Our location is within the Amazon, however with a unique dry season between June and October. Precipitation is sort of low right now of yr. This yr we solely obtained 1.8 inches in July. August seems prefer it may grow to be even lower than that. These are often the 2 driest months of the yr. The soil right here is of course acidic for essentially the most half and naturally was leached over a number of many years after deforestation, making it extra acidic, so the suggestions ought to be for a fruit that grows properly in acidic circumstances. Some components of the property have fairly dangerous aluminum saturation, just like the soil check stain I will share with you. It could be good if the really useful species have been immune to aluminum. I took the soil pattern from the least productive a part of the property. By comparability, some areas are day and night time, however I’ve nonetheless seen avocado solely thrive in just a few key spots, and even these will most likely require continued addition of lime sooner or later.
Somebody urged that macadamias could be good for acidic soils. Nicely, we tried a few hundred timber and just one labored decently. Most died.
The outcomes of our avocado foliar evaluation are pending.
I want to develop one thing equal to the avocado, however I do know there isn’t a substitute. One thing fatty and scrumptious can be good. Maybe tropical walnut (Juglans neotropica) or Dipteryx alata. Ideally one thing with a big seed that may direct seeding, which could have sufficient power to make the sprout taller than our Brachiaria grasses inside the first six months of development. How about Bertholettia excelsa? Would you advocate African oil palm? Surprisingly, the seeds of many species are tough to seek out in Peru, since it’s not like in america, the place you merely entry the Web. You actually should know somebody in an space the place there are timber, and the individual needs to be reliable sufficient to give you contemporary materials. Of all of the species I discussed, I believe African oil palm seeds can be the simplest to accumulate. We’re at about 900 m altitude, which is a bit of colder than the lowland jungle, however I nonetheless discover it extremely popular. Within the dry season, most days are sunny and attain a excessive of 90 levels. I’ve not obtained strong information on annual rainfall (I simply put in a rain gauge final month) for our location. I’d say someplace between 2000 and 3000mm on common. Annual rainfall primarily based on among the information I’ve seen in different close by cities in drier microclimates.
We have been doing this for 3 years. Due to this fact, most areas have already got vital cover cowl with a few totally different Inga species, Schizolobium and the native Erythrina spp. Due to this fact, I believe some “larger order” timber may do properly if planted at this stage.
The topsoil in our pattern stunned me a bit of. I did not count on to see the pH so excessive and the natural matter at 2.58% is larger than I anticipated. That result’s even after excluding the highest two inches, as a result of we have been elevating chickens and different poultry within the space for the previous few months and I did not need their manure to have an effect on the outcomes an excessive amount of. Nonetheless, the underground remains to be as horrible as after we began three years in the past.
Only a warning although: this can be a fairly excessive instance. It’s the space of the property the place now we have seen the least quantity of development of all of the tree species we planted 3 years in the past. Some died and most stayed there, stunted. They haven’t been capable of compete satisfactorily with Brachiaria, whereas in different areas of the property now we have seen passable tree development amongst Brachiaria.
Take a look at outcomes:
