Our location is within the Amazon, however with a unique dry season between June and October. Rainfall is sort of low presently of 12 months. This 12 months we solely obtained 1.8 inches in July. August seems prefer it might turn into even lower than that. These are often the driest two months of the 12 months. The soil right here is of course acidic for essentially the most half, and naturally it leached out over a number of many years after deforestation, making it extra acidic, so suggestions needs to be for a fruit that grows nicely in acidic circumstances. Some elements of the property have fairly dangerous aluminum saturation, just like the stain from the soil check that I will share with you. It might be good if the beneficial species had been immune to aluminum. I took the soil pattern from the least productive a part of the property. Some areas are evening and day by comparability, besides I’ve seen avocado solely thrive in a number of key spots, and even these will possible require continued lime addition sooner or later.
Somebody instructed that macadamias is likely to be good for acid soils. Effectively, we tried a couple of 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 an avocado, however I do know there isn’t any 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 planting, that can have sufficient power to make the sprout taller than our Brachiaria grasses throughout the first six months of development. How about Bertholettia excelsa? Would you advocate African oil palm? Surprisingly, the seeds of many species are troublesome to seek out in Peru, since it isn’t like in the USA, the place you merely entry the Web. You actually must know somebody in an space the place there are timber, and the particular person must be reliable sufficient to give you contemporary materials. Of all of the species I’ve talked about, I believe African oil palm seeds can be the simplest to accumulate. We’re at about 900 m excessive, which is just a little colder than the low jungle, however I nonetheless discover it extremely popular. Within the dry season, most days are sunny and attain a excessive of 90 levels. I have never gotten any strong annual rainfall information (I simply put in a rain gauge final month) for our location. I might say someplace between 2000 and 3000mm on common. Annual rainfall primarily based on a number of the information I’ve seen from different close by cities in drier microclimates.
We have been at 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. So I believe some “greater order” timber would possibly do nicely if planted at this stage.
The topsoil in our pattern shocked me a bit. I did not count on to see the pH this excessive and the natural matter at 2.58% is greater 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 subsoil continues to be as horrible as once we began three years in the past.
Only a phrase of warning although: this can be a fairly excessive instance. It’s the space of the property the place we now 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 we now have seen passable tree development amongst Brachiaria.
Take a look at outcomes:
