem to mind drought at all. This isn't a good time to plant it out, since the coldest months here are January and Feb, but I'll start some plugs in 1 gallon containers, so they'll get a head start and be ready to plant out in March.

Meanwhile, I can do more research on bioremediation. Nature is very resilient, I'll bet I can figure out some mix of living things that can take care of the problem.

 

Try lomandra
where r u
Moso bamboo is cold tolerant let me know if u can get any?
sunchokes handle oil ok

 

Moso Bamboo and Sunchokes

I'm in central Texas, USA. Yes, I can get moso bamboo. Looks like it's worth giving it a try.

I've tried growing sunchokes a couple of times and have never been able to get them to thrive. Maybe I've had weak roots to start with. I also have a problem with pocket gophers eating root crops on the sandy loam part of my soil, which is where root crops do the best. However, if I planted vetiver around the sunchokes, the gophers would probably leave them alone. Gophers don't like vetiver at all.

 

Honey locusts (even the thornless ones) look to be on their way out due to their invasive potential inland. I think they wouldn't like our wet seasons with soggy clay soil for months on end.

The mimosas I am pretty sure have toxic alkaloids and unnatural amino acids in them like Leucaena but worse.

One thing our cows love is bougainvillea, but I am reluctant to plant too many due to their nasty thorns. Pruning and burning them would be a chore.

 

Were about 100km from Texas Queensland

Are there bare areas that are at risk from being invaded by poineering legumes?
you frost free?

 

We have our local black wattle self sowing, mostly where the cows can't get to it. Our pasture is pretty thick in most places (usually 30cm deep at least, only as low as 10cm when recently grazed) so that slows down establishment of new trees and shrubs (though it also protects them from our hares and kangaroos, and frost). We only get a mild frost every few years.