Desert Food Forest Chop-and-Drop

The final chop-and-drop bonanza gets underway, cutting the remaining leucaena down to high pollards and using the rich green material as mulch around the bottoms of trees. A couple hundred kilos of material is produced by these trees annually, with trees growing some four meters in just twelve months. The idea is to prune the them to grow through just a few upward shoots, trimming the side shoots as they develop. This will produce high shade and allow room for the fruit trees to grow underneath support trees. We are feeding the soil, designing how the forest falls, and the mycelium consumes the carbon-rich biomass and improves the soil structure. The timing here is important because it opens the canopy at the best possible time (winter in the desert), and the canopy will re-establish itself at the best possible time (summer in the desert).