concerns about conifers (pine, fir, spruce, cedars, etc.)

www.permies.com Just to be clear I do NOT advocate elimination of conifers. I advocate diversity. I advocate replacing conifer monocultures with a diversity of trees that include conifers. Discussion of this video is at www.permies.com There are four parts to this video. The first part is where Brad Knight (Sage Mountain Homestead, Corvallis, Montana) and I are investigating the understory of a large pine. Nothing growing there. Conifers are allelopathic – they sorta poison the competition. The second part is with Ernie Wisner (www.ernieanderica.info) who conveys the days that he worked at measuring the biodiversity under douglas fir monocultures. The third part shows the mighty, the glorious, the amazing Sepp Holzer (http expressing his opinion on “conifer desert” referring to how conifers, when left unchecked, tend to take over a landscape and greatly reduce horticultural diversity which leads to a broad variety of problems. And finally, Rick Valley, horticulturalist and permaculture instructor at the Lost Valley Educational Center in Dexter, Oregon (www.lostvalley.org sums it all up especially well. He points out how a douglas fir tree easily outcompetes oak trees. And relates how the native people burned back the douglas fir trees so their food is given a better chance. Music by Jimmy Pardo

Tagged as: About, cedars, Concerns, conifers, Etc., Pine, spruce