1

Presentation by Richard Walker on Food Forests Vancouver, BC - March 2010 Why? Mainly because our food quality is in a sharp decline, for example, potatoes today have no vitamin A. There could be long-term consequences. The lack of nutrients can affect our thinking ability. Proper nutrition is very important. Dr. Carey Reams, skilled in chemistry, got involved in nutrition and began developing high quality food. After applying his theories on animals, he tried them on people. He held a dinner for 16 guests and served them food he had grown on his own farm. They were satisfied by the nutrient dense food even though they ate small portions. It has been proven that people who restrict caloric intake live longer. Aim for nutrient dense and organic foods. Where? Anywhere. The key to food development is in the cities. Food growing must become a top priority. Wildlife and butterfly corridors, boulevards, etc., need to be built. We need to make the urban setting so beautiful that no one wants to leave. Davis, California is a prime example with their three-year waiting list. There is beauty in forest gardening. When? As soon as possible. Why Forest Gardening? Forest gardening makes best use of vertical space through layering. In urban situations we can grow fruit trees, vines, shrubs, berries, low growing herbaceous perennials, roots and annuals to create a thriving ecosystem. Keep in mind the amount of light available as the garden matures. Use the leaves as solar collectors and don’t over stack. A true forest is continually changing. Plan for 100 years. In Corsica there are tree forest systems that are 200 years old. In a conventional system, trees are planted 50-60 feet apart. In a food forest, trees can be placed much closer together. High Density Fruit Tree Planting In the second year, remove half of the main leader. Third year do it again. The result will be three layers of fruiting branches approximately two feet apart. Each pruning produces a split leader. Fruit trees this size don’t have massive branches.

Buy four whips and remove 1/2-1/3 of the tree (first layer 18” to 20” high). This forces the leader to branch outward. Plant in 4’ x 5’ box (pears, cherries, apples, apricots, peaches). To maximize the growing season, buy varieties that mature at different times. Planting trees closely together naturally dwarfs them. Best rootstock for Vancouver -- look for trees that are adapted to wetter soils (more important than dwarf varieties).

2

When the tree has grown as high as you want to reach, pinch out the ends of the branches (the terminals). Keep fruiting branches about one foot long. Prune so there are no intermingling (crossover) branches – nothing will flower, too much shade. No high angle or too flat branches, ideally at a 45 degree angle. Weigh branches down if not naturally occurring. Plant peaches 24 inches away from apples. Plant apples about 18 to 24 inches apart. You need at least a depth of 18 inches of excellent soil in the bed as growing is intensified (must be fungally-dominant). Ensure drainage allows water to seep out of the bottom and does not collect inside. If there is a drainage issue, elevate the box. If it’s too dry, dig it in 18 inches of soil if you can. If there are roots coming up from below, add barriers below the soil. Generally fruit tree roots will stay in the container. There is intensive growing occurring in the box so don’t dig, toss in leaves, chop things down instead, and let the earthworms and soil microbes take care of the rest. Plant comfrey around the trees, they have a taproot that doesn’t interfere and contains a lot of growth hormone. Facing south -- layer within a 5’ x 5’ box. Set three trees at the back (allow to grow to 6-8’ high), herbaceous material next (raspberries, gooseberries, currants) and strawberries in front. Suggested Other Varieties Asian pear likes heat so put them in the hottest spot you have – against a garage wall or reflective fence. Reflective light has one third the quality of direct light. Pears do better in shade with OHF rootstock. Nut trees - Asiatic persimmon. Filberts should do well. Hardy almonds have been marginal. Jujuba may work here. Pistachio. Yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium) looks like a macadamia, size of a filbert. Might have to widen the spacing with nuts. For videos on high density tree growing check out Dave Wilson Nursery on the internet. Testing for Food Values The Brix meter (available at Lee Valley) was invented in Germany to measure the sugar levels of wine. When we measure sugar content in plant material it gives us a good idea of the mineral content in the food as well. In field studies, high Brix corn was grown surrounded by a field infested with weevils. None of the Brix corn was eaten. There was so much sugar in the corn that it could turn to alcohol and kill them.

Don’t stake unless absolutely necessary. If you must have stakes, put a little eye screw into the tree. Place the stake in and tie to that. If the bark is chaffed, 5-10 years down the road it will likely break off. There is a lot of photosynthesis going on in the bark and you can damage that. Get the stake away from the stem of the tree. It creates a weak zone on the tree where it is shaded.

3

Pests attack weak plants. Dan Scow has done a lot of work with frequency and frequency generation. He has been able to drive insects out of fields with certain vibrations. If we eat poor Brix index foods then our vibrations are not going to be so high either. A good carrot should run around 18 with the Brix. It will match a seedless grape in sugar. Cherries should be 25. A reading of 2% on the Brix won’t even compost. It has a negative value. 4% will compost but is still poor food. We don’t have a reference point for our food but you will taste the difference if you grow your own nutrient rich food. The produce available in markets is picked too early and after 2-3 days of ripening, the Brix meter will shoot up. For best nutrition go for bright colors – dark blues, deep reds. Try for five colors on your plate every day. High Brix food will not rot - it will dehydrate. If you are on a tight budget, better to eat conventional fruit and vegetables, organic dairy and meat. Also consider how non-organic vegetables and fruits impact the environment. 99% of the strawberries grown conventionally are drenched in chemicals. Artificial fertilizers are applied. There is a regime of pesticides and fungicides. The cost is 8:1 to produce conventional versus organic. Good Value for Effort Make some sprouts. They are high in nutrition and can keep you alive. A teaspoon of broccoli sprouts will give more food value than four pounds of broccoli. Alfalfa sprouts – leave them a bit longer, and give them some sunlight. Micro greens – With a plot of ground 2 square feet, cover with sunflower seeds so no soil is showing. Cover it up with ½ inch of soil, water it and leave it alone. At this time of year in about three to four days you will get sunflower sprouts. Cut off when they have two full leaves. It makes a lovely salad. While you are harvesting, plant another plot beside it and you will have fresh greens all the time. Sunflower, radish and peas have lots of folic acid. Fenugreek and buckwheat are good in hot weather. The Soil Community Plants communicate with other elements in the soil. They give out exudates to increase microbial activity around the roots. Compaction wrecks that and if it continues, can make the soil anaerobic, which produces alcohol and kills plants. Soil used to be defined as the first four inches. In 1970 it became 12-14 inches deep. 1990 defined as three feet deep. If we look at undisturbed soils in Africa – roots go down to 25-30 feet deep. Trees can penetrate bedrock. What was killing the maple trees in Quebec was not acid rain. In the 1960’s they began using wagons to carry the maple syrup pumped out of the trees – this created lots of soil compaction, then high nitrogen fertilizer was added and killed the soil biology. Compaction killed the trees. In Hawaii the palm trees are dying on the beach – from compaction.

4

In anaerobic soils we can create e.coli and other bad things. This can occur in compost. Let your nose be your guide. If it smells bad, it’s probably toxic to your plants. Trees put out exudates to attract the good guys. When we block that by creating an anaerobic state the microbes go to sleep. Then we get root rot, scabs, fungal infections, etc., and they feed on the exudates the plants are giving out. It is the same situation on the leaves. Exudates are on the leaves. They attract beneficial organisms that protect them. If we spray with fungicide we remove the exudates. Normally there is lots of bacterial activity that will kill the “fire blight” for example. Air pollution, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides on the leaves harm the good guys. Making compost tea and spraying it on the leaves helps remove the bad guys and nourishes the protective layer. When fire blight leaves fall to the ground they are often sprayed with fungicides. However, if compost tea is sprayed on the leaves this will eliminate the fungus and the same application can be done on the soil. Dormant oil won’t work on fire blight. There is no real control for it other than to remove 12 inches back from the infected site. Fungally-dominant compost tea will take care of it. It’s just an imbalance. In the city, lead can still be in the soil. If you’re in a high traffic zone keep at least 15 feet from the contamination source. Don’t grow root and leafy vegetables besides sidewalks. Fruiting plants (tomatoes, peppers) don’t accumulate heavy metals in the fruit. Grow plants at least 6” away from treated wood (toxic). If good compost is added to bacterial soil it will help bind the heavy metals. The more acidic the soil there is more danger of heavy metal uptake. Be aware of your water source (water flowing down the street). Residue from cement and concrete makes soil alkaline – not good for veggies but fruit trees will be okay. Conifers in soil have been badly damaged from concrete driveways. Most soils are calcium deficient in Vancouver. If soil testing is done, use it as a guide. Rainfall contributes to leaching which creates an imbalance between calcium and magnesium. Hard soil indicates too much magnesium, not enough calcium. Experiment with gypsum, calcium, dolomite. Some signs of calcium deficiency -- dandelions, brown inside apples. Copper deficiency – yellow banding around the edge of the leaves and down the veins of leaves. Potting Mixes Peat moss – some controversy about using it now. Cocoa fiber – from far away. Try to work perlite (puffed rock) into your mix because most seed mixes don’t get enough air in them. Starter Mix Recipe

• 35% compost • 5% alfalfa meal • 35% coconut fiber or peat moss • (very acidic) • 25% perlite

Tree/Shrub/Fruitbearing Potting Mix Recipe • 5% rock phosphate • 5% rock/glacial dust (feeds the microbes) • 15% sawdust (cellulose ties up the release) • 30% or more compost • 5% yeast – bakers, brewers • 10% alfalfa meal • 5% molasses • 25% perlite

5

Do not use moss growing from your lawn – it’s a parasite. If you have a lot of moss in your soil or grass you have a PH (too acidic) problem. Nutrients are used up at a higher rate in containers/pots. The temperature is also higher so you need to use a high percentage of compost, earthworm castings for bacterial and fungal content. Ph testing for soil Simple things you can do. Litmus paper will give you a rough idea. Look at what’s growing, for example, acidic soils – horsetail, fairy rings on the lawn, black spot. With a lower Ph there are risks of deficiencies. You can read them on the plants. Magnesium is immobile. You will only see it on last year’s growth, yellow leaves. Increasing Productivity through Nitrogen Fixation • Peas – reduced benefit unless you allow them to flower. All the nitrogen is transferred to the

seed. Cut them when they are flowering. Let them fall and they will decompose, or lightly till them in.

• Fava Bean – one of the highest producing nitrogen gardening plants we can grow, really succulent. You can get 200 lb an acre fixation.

• Rye is not good. • Alfalfa good nitrogen fixing but not good for the home gardener. It has really deep roots. • Vetch is good – plant in October, fixes nitrogen in the winter. • Locust , Alder – good nitrogen fixing. Alder leaves are a good source of nitrogen. • Russian Olive – fixes nitrogen. • Gomi – shrub, fixes nitrogen, used for treating cancer in Japan. • Licorice is a good nitrogen fixer. doing – it is living and will die in the hot sun. Fava is different than pea inoculant. Compost Tea Oxygen must be bubbled through your mixture. Putting in oxygen keeps it aerobic and causes an explosion of beneficials (magnification of compost effect). 6% oxygen or higher, otherwise will not produce a good tea, temperature around 20 degrees. Equipment must be clean. Bio-slime occurs during composting and gets stuck on the pump and tubing. Homemade systems have weird corners. Commercial compost tea brewers can cost $150 and last forever and are worth the investment. Buy 2 pumps to run at the same time. Clean with peroxide.

Look at the roots and see if they are fixing nitrogen. You should see little bumps, cut them open and they should be pink. If they are white or clumped together they are sick or they are nematodes. Apply an inoculant for peas and beans – once it is established in the garden, rarely need second application. Buy inoculants from a source that knows what they are

6

A tea can be produced in 24 hrs. Filter and use as a soil drench or in a sprayer. The idea is to rebalance the plant system. There is a dramatic effect on soil health for up to five months after one dose.

Fungal Tea Recipe (Trees and Shrubs)

• 1 cup earthworm castings • 5 gallons unchlorinated water • 1 tbsp kelp • 1 tbsp humic acid

Leaves are good for fungal dominated tea. Mix all kinds of leaves together. If your soils are weak, leave out diseased leaves. If soils are healthy, this won’t matter. Trees love humic acid, fulvic acid, soft rock phosphate-- feeds the fungal component of soil or compost. Can use lime instead of acid. Kelp/seaweed is good for a fungal system. Pushes the activity toward more fungal orientation. Use before you put mulch down or add to compost. Highest source of mineralization breaks down quickly. Won’t uptake heavy metals. To create a more bacterial dominated tea (vegetables), add sugar (blackstrap molasses) or any form of green living carbohydrate – green matter, grass clippings (without fertilizer). Mulch from succulent growth (young trees, suckers, etc.) enhances rapid mycelium development. Wood chips from juvenile trees and branches have a lot more sugar in them than older ones. Grind down succulent growth in a chipper and put it around vegetables as a mulch. To create a chipper, use a lawn mower, cut a hole in the deck and then you can feed sticks in through it. When you need to use it as a lawn mower duct tape the hole. Don’t use animal manures for making compost tea. Use earthworm castings. You can feed them E.coli, but they exude no E.coli. The disadvantage to vermiculture is it doesn’t break down weed seeds. Some people use a thermal compost to kill the weeds and then feed this compost to the earthworms. Wonderful way to get high grade compost and compost teas. Mushroom manure is alkaline and may have high salt levels which affects conductivity, salt levels will mess things up. If animals have been fed heavy salt feeds, their manure will contain high levels of salt. Spinach is a good indicator – if you have elevated salt levels spinach will not do well. Fertilizing Fruit Trees and Bushes Trees have a defined life cycle of when they take up energy. As the temperature and light quality starts to rise activity increases in the roots. As there is a little bud break, then the tree drops off its energy level in the roots. All of the stored carbohydrate in the root is shunted up to the stems. Root growth stops then. In March the energy is high in the roots. In April the energy stops in the roots and goes up to the stems. Don’t prune during this time. Prune either before or later. Don’t cut when the leaves are starting to emerge, wait until there are full sized leaves. It is exactly the same principle with fertilizer. Fertilize either when the tree is dormant or when there are full sized leaves. One ideal time for tree fertilization is just when the full leaf has emerged. Most trees don’t like a big blast of nitrogen. Fertilize trees consistently and moderately throughout

7

the growing season rather than in several large amounts. Can use foliar feeds, little spray, dilute seaweed and fish fertilizer. Trees respond very quickly to that. The odd bit of molasses sprayed on helps also. In the fall, fertilize just when the leaf has turned color or after leaf drop – it’s the time when there is the most root development. The tree is preparing for the winter (when it will go dormant). Most effective place to fertilize is up to the drip line, as far as the branches go out. No closer than two inches from the stem or it will cause trouble with the stems. If you put a good form of nitrogen into good soil, the microbes will hold it. With synthetic fertilizers the rain will just wash the nitrogen out. Maintain the soil profile. Fertilizer Recipe

• 2 tbsp coke (phosphoric acid) • 1 gallon water • 2 tbsp household ammonia (nitrogen) • ½ cup of barley green or green drink • 1 tsp of molasses

Compost Key Ingredients • Carbon ("C" or carbohydrates), for energy - the microbial oxidation of carbon produces the heat.

High carbon materials tend to be brown and dry. • Nitrogen ("N" or protein), to grow and reproduce more organisms to oxidize the carbon. High

nitrogen materials tend to be green (or colorful, like fruits and vegetables) and wet. • Oxygen, for oxidizing the carbon, the decomposition process. • Water, in the right amounts to maintain activity without causing anaerobic conditions. Useful for the compost • Dill - high source of potassium and sulfur, released by pouring a liter of hot water over it, let it

sit for 1 hour and then pour tea over compost. • Dandelion – copper accumulator – make tea from the whole plant and roots. • Horsetail – is an accumulator of silica – make the same tea with that. • Comfrey, Acacia, Cassia, Locust - high in nitrogen. Run over them with a lawn mower. Mix in a

little bit of sawdust. • Poplar leaves – good source of boron, boron deficiency found where soil is really alkaline. • Maple leaves - high in calcium. • Urine - excellent for nitrogen, water it down a bit, as long as you’re not sick or taking

antibiotics, dilute 10 to 1. Ashes can be quit caustic so use only small amounts. Don’t use blood meal. Lack of space – make a sausage shape along a walkway and put compost in it to store. Thermal Compost (for reducing weed seeds) Smell the compost – if it smells like vomit or ammonia you haven’t turned it enough – there is a high percentage of kitchen scraps and water, add more dry material to balance it out, e.g., strips of cardboard egg cartons, shredded newspaper.

8

If there is a big cloud of white stuff, it is too dry, add more water and mix. If it is pure black, it has been too hot (burnt) – too much nitrogen and not enough carbon – you have lost your nitrogen, mix more carbon in and turn it when it starts to get too hot. The heat means microbes are reproducing. A good investment is a soil thermometer – stick it in the compost – you want to see 50-60 degrees Celsius for four to five days for pathogen-free compost. Then you can slow down the turning. In winter everything goes to sleep, just continue to add % of dry, % of scraps, % of nitrogen. When it warms up in the spring it will start to go again. Passive Compost (for the worms and other beneficials) Long tube, can make it from vapor barrier. Like a sock rolled up and then as you fill it, you unroll the tube. Start feeding the end; keep pushing it in as you add more stuff. By the time it gets to the end it is composted – add some water, keep nitrogen/carbon ratios, no flies, no smell, doesn’t take up much room, not very visible. Generally because you add water and keep the ends up, not anaerobic. Takes about a year, more stable, more available nitrogen for a longer period. One thing to guard against – should not be all fine material, it will get compacted and there won’t be enough air in it – the bulk can be fine. One person has a worm composter the size of a chest freezer – keeps it outside all winter. Or could build a compost with chicken wire, metal pipes for the 4 corners and corrugated cardboard. Hay bales are good for building a box. You will get lots of earthworms coming in and have lots of earthworm castings. Getting a Jumpstart to the Season Removable cold frames for vegetables can increase the soil temperature so that plants can get started early. Heat/sterilize a large amount of water by: 1. Buy 500-1000 ft of black poly ½ inch pipe and coil. 1000 ft will give you 50 gallons. 2. Fill the tubing and face towards the sun. Use as a solar collector to heat the water hot to touch.

Should heat up in a couple of hours on a nice sunny day. Use that hot water especially under fruit trees at this time of year. You will elevate the soil temperature by 5 degrees generally with one treatment of water, twice will definitely do it. Pushes the soil temperature similar to early July, forces growth early in the season – like 800 miles further

Walls have high heat retaining use. Catch and save all the extra heat you can. Can use walls to reflect light as well. Will protect from frost. Can drape a wall and it will be like a green house. Water containers – barrels, stack them up – when the water heats up it will slowly release. Even one light (100 watt) bulb (or Christmas lights) placed on a fruit tree will produce enough light to prevent frost damage, just protect the top with plastic.

9

south. I’ve been able to grow hickories in 1/3 the time by using heated water. Can use this method on your vegetable beds. Purchase an adaptor to hook a hose on to the end of the poly. It will last for years and will cost about $25. Set it up underneath the mulch. Black poly will last for decades. Cold water is shocking to a plant especially in the summer when it’s hot. Rainwater is not that cold. Microbial action just shuts down. Think of the soil as digestion. Beans (and some other seeds) need to be soaked overnight. They contain polysaccharides that are water soluble and come out when soaked. This is the element that causes gas. Squash, cucumber, watermelon, tomatoes, peppers like hot temperatures to germinate (close to 30). They don’t like their growth checked and if they get stunted, take a long time to recover. By encouraging early growth in the fruiting wood it toughens up early. It is hard for wood to go into the fall when it is still green and soft. Frost will do more damage in November if it is not hardened, more so then frost damage in the early spring. Water For irrigation, don’t use water straight from the tap. It is chlorinated and deadly to the microbiology and will kill every thing. You can buy filters that will do more volume. Allow the water to sit for a couple of days and it will evaporate out or get an air pump (like those in aquariums) to bubble the chlorine out in a couple of hours. The smell from chlorine is really from the breakdown of something – decomposition. Chlorine has been associated with depression. People suit up in the lab when they are using chlorine. Check out www.watermatters.com . Chlorine has weird effects in the soil, can tie up certain things. A lot of the wheat today we can’t digest because of the fertilization – 2-300 times more gluten then it used to have. For rainwater, try not to collect the first 10 minutes of water off the roof (first flush system). How much water do certain trees need? One inch of rain per week. If you use mulch on top of the trees your water requirement will drop 50%. Finger test -- water if it’s dry 2 inches down. Consider water a fertilizer. There is a time when you can over water and under water. Reduce watering fruiting trees in the fall. Aphids are indicators of accelerated growth. If you overwater and get lots of succulent or improper growth, bugs pick it up as being weak. Aphids can work in cold weather and things that eat aphids generally respond to heat so it takes warm weather to get them out. Irrigation Systems A lot of people are discouraging sprinklers. Watering in the dark is better compared to watering in the light. Drip irrigation is effective for smaller trees, not so effective on larger trees as they use far less water – use the finger test. Drip irrigation warms the water on the surface.

10

Reducing Residue There is going to be some residue but the level is very low. If you have the luxury of using water forms, running water through curves gets more energy into the water, adds more oxygen. You can buy water forms. Guidelines on Purchasing Trees When purchasing from a nursery or garden center buy in five gallon pots. The best purchase is bare root. Look at caliper (stem size) with potted trees. You want to buy stem and roots, don’t worry about the top. When you get them home, prune. Spindly trees are never very productive. If they are in a pot, take the stem and gently lift up. If you can move that tree a little bit, REJECT. Look carefully at the tree -- is it symmetrical. If one side looks roughed up the roots have been burnt in the sun and you can’t fix that. Look for a good-sized caliper. If you buy bare root, look for a nice big root ball. You should see little fuzzy root hairs that are a nice white color. If they are black then prune them off. If the roots are circling – serious trouble, it will stay like that. Take a sharp garden spade and cut right across the root ball to 2/3 of the way up. Pull out the root ball and spread it out. How you place the root is exactly how it will grow, it won’t move. Fan the roots out. Really good nurseries will have air pruning pots. If the roots are flattened or black, take pruners and trim. If you plant a tree with flattened root tips or black ones sometimes it will never heal. If they are planted in heavy clay – wash off clay and dip the tree in a compost slurry. When you buy a shrub or fruit tree, after you’ve planted it and it doesn’t grow Woody stem plants will reflect how they were treated during their first year. If it was treated badly for two years, it will take two years to recover. If it was treated well it will take off – tells you a lot about the nursery. Pollination Some fruit trees are not self-fertile. • Sweet cherries – there are a couple self-fertile varieties. Stella if you can get it on a Colt

rootstock will be dwarf, or try to find others on a Colt rootstock. • Pears – OHF rootstock will give you a dwarfing effect. • Apple – Mallings out of England, 26, 9, 12. Make sure they are tolerable to heavy soils.

Vadavasky 9 (very severe dwarf) is very hardy. Whole series of Swedish rootstock Altrops. • Peaches, nectarines, apricot – big nurseries are putting everything on peach seedlings but they

don’t tolerate wet, okay here but not hardy.

An Easy Tap System Take black poly ½ inch pipe and put brass wood screws right through the hose. Take a screwdriver and back it off depending on how much water you need. Set screws every eight to nine inches, with trees every three feet.

11

• Look for Julien (plum) rootstock – hard to find, can graft plum, peach and nectarine on to that. Good hardy long-lived rootstock and 50% of standard size.

• Plums tolerate cool, wet and poor drainage. Good plums are incredible. Green gage –French family. Transparent gage. Most plums are self-fertile. Some Japanese plums more problematic.

• Most sour cherries are self-fertile. High in nutrition. Some of the new generations such as Super Silver Star are quite dwarfish.

• Very few self-fertile pears. Pollinators – Bartlett for early fruiting and Flemish Beauty for late fruiting. Concord pear is winter keeper pear. Sierra is winter keeper pear, failed commercially, won’t ship, tender skin. Anjou is common winter keeper. Can’t plant pears from seed, need to get the bud wood.

Tons of flowers but no fruit set, probably pollination problem. Get a pollinator branch from another tree, put it in a pail of water and hang it in the tree. Will get enough pollen off the branch to pollinate the whole tree. Nut trees generally have a male and female part of itself. Hazelnut has to be pollinated from another tree. Avocado is very complicated to pollinate – some only release pollen in the morning and others receive pollen only at night. Apples cultivars Some incredible new apples -- Honey crisps, Ambrosia, Empire, Gala, Mutsu, Jonagold. The trend in modern apples is sweet – Fuji’s. Shamrock from Summerland is Canadian version of Granny Smith. Can’t grow Granny Smith here. Jonagold – chromosome number has been tripled. Pollination can’t use a Jonathan or Golden Delicious – they are crosses. Use Gala or Fuji. Crab apples make good pollinators for all of them. Dolgo crabs come from Quebec. Chestnut, Snowdrift all are good pollinators. One crab apple will pollinate everything you have in your yard. Could take a bud off a crab apple and graft it on to your fruiting tree. Then you only need 2 branches to pollinate. Apples that are late maturing keep well. Early apples don’t keep well. Same with pears. Creating more rootstock The nursery builds sawdust up around the base of a tree and little roots form and then they cut the tree below that and have a new rootstock. At home just take an apple seed and plant it. Rootstock used on apples and pears will send out long roots and throw up shoots – you can cut the shoots and use them. Signs of incompatibility between the root stock and the scion – you will get a big swelling on the base of the tree which is an indication that the tree is probably going to die (either from incompatibility or a virus which was passed from grafting). Cherries, plums, apricots, plums – can grow true from seeds. Apples and pears are bad odds. Plums and pears can tolerate more shade conditions. Pears will tolerate wetter conditions. What can you graft to what? The closer genetically we can get, the greater chance of success. Grow a rootstock from the mother tree. Then cut a scion from the mother. Saskatoon makes a good rootstock for pears, creates a dwarf tree, very hardy, very productive. Can also graft apple with Saskatoon – get great hardiness from a

12

Saskatoon stock, puts 60-75% dwarfism. Crab apples are good rootstocks for any kind of apple. Some Asian pears will work with a Bartlett pear rootstock. Cherries are good rootstock, semi sweet, semi sour cherries, Evan’s semi sour. Pear and quince are compatible. Mulberry itself doesn’t graft well. Rootstocks are usually developed to fruit early. Growers are not usually concerned about longevity – 3-4 year lifespan, some as low as 2. Air layering Take a branch. Wound it by cutting the bark off. Put some rooting hormone and some wet peat moss. Wrap it with plastic and then add tinfoil to keep the sun off. If there are a bunch of roots, cut off the branch. Easy to do with figs. Pruning – Dormant and Summer The response is different depending on when you prune. While dormant it stimulates the tree. In the summer (at the end of July) it curbs growth. You can use this to your advantage, the tree wants to grow but we want fruit. With dense planting you must summer prune and pinch off young growth tips. The direction of the bud determines the direction of growth. The tree wants to make wood, and we have different ideas. Where a branch comes out of the stem there will be a branch collar. When pruning, leave the collar on the tree. Don’t leave a stump, it will act as a source of infection. Natural components in the branch collar will create a little compartment. Don’t use pruning paste on the cuts. If there is a ragged wound, cut it out and clean it up – hydrogen peroxide 5-6% dilution for cleaning cuts. Use bleach or hydrogen peroxide diluted 50/50 with water to sterilize your instruments. Don’t use alcohol. Food grade hydrogen peroxide will burn your skin. Dip your tools each time before you move to another tree. Watch if you hire pruners that they clean their tools before they prune each tree. Grafting Whip graft - One of the easiest for beginners Used by most nurseries. Match cambium layers – which is the thickness of cigarette paper. Don’t need to have a complete match -- just a tiny little bit touching is enough. Grafting is surgery – be clean – don’t touch the cut surfaces, your hands have oil on them.

1. Cut the rootstock tree (must have ¾” size leaves) off at a fairly sharp angle (this is the stock we are going to graft onto).

2. Choose a scion with 3 buds growing in same direction (the favorite apple that you want to graft on) and cut at a fairly sharp angle.

3. Make a slice on each branch to the bottom of the cut and join together.

4. Ensure there is union on at least one side. 5. Bind with budding tape. 6. Tie with rubber bands (acts as a pressure bandage).

13

Scions must be dormant. Keep them in the fridge. Dip the tips in paraffin to seal them and put them in the fridge. The rootstock that you are grafting onto needs to be growing. For all grafting this is the case. All the food from the stock floods into the scion. Need warm weather for graft union to bind, not good in scorching weather. Can put a plastic bag over it to create a mini greenhouse. Budding tape prevents nutrient loss from the scion. Can use strips from a plastic bag to bind. Make sure you put the scion on right side up. You can also seal with a sealant like Doc Farwell’s grafting seal (yellow latex sealant). Don’t forget the tip of the scion. After 2-3 weeks you will see buds come out and it will take off. Remove buds below the graft in order to keep energy into the scion. If you get three feet of new growth, you will have to pinch it off. It is too much and will break the graft. In the fall trees expand their caliper. Get a razor blade and make one cut on the graft vertical and remove the rubber and plastic. If you don’t do that, it could strangle the tree. If the graft fails you can cut it off and do it again. If nothing is happening by the end of May it’s not working. Top working - if you have a fruit tree already - you can go around and graft something else on to each of the branches that are on that tree. If the base of the tree is nicked and Roundup or other herbicide has been used, the tree is dead. Budding Use actively growing buds, mid to late-July. A lot of material can be made with a few sticks. Each bud can make a new tree. It’s easier than grafting. Set an active bud into an actively growing tree. Cut off a branch from a favorite tree and put the buds on to a growing stock. Cut out a bud, it’s dormant, next year it will come to life. Set it in July and then leave it. Set it a foot above the ground on the stock. Next spring if there is activity you will cut the stock tree off just above the bud – then from the bud up you will have a new tree. T bud Test to determine if it’s time to bud. Take the leaf off the bud - if it snaps off easily then it’s time to bud. If you tear the stem taking the leaf off, it’s not time.

1. Cut a T cut on the rootstock through the bark.

2. Peel back the bark a bit on the T cut. 3. Slide the bud into T cut. 4. Wrap with budding tape, put a rubber

band on it, seal it and leave it.

Lots of damage from weed eaters and lawn mowers. You can buy tree guards. If you break the bark around the complete stem the tree will die. If you don’t get a bridge graft on it within 2 hours, the tree is dead, seal it with black plastic.

14

Chip bud Same time of year. Using a specialized tool with two parallel knives it takes out the bud and a piece of wood. Use the other side of the tool on the stock and it makes exactly the same size as the chip. To be successful you need to have barks that are a similar size. Match the age of the stock with the age of the bud tree. A two-year difference in age is about as far as you want to go. As insurance, you can set three buds in the tree. Then the following spring, whichever bud makes it, that’s where you cut the tree off. Easier to bud if the trees are young. Rule: if you are budding on an older tree, match the bark layers and the branch size. Do not use the big fat flower buds, the smaller ones are the leaves. Use only clean instruments. Don’t get your fingers in there. Fungicide Recipe (mildew, black spot)

• 4 tsp baking soda • 1 tbsp oil (olive or citrus) • 1 gallon water • 1 tsp molasses for trees – helps it to stick on the leaves

Can use it on plants and on the soil (drench). Can also use whole cornmeal from true corn (not dehulled) dilution – 2 cups to a gallon, stir it up and then filter it – good as a fungicide, soil drench or as a foliar. Use it in your vegetable beds, work it in to kill the bad guys and support the good guys, a few cupfuls. Citrus oil is good to move ants out of the way. Prevent damping off or stem collapse (fungal development) by sprinkling light sand in the tray or make a cinnamon tea and use it lightly over the tray. Cinnamon is a strong antifungal. If plants are injured but not dead, try chamomile tea to prevent the damping off. Any of the ines – the alkaloid is toxic to insects - caffeine, nicotine – used to fumigate green houses but Richard says not a good idea, may contaminate. Other Take rubbermaid garbage cans, poke holes in the bottom, sink into the ground to store vegetables over the winter – beets, carrots, apples – no bruises. Aztecs used to grow potatoes in something that looks like a 5 foot high compost bin. Potatoes on the bottom, fill it, add more potatoes and more fill, layer every 8 inches. It could produce 500 lbs of potatoes in a 5 foot cube. Don’t recommend planting in tires. If there is a great big pine tree what can you do? If you can prune, there will be more light at the base and won’t damage the tree if pruned properly. Will have a heavy fungal soil. Could try strawberries or raspberries at least 6 feet away or consider boxes. Avoid vegetables. If that is all you have, build containers for the vegetables. Tree roots will take all the nutrients.

15

Proposed Tree/Shrub List TALL Chinese Chestnut – roasting chestnuts, fruit in 5-7 years. You can dig a hole in the ground and keep the chestnuts all winter. Filberts or Turkish Hazels. Hickories would do well here. Can’t control the size of nut trees – would destroy the nut producing capacity. Pecans – if you are close to a river system – they love tapping down to the water. Walnuts – Carpathian, Butternut --in a farm grid plant them 70 feet apart – interplant between. They put out a poison but raspberries will tolerate. Will limit amount of herbaceous material around their trunks. Miscellaneous Asian Pear – They can tolerate the wet but in order to produce sugars they need a high heat source. OHF root stock is good. Blueberries are good for the brain. Like a high nitrogen mix Cornelian Dogwood (Cornus mas) – Small yellow-flowered tree. Fruit is delicious. Some are black and some are yellow. It has amazing health properties (five antioxidants) -- pulls radiation out of people and used for pain relief. They pickle the green fruit in Ukraine. It tastes like olives. The wood is used to make musical instruments. It has a higher density then ebony. Will stand 7-8 degrees of frost on the blossoms. Ripens late. Has the texture of sweet plum. Needs 15 feet circumference. Truffle inoculants. Figs – Likes heat and root containment, very little pruning required for potted ones. In some of the colder climates, bend them down and cover with insulation in the winter (plant on an angle). Can get 1,000 figs from a tree. Pinch the ends off the branches. Make the fruiting stem shorter and the energy will go into the fruit instead of the wood. Goji/Wolfberry – Grows like a grape. Must produce a thick stem, so keep pinching the top till a thick stem is developed, then let the top umbrella, otherwise it can turn into an obnoxious snarl. Strong liver and kidney tonic. If you use for three months you can see it in brighter eyes. Likes heat and warmth. Should get three crops a year. Two species – barbarum is the one used in China. Leaves can be used to make a tea -- topical insect repellent. Good pain relief (not far behind morphine) from tea made from inner root bark. Boil hard for 15-20 minutes. Super food. Jujuba - Bit like a date, very medicinal. Two species. Wild one is used for insomnia. Use the seed. Bigger ones look like little apples, dry them. Can plant them outside, they will grow on poor soils. Little hardier than a fig tree. Kiwi vines – there are three types, winter hardy here. Arguta – size of a small plum. Kolomitka can grown in dense shade, small, no fuzz, very tasty, more nutrition then the big ones, they don’t like sun, make sure they are well drained, work well under trees. Fungally dominated. Need male and female plant. Can eat them from mid-July to November fresh. Can eat the peels and all.

16

Licorice – good nitrogen fixator. Lovage – Perennial. Great substitute for celery. Blackfoot used to smoke it. Can be invasive. Lots of growth hormone in leaves. Attractive to beneficials in soil. Medlars – A giant Saskatoon. They let them rot in the Middle Ages. Turn into apple sauce or eat them after they’ve ripened. Meyers Lemon – Can be grown in a 3 gallon pot – 70 lemons on a tree. Fruits year round. Keep indoors for the winter. Not hard to grow. Hand pollinate with a paintbrush. Flowers are big. Can make tea out of the leaves. Mulberry – highest known source of resveratrol (only if organically grown), 100 times more than grapes. Looks a lot like a fruit tree. Keep it down to a level you can reach by pinching tips with branches. You will harvest bigger fruit. No diseases, pests, requires minimal pruning. In Turkey, they take them when really ripe and put in jar half full honey and mulberries. Let it bake in the sun for a day and it makes a great syrup. Good to grow commercially – niche market. They like sun -- member of the fig family. They have a bright yellow root. The leaf can be picked, dried, ground, used as a weight control. The berries can stain. Red, black, white will grow from cuttings, the crosses won’t. Most fruit, highest nutrition from the smallest space available. Morus Illinois ever bearing- cross between Morus rubra and Morus alba (used to feed silkworms) – fruits mid-June to November. Source from Ontario. Likes water but not being waterlogged or drying out. Rubra – red. Nigra – black, from the Middle East, very old cultivar. White ivory – super sweet, dried in Eastern cultures. Oregon Grape - Medicinal good choice, runs parallel with Golden Seal. Fruit is hard to work with. Nice evergreen. Persimmons – Try growing the Orientals here. Pomegranate - Good for 5 gallon containers. If you keep them with no light they will drop their leaves and then you have to regrow them. Quince - Very sour. If grown in the right climate it is delicious. Here we lack the heat. Some varieties coming out of Russia that can be eaten off the tree. High in pectin and pulls heavy metals out of your body. Russian Comfrey – not as invasive as other varieties of comfrey. Lots of growth hormone in leaves. Attractive to beneficials in soil. Saskatoons (Amelanchier canadensis) - Tends to dry out but under a cultivated situation with more water they are good. Easy to handle. Good nutrition. Many varieties – 18 mm size fruit, close to blueberries. Satsuma Mandarin - Does well in a pot. Oranges for Christmas. Outside in summer, inside in the winter.

17

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae) - Would do well in this drainage, sucks up water easily. Good soil builder. Root structure is shallow. Heavy nitrogen fixation. Pioneer species. Doesn’t tolerate shade. The leaf in June has more mineral value then alfalfa. In Russia they feed it to infants under 2 yrs old for prevention of flu. Fruit is an orange fruit which is high in vitamin C, lots of oils in it, fairly high in protein. Tastes like orange pekoe tea. Use the oils for corneal burns. In its native situation it is thorny, pick slow, soft and smooth. Some cultivars have no thorns. So many antioxidants in it that if you leave a glass of the juice on the counter overnight it won’t change color. Way better than orange juice. Super food. Grows up to 15 feet, use them like a hedge. Don’t be afraid to prune them. Huge crop in Asia. Good security hedge. Was used to feed horses to make their coat slick. In Mongolia lots were planted above 10,000 feet and did really well as part of a soil reclamation project. Used to feed sheep. Has the ability to exist in places that are tough and dry. Good choice for the boulevards – people won’t vandalize them, tolerant of pollution, grows in a lot of different soils. Sweetberry Honeysuckle – they’ve done a lot of research in Russia – long torpedo shaped berries. It blooms super early. Very hardy, no bugs – could stick it underneath the fruit trees. Umbelliferae family – Attractive for beneficials. Can double up production with using layers. Yarrow – is another biodynamic accumulator. We have tended to bring in fruits that originate from Europe, doesn’t match our latitude. We are a better match with Central China. Boil all roots fairly hard – usually dealing with polysaccharides, complex sugars, and the way you get them out is to boil for 20 minutes. Flowers – don’t treat them that way; do a sun tea to extract the volatile oils. Elderberry flower tea – same thing. Delicate. Linden flower tea – same thing – more cardiovascular affect than hawthorn. Medicinal Plants An important part of a forest garden. You can grow a lot of medicinals in your own yard. Arnica – for bruising, don’t take internally, use as an oil. Ashwagandha – One of his favorite herbs. Smells like horses. Needs a long season. Best anti-inflammatory. Really great for overwork. Dry root boiled in milk, cut it up and make a sweetened tincture. Use for joint problems. Can be used up to 3 months at a time. Unpleasant taste. Astragalus – related to Milkweed. Use in worst soil available. Likes sun. Can buy in Chinatown. Produces small roots but very high in constituents. In Chinese dispensaries – looks like tongue depressors. To test for yellow dye, take a tissue, dampen it and wipe it on the stick, if it turns yellow not good. Seeking polysaccharides in them so boil for 20 minutes, strain, keep juice and preserve in 33% alcohol. Use a month at a time. Energy tonic. Good for tendon injuries and for rebuilding immunity after chemotherapy. 3 teacups a day or as an extract 15 grams. Burdock - Grow the cultivars. Use it the first year as it loses all of its value the second year. It’s an anti-mutagen (prevents tumors from growing). First year dig it up, cook it in rice, soup, leave it in the ground, get it out before spring. Can make tinctures – a little more touchy – doesn’t extract well in alcohol. Boil it first and then add alcohol to the water to preserve. Easy to use as a vegetable. Let

18

it go to seed, pick the seed when it’s green and it will double the effectiveness of the tincture. Add to Echinacea tincture. Echinacea - Not water soluble. Not good for tea. Have to make a tincture. The natives would chew the roots, saliva extracts the constituents out of the roots. If you get 80% alcohol, extraction is good for a tincture. Golden Root, Roseroot, Aaron's Rod (Rhodiola rosea) - grows in cold regions of the world. Strong adaptogen. No side effects. Smells like roses. Improves moods and alleviates depression. Jamaican Dogwood (Piscidia pispcipula or Piscidia erythrina) – Voodoo drug can last for 2-3 days. Used in small amounts as a tea. Is a very good sedative. Mix Skullcap and Jamaican dogwood – 2 tsp in a tea – good sedative. Improves our state of mind. Kava Kava - Was banned a number of years ago, 15 people died from it, they were all terminal, all had many different liver conditions. Many years later there was a retraction but we don’t hear about it. Good for major trauma. Used in the South Pacific, it is a visionary. When the root is dried it doesn’t have that anymore. If you are very tense it will relax your body. Can do 4 oz of tincture for short term. Lemon Balm – nice in your salad, anti aging, anti anxiety. Mix with yoghurt for a good lassi. Maral Root (Leuzea carthamoides or Rhaponticum carthamoides) - Comes out of northern Russia. Looks like a thistle. Big purple flower. Grows fast, competitive, very vigorous. Tastes wonderful. Make a tincture from the root. Mass of fine black hair. Neat taste. Strengthening tincture. Schizandra - One of the top 5 plants in China. Adaptogen. Grows on a vine, loves deep shade, north side of the building. Likes rich soil. Produces red berries, called 5 flavored in Chinese medicine – hot, sour, sweet, pungent, salty. Asian equivalent to milk thistle. Good for skin. Swedish ski teams have used this for decades for endurance. Soak overnight to remove tannin. Throw away first rinsing. Gently simmer the berries for a tea or make a tincture. Schizandra, wolf berry and ginseng together – for a really good tincture. Richard has the vines – so we can get some from him. Siberian/Russian Ginseng - Easy to grow here, gets very big, pull up a piece of root section, cut it off, make a tea or tincture. Can also use seed pods to make a tincture – adaptogen. Russia and Japan have done a huge amount of research. The Russians put Siberian Ginseng in the water supply of one city for a year and it reduced their cold and flu rate by 75%. Japanese tribes in the north use it for sharpening the senses. Something you can take for long periods. Can make a leaf tea. Seed pod tree, root tree can get 10 feet high. Loves deep shade. Good security plant – thorny. Much like devil’s club, closely related, good for diabetes. Simple tincture – get vodka, fill gallon jar ½ full of Siberian ginseng root bits, leaves, seed pods, stalks, let sit for a month in the dark, then consume an ounce every day. Keep it in the dark and it will keep for 3-4 years after you strain it. Richard has five plants - if you can’t find it – easy to grow from cuttings. Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) – can be grown in your backyard. Sedative. Spilanthes – Cone shaped flowers. Will kill blood parasites, spirochetes. Great to take traveling. Good for dental problems, gums, teeth, urinary, upper respiratory. Take when you need it, not all

19

the time. Easy to make a tincture. Can use it topically for infections, for Staph infections. Use the top part of the plant, bright orange buds. Brush your teeth with it. Need to start like tomatoes in a green house – they love heat, can grown in the house as a houseplant. Used in Paraguay and Africa for malaria. Stinging nettles - High in protein. Can’t grow them without the stinger. Root is a good hormone blocker, used in prostate formulas. Biodynamic accumulator plant. Great compost plant. Good in the spring, as it gets older not so good to eat. St John’s Wort – Anti-depressant. Helps with depression, the medical system doesn’t understand how it works. It’s a mixture of constituents. Plant varies in appearance and content year to year. Valerian - Easy to grow. Easy to tincture. Effective for sleep disorders and digestive disorders. Not addictive. Adaptogen. Shade Lovers Blackberry - Hull – from Quebec. Perron (thornless). Apache – brand new one – enormous fruit, sweet. Arden (seedless). Could have early, medium, and late ones. Can get away with 50% shade. Trellis system – T bars – posts and wire in between the posts and then tie the blackberries to the wires. Cut off the canes each year, they die. You can cut the tips if they get too long and force the laterals. One year old wood produces the black berries. Thornless blackberries need some help. Can grow over a carport or garage. Get them up to roof level like you would do with squash; use the roof surfaces because they are hot. First year will grow a long shoot, you can pinch out the tip, past 10 feet and then it will throw out a lateral leg, you can pinch that off too if it grows too long, then have a cane that has 2 foot laterals all over it, the next year you get the fruit. It won’t grow too much because all the energy is going into the fruit, when it’s done fruiting you can remove it or wait till fall and then remove it. Other vines will grow out from the base. Most canes are the same – second year you get the fruit. Currants Black – huge selection. Look for older varieties -- Leningrad, Swedish black, when you eat them they won’t hurt your mouth. There is a big difference in the cultivars – anything with the word Ben are commercial and high producers but don’t taste good. Can stand 70-75% shade. Red – nice for jams and jellies, shade tolerant, many varieties. White – they are the most enjoyable, French Champagne – older cultivar, berries are in long clusters, will grow about 3 feet high. Combining the currants you will get fruit from July to freeze up. Crandle – clove currant – Richard’s favorite – popular in the 1850’s (Ribes odoratum) hard to find, black fruit that will stay on the bush for 3 months, will dry like a raisin, no pests, very high on the Brix meter, can’t grow from cutting, have to grow from seed. Richard is willing to share seeds. NAFEX researched fruit with least amount of calories and most fruit – Crandle Currant. Elderberry – takes more room. Nice tea from the flowers. With the red just cook the berries. The black ones are good for the immune system. Will stand unbelievable bad conditions. Likes to be waterlogged and grows well from cuttings.

20

Gooseberry – Hinnomaki Yellow, Poorman from Finland – disease resistant. The right quality will rival a seedless grape. Good for shady tough zones. Can prune them to a single stem. One worm is a pest. Use virus Bacillus thuringiensis to control it or Spinoset. Put in a sprayer bottle and spray on the stem.

Find varieties that are seeded. They are more mildew resistant. Himrod is one of the best seedless grapes. Swensen’s red is Richard’s favorite -- seeded, great texture, will keep all winter, shrivel and shrink a bit, hardy short season. Honeysuckle – Sweet berry. Tundra is highly recommended. Some out of Japan are probably more suited to Vancouver. The Russians have done a huge amount of research on them. Dark purple fruit, highly productive, early producers – ready before strawberries, can stand 50-60% shade, 4 hours of sunlight. Huckleberry – evergreen huckleberry. Thunderbird was developed at UBC, shade tolerant, specific environment to grow. Kiwi, kolomitka – 90% shade, can grow on a north wall 2-2 1/2 feet apart. Needs a male and a female plant. All Russian cultivars. Will produce 25 lbs on a vine. Difficult to propagate. There is a window in the early spring when it is 6-8 inches of new growth, cut it when it’s semi-green, cut a piece of the stem off, use rooting hormone, root it in pure perlite/maybe 10% peat moss, water often, cut half of each leaf off to reduce transpiration stress, put cinnamon tea on the end as an anti fungal, place in a very shaded box, mist 2-3 times every other day, will root in 2 weeks, you can do 20 cuttings in a box, treat them carefully, don’t move until they have nice roots, in the fall probably okay to have outside here, make sure they have good drainage, they love rich soil, after the first season they are very tough. Will have ripe kiwi from August to November. Paw paw - kind of like banana. Big seeds that look like chocolate. Likes really deep shade, they are difficult to start, put two gallons of perlite in the planting hole and plant, will solve that problem, nothing bothers them. Butterflies have gained their chemical immunity from eating the foliage. It’s an understory tree. They pollinate with flies, or hand brush them yourself. Raspberries - Everbearing is really a fall bearing, cut them off at the ground this time of year. It won’t have berries all summer, when it gets 40 leaves it will start to fruit and fruit till it gets really cold, will then get a heavy yield. Floral canes flower – don’t cut them off. Primal canes don’t. Grow spring bearers and fall bearers. If they continue to fruit they are more than likely ever bearing. Spring ones you remove last year’s dead canes. Raspberries will tolerate 60% shade, don’t like extreme heat.

Grapes – A & B - for a straight stem train it and stake it the first year or two. C - After one part has had grapes, cut that part off. D - There will be a new shoot the following year. Grapes won’t fruit on wood that is two years or older. Don’t prune when harvesting grapes, wait till the following spring. The leaves are still feeding the vine. Cut most of the sublaterals off. Generally leave two buds.

21

Fall bearing – Double Delight has double ovary and produces two raspberries hooked together; Tulameen; Perron. Spring bearing – Redwing, Skeena. Blackcap raspberries – very productive, incredible flavor – mid-summer fruiting. Strawberries - Alpine - Novelty, not real production. Day neutrals for strawberries – fruiting season that will last the whole summer. Berries are the winners in terms of nutrition. When you remove the seed or thorns you reduce the vigor of the plant, they are more susceptible to disease. Some Resources • One Green World Nursery - unrestricted plants not too hard to get into the country. • Spencer Lamar, Edmonton – air pruners out of recycled bottles. Planting trays – inside the

trays are inserts, across the inserts are cells, you can pull the inserts our of the tray, they are enveloped on the bottom so you can open them up and the plug comes out undamaged. You can keep seedlings in the trays for two years. They are reusable – trays last for 10 years, inserts about 5 yrs. Important that the roots can train properly especially on woody stems.

• Carl Whitcomb, professor of science in Illinois – did a lot work to find out of the myths of nursery planting were true, he disproved about 90% of them.

• Prairie Tech – good people located in Alberta. Most mail order trees are bare root. Trees grow 3-5 times better in bags than pots. The roots don’t stop because they hit a hard surface. Poke a few holes in the bottom so they will drain. Fill with potting soil. Can grow a tree in that for many years if you don’t have much room.

• North America Fruit Explorers (NAFEX) – group of diverse researchers interested in fruit. The publication Pomona Magazine is a great bargain. Constant testing, lots of exchange.

• Soil Web, Vulcan, Alberta -- can order liquid calcium. Suggested Books • Making Plant Medicine by Rico Cech, Horizon Herbs. Ross can get the books for $21 from

Robin Wheeler • 29 Herbs and a Fungus by James Green • Rosemary Gladstar is Richard’s favorite herbalist Richard Walker, food forester, designer, herbalist and teacher with over 25 years experience has designed community and private forest gardens throughout BC. He transformed his property in Grand Forks from a bare horse pasture into a lush-self sustaining forest garden with over 400 nut trees and seven stories of food and medicine bearing perennial plants and vines. Richard can be contacted by phone (best): 250-495-2608 or email: mantisherbals@gmail.com. Note: All images included in this document are courtesy of Peter Finch.