I am looking for suggestions for trees that will supply good mulch. Fast growing Trees/Plants that can be grown from seed or cuttings so we dont have to spend a fortune buying seedlings and that will produce good leaf growth so we can continually prune and chip them for mulch. Living on the coast in tropical FNQ . Regards Max
Re: Trees for Mulch G'day Ken Welcome to the Forum Wattles (Acacia spp.) - Grow spp. indigenous to your area (got to watch out for the weedy ones) Easy seed saving/germinating (mostly) Nitrogen-fixing, and great 'nurse/pioneer' plants Fast growing (mostly) and coppice well Edible (mostly) - Undertake careful research however, as ingesting the seeds of some spp. will kill you! Fodder (see above) - Once your goats have eaten the leaves and fleshy tips, then chip the woody remains to produce your mulch Slower growing spp. produce high grade timber Food, fibre, medicine, dye, poison, timber, firewood, mulch, fodder, flowers, pollen, nitrogen-filled nodes... I'm a little biased; I LOVE Wattles Further reading (some articles/links particular to Wattles and/or FNQ): https://www.sgapqld.org.au/info.html Cheerio, Mark
Re: Trees for Mulch I think we need to examine max's bona fides before recommending anything. There are some awesome nitrogen fixers that would be a riot in NQ.. but I wouldnt want to let them loose on an amateur... Max.. come back and qualify please.. cheers,
Re: Trees for Mulch OH btw, there are a lot of vines, bushes and grasses that will fix nitrogen too. Have you done a PDC yet? cheers,
Re: Trees for Mulch Thanks for the response, I am at the moment a very experienced mechanic and very inexperienced farmer. We have a property here in NQ that Borders Natioanl park, approx 5m rainfall anually with a permanent creek flowing for the park, with approx 20 acres of cleared ex cane land and 10 acres of natural forest ajoining the national park. I plan to become an experienced? grower of organic produce, we have atained pre certification with OGA and are in the process of setting up the property for farming organically in a permaculture style. Fencing, dam, irrigation etc. I am looking to set up the property for a long term return, rather than grow produce for sale asap. My idea for the tree question was for trees to plant that will grow quickly that I can prune regularly to mulch. Palms are listed in the permacultre book and they will grow easily without care and produce fonds for mulch. In our paddocks we have heaps of growth to slash but there is a huge amount of weed seed in there so i will look to use that for composting hence the need for cleen weed free supply of plant material to chip for mulch. I am looking to set up a long term supply in house rather than have to go looking for external supplies. BY PDC I will assume you mean Permaculture design course?, took me a while to work that out!. NO, there is one to be run up here soon but was booked out by the time I found out about it. I have been working away as a mechanic a lot this year as well as finishing building our house, so next year I hope to be able to spend a lot more time on the property and attend courses. I am prepared to travel to attend quality courses if necessary. Hope this clarifies where I am at and where I am going, Thanks again for the responses, Regards Max
Re: Trees for Mulch hi max Seeing as you're in sugar cane country how about replanting an area to sugar cane......it's great mulch. Don't forget to read the articles on the home pages of this site and search the archives on the forum........I think there is info on every subject here somewhere. My favourites was saved to the forum page but I have changed that ot the Home page so I keep up with the lastest news available there. Cheers Cathy (former Cairns local)