SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
That is a tree every ~ 9 meters on average -- pretty close to a full reforestation.If so, it should be over a thousand trees going into the ground this year because of you guys
So impressive
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Sequestering carbon by land restoration and reforestation in Iceland
- Thread starter KarenRei
- Start date
So impressive
If only you could get away with that
You have to plant a lot closer when trees are starting this small because some trees will die (esp. first-year mortality), they need to provide each other shelter, etc etc.But still, it's a great start!
(Yes, I'm back home... uploading pics
)Clear skies, but there's still water on the ground around my place... is the grass going to be wet and soak my shoes? Ugh. Better bring some rubber boots just in case.
Water on the road going through town... hmm...
But by the time I got out of town it was dry:
A field of angelica. Angelica (Icelandic "hvönn") is a popular wild edible and herbal remedy (you can even get angelica cough drops at the store); it's been used since viking times. In the background is Blikdalur, a valley with a deep canyon, waterfalls, and some really interesting zeolite crystals.
I'm optimistic about this weather! In the background, across Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord), you can see one of Iceland's alumium smelters. On the right side of the picture you can see Miðdalur, the valley where my land is. You may notice that the coastline on this side rises at the spot where Miðdalur lets out - can you guess why?
Those rises are the moraines of the glaciers that carved Miðdalur. They block the flow of the river in my canyon from taking the easy route to the sea; it has to detour extensively to the east.
Wouldn't trust Autopilot on this road On the right side (appearing as a little white streak) is a 2-3 meter waterfall across the river from the western border of my land.
I couldn't believe how many spóar (whimbels) there were on my land today. All juveniles, I think (there were lots of nests this year). Spóar are ground-nesters. They'll nest out in the open, but they prefer deep grass.
Video of some of them here, where you can hear them being upset with me entering their neighborhood.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=b1Y2bVEtbUZZeXZVUGwxamo0WU4xbDdwMmlRSHdn
So, remember that "sheep banquet", that I accidentally left out, then realized my mistake and decided to take half the plants back? Good idea, because the guests visited.
They sampled a couple lodgepole pines, but clearly didn't like them (if they had liked them, they would have eaten the whole tray to stubs). Still, annoying that they ruined some of the growth tips :Þ
They didn't touch the sitka spruce at all. My understanding is that not only do they taste bad, like most conifers, but their needles are more painful to the sheep's mouths. The rowan was also untouched, but I did set it in the back, in a blackberry patch
Water on the road going through town... hmm...
But by the time I got out of town it was dry:
A field of angelica. Angelica (Icelandic "hvönn") is a popular wild edible and herbal remedy (you can even get angelica cough drops at the store); it's been used since viking times. In the background is Blikdalur, a valley with a deep canyon, waterfalls, and some really interesting zeolite crystals.
I'm optimistic about this weather! In the background, across Hvalfjörður (Whale Fjord), you can see one of Iceland's alumium smelters. On the right side of the picture you can see Miðdalur, the valley where my land is. You may notice that the coastline on this side rises at the spot where Miðdalur lets out - can you guess why?
Those rises are the moraines of the glaciers that carved Miðdalur. They block the flow of the river in my canyon from taking the easy route to the sea; it has to detour extensively to the east.
Wouldn't trust Autopilot on this road
On the right side (appearing as a little white streak) is a 2-3 meter waterfall across the river from the western border of my land.I couldn't believe how many spóar (whimbels) there were on my land today. All juveniles, I think (there were lots of nests this year). Spóar are ground-nesters. They'll nest out in the open, but they prefer deep grass.
Video of some of them here, where you can hear them being upset with me entering their neighborhood.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=b1Y2bVEtbUZZeXZVUGwxamo0WU4xbDdwMmlRSHdn
So, remember that "sheep banquet", that I accidentally left out, then realized my mistake and decided to take half the plants back? Good idea, because the guests visited.
They sampled a couple lodgepole pines, but clearly didn't like them (if they had liked them, they would have eaten the whole tray to stubs). Still, annoying that they ruined some of the growth tips :Þ
They didn't touch the sitka spruce at all. My understanding is that not only do they taste bad, like most conifers, but their needles are more painful to the sheep's mouths. The rowan was also untouched, but I did set it in the back, in a blackberry patch
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Now off to plant.... or not. Because I still have to take care of all of the trees I pass by as I walk, and there's a lot that went in this spring in this patch. Not too much grass to weed, and this rowan is in good health, so just a sprinkle of fertilizer for it.
I grab a sprig of wild thyme while I'm there:
It's pretty, but somewhat breezy... I'm worried that it's going to get worse and be uncomfortable
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=NHBURl9rT2NUQ3VXU08wbVItOHh3ZkhQbFZWcDFB
Lest we think that rowan are immune to sheep predation, however...
That's one of the really annoying thing about sheep: they rip up as they eat. Even if they don't want your tree (they did eat this one!), they may be eating some adjacent grass and unintentionally (but unremosefully) rip up newly planted trees that haven't established their roots yet. Several times on my walk I found otherwise unharmed trees just sitting out and suffering from dehydration. :Þ
I'm a vegetarian, but if anyone wants to eat *these* sheep, be my guest :Þ
Okay, a couple dozen rowans and birch taken care of, time to start planting sitka spruce! They like moisture and tolerate any ground. Hey, this ground looks a bit damp. (Note the line of rocks... some motorcyclers were riding on my land without permission, so I put a bump in the road )
The ground here is, like a lot of my land, almost completely devoid of organic material. I usually plant with a knife because it's adaptive - cuts through grass, grass roots, lets me probe into the ground to find buried rocks, etc.
Anyway, in you go!
Pack in the dirt, then some rocks to help anchor... there we go, one down!
Getting the next site ready. It's grassier, and consequently, a more organic soil. There's tons of worms in my grassy areas, no matter how nutrient-deficient they are. I feel bad hurting them when I plant
I'm discovering a problem with sitka spruce liking water. The wet spots on my land are where the underground streams start nearing the surface. Most of my land is low in organics, which not only causes problems by not retaining nutrients, but also doesn't retain water. Groundwater doesn't fix the nutrient issue, but it fixes the water problem. So grasses grow better, lay down carbon better, and in short, creates richer soil that helps more grass.
Sitka spruce doesn't care whether the soil is rich, but I care about the fact that I have to cut through thick grass for them... ugh. :Þ
I grab a sprig of wild thyme while I'm there:
It's pretty, but somewhat breezy... I'm worried that it's going to get worse and be uncomfortable
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=NHBURl9rT2NUQ3VXU08wbVItOHh3ZkhQbFZWcDFB
Lest we think that rowan are immune to sheep predation, however...
That's one of the really annoying thing about sheep: they rip up as they eat. Even if they don't want your tree (they did eat this one!), they may be eating some adjacent grass and unintentionally (but unremosefully) rip up newly planted trees that haven't established their roots yet. Several times on my walk I found otherwise unharmed trees just sitting out and suffering from dehydration. :Þ
I'm a vegetarian, but if anyone wants to eat *these* sheep, be my guest :Þ
Okay, a couple dozen rowans and birch taken care of, time to start planting sitka spruce! They like moisture and tolerate any ground. Hey, this ground looks a bit damp.
(Note the line of rocks... some motorcyclers were riding on my land without permission, so I put a bump in the road )The ground here is, like a lot of my land, almost completely devoid of organic material. I usually plant with a knife because it's adaptive - cuts through grass, grass roots, lets me probe into the ground to find buried rocks, etc.
Anyway, in you go!
Pack in the dirt, then some rocks to help anchor... there we go, one down!
Getting the next site ready. It's grassier, and consequently, a more organic soil. There's tons of worms in my grassy areas, no matter how nutrient-deficient they are. I feel bad hurting them when I plant
I'm discovering a problem with sitka spruce liking water. The wet spots on my land are where the underground streams start nearing the surface. Most of my land is low in organics, which not only causes problems by not retaining nutrients, but also doesn't retain water. Groundwater doesn't fix the nutrient issue, but it fixes the water problem. So grasses grow better, lay down carbon better, and in short, creates richer soil that helps more grass.
Sitka spruce doesn't care whether the soil is rich, but I care about the fact that I have to cut through thick grass for them... ugh. :Þ
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In such cases, first it's ripping and chopping out the grass...
Then I scrape away at the ground with the blade, expose more grass stubs, pull them,s crape some more, sometimes do cuts into the dirt in a cross-score pattern to cut up the grass roots, etc, etc. When I'm done, it's time to cut out a plug for planting.
After planting, it's mulched with the ripped-up grass - plus some more grass ripped up to help ensure it gets the light that it craves (sitka spruce don't tolerate shade).
Heading back upstream and looking off the cliffs. There's a nice jasper vein down there
Here we go, another wet spot. Now, I just need my knife. My, um.... where is it?
Dammmit.
(15 minutes later, after extensive searching, and nearly giving up, I decide to change my perspective from where I planted the last tree... aha, spot the knife now? )
Back to work. Wind is calming, sky is clearing, and it's just basically a lovely evening.
I discover a convenience trick: when there's a wet spot that's covered with grass, I just plant the trees just uphill from the grass. After all, these trees will have no trouble getting their roots down some small distance to reach the water that is helping the grass
The reddish plants in the pictures are hundasúra (sheep sorrel), a tart herb with a taste similar to rhubarb.
Yep... this weather is great
Uh oh... frick.... is that nootka lupine on my land? Has my land started to get colonized? As mentioned before, lupine is controverial... it restores soil well, is super-hardy, and is beautiful. But it's also non-native and highly invasive and crowds out everything else. A stand will usually last for a couple decades until the soil is so good that it can no longer withstand competition from its supercharged neighbors.
I can't imagine how I'd get rid of this without either weeks of backbreaking work, or chemicals Let's take a look...
Then I scrape away at the ground with the blade, expose more grass stubs, pull them,s crape some more, sometimes do cuts into the dirt in a cross-score pattern to cut up the grass roots, etc, etc. When I'm done, it's time to cut out a plug for planting.
After planting, it's mulched with the ripped-up grass - plus some more grass ripped up to help ensure it gets the light that it craves (sitka spruce don't tolerate shade).
Heading back upstream and looking off the cliffs. There's a nice jasper vein down there
Here we go, another wet spot. Now, I just need my knife. My, um.... where is it?
Dammmit.
(15 minutes later, after extensive searching, and nearly giving up, I decide to change my perspective from where I planted the last tree... aha, spot the knife now?
)Back to work. Wind is calming, sky is clearing, and it's just basically a lovely evening.
I discover a convenience trick: when there's a wet spot that's covered with grass, I just plant the trees just uphill from the grass. After all, these trees will have no trouble getting their roots down some small distance to reach the water that is helping the grass
The reddish plants in the pictures are hundasúra (sheep sorrel), a tart herb with a taste similar to rhubarb.
Yep... this weather is great
Uh oh... frick.... is that nootka lupine on my land? Has my land started to get colonized? As mentioned before, lupine is controverial... it restores soil well, is super-hardy, and is beautiful. But it's also non-native and highly invasive and crowds out everything else. A stand will usually last for a couple decades until the soil is so good that it can no longer withstand competition from its supercharged neighbors.
I can't imagine how I'd get rid of this without either weeks of backbreaking work, or chemicals
Let's take a look...
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Oh, whew, this isn't nootka lupine! It's a native legume, so it still restores soil, but never gets tall enough to shade out everything else. Live long and prosper!
One thing that's almost everywhere is moss. The sparser the grass in grasslands, the more moss is underneath it, while the denser there is, the less moss, but there's usually a mat of moss under the grass everywhere. The stuff is awesome for tree planting because you can fluff it up and pack it around the trees to help shade out any grass that tries to spring up. It's insulative, too, and acts to a small extent like a natural velcro, holding itself together. And it's water-retentive. Just awesome stuff.
Angelica likes the wet grounds that I'm focusing on for the sitka spruce:
During the planting this spring, I happened to dig up some jasper. As mentioned, there's various chalcedony / jasper veins on my land. Even found (potch) opal in one place.
The bag is almost out of seedlings by now.
Nearing the windbreak / fence on the east side, looking back at a lenticular cloud in the distance. The mountains like to kick these off. Sometimes the sky can be filled with them; at sunset especially they can look like an alien invasion
Okay, now the part that I'm ill-equipped for by carrying just a knife: planting the big spruce
Actual dirt only extends down a dozen centimeters / few inches or so. After that, it's just muddy gravel that I have to scoop out with my bare hands.
Whew, finally - it fits! Now just to pack that loose dirt / gravel back.
Welcome to your new home, tree. I put it where it is because (besides the high water table) it starts getting steep really quickly downhill, and that hillside has some real problems with erosion. Given its size, hopefully the tree won't take too long to reach reproductive age, and they're monoecious (male and female cones on the same plant), so hopefully it'll soon be seeding that eroding slope with new seedlings
Live long and prosper!One thing that's almost everywhere is moss. The sparser the grass in grasslands, the more moss is underneath it, while the denser there is, the less moss, but there's usually a mat of moss under the grass everywhere. The stuff is awesome for tree planting because you can fluff it up and pack it around the trees to help shade out any grass that tries to spring up. It's insulative, too, and acts to a small extent like a natural velcro, holding itself together. And it's water-retentive. Just awesome stuff.
Angelica likes the wet grounds that I'm focusing on for the sitka spruce:
During the planting this spring, I happened to dig up some jasper. As mentioned, there's various chalcedony / jasper veins on my land.
Even found (potch) opal in one place.The bag is almost out of seedlings by now.
Nearing the windbreak / fence on the east side, looking back at a lenticular cloud in the distance. The mountains like to kick these off. Sometimes the sky can be filled with them; at sunset especially they can look like an alien invasion
Okay, now the part that I'm ill-equipped for by carrying just a knife: planting the big spruce
Actual dirt only extends down a dozen centimeters / few inches or so. After that, it's just muddy gravel that I have to scoop out with my bare hands.
Whew, finally - it fits! Now just to pack that loose dirt / gravel back.
Welcome to your new home, tree.
I put it where it is because (besides the high water table) it starts getting steep really quickly downhill, and that hillside has some real problems with erosion. Given its size, hopefully the tree won't take too long to reach reproductive age, and they're monoecious (male and female cones on the same plant), so hopefully it'll soon be seeding that eroding slope with new seedlings
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The only problem with this site is that it's further below a ridge than I'd like. It's 9:00 in July and it's already fully in shadow. But, I think it'll get enough to keep growing, and the more it grows, the more sunlight it'll get. I think it'll be just fine.
The aforementioned slope really needs its help. Here's the remains of multiple repeated attempts to build a fence and windbreak - and later, just a fence - on the slope. The ground just keeps sliding. Notice the big rock that fell on one of the pallets.
Well, that's the big tree planted, and the bag of seedlings emptied. Time to head back to get a new tray!
I often put trees next to large rocks, where possible. They offer some degree of natural wind protection, help encourage snow collection (snow is good in the winter, it insulates), they suppress grass where they stand, and if anyone's driving on the land, they're going to avoid the rocks.
The trees in this tray are truly monsters. I've never seen trees in this small of plug trays that are this large. Soon I discover a wonderful thing: they're so large that I barely have to remove the grass around them, even in tall-grass areas!
The plugs are barely "soil" anymore, just solid roots. Thankfully these plug trays appear to be designed to discourage spiraling - there's vertical ridges on the inside.
Sóley - figuratively it means buttercup, but literally, "sun island" - like each one is an island of sunlight in a sea of green. They like this wet ground that the spruce also like.
Sóley (Buttercup) is also a popular girl's name - most famously, Sóley Stefánsdóttir, a wierd and endearing musician
I don't remember the name of this characteristic marsh plant, but they used to be harvested for stuffing and insulation. In some marshes there's an endless sea of them:
Out to sea:
The aforementioned slope really needs its help. Here's the remains of multiple repeated attempts to build a fence and windbreak - and later, just a fence - on the slope. The ground just keeps sliding. Notice the big rock that fell on one of the pallets.
Well, that's the big tree planted, and the bag of seedlings emptied. Time to head back to get a new tray!
I often put trees next to large rocks, where possible. They offer some degree of natural wind protection, help encourage snow collection (snow is good in the winter, it insulates), they suppress grass where they stand, and if anyone's driving on the land, they're going to avoid the rocks.
The trees in this tray are truly monsters. I've never seen trees in this small of plug trays that are this large. Soon I discover a wonderful thing: they're so large that I barely have to remove the grass around them, even in tall-grass areas!
The plugs are barely "soil" anymore, just solid roots. Thankfully these plug trays appear to be designed to discourage spiraling - there's vertical ridges on the inside.
Sóley - figuratively it means buttercup, but literally, "sun island" - like each one is an island of sunlight in a sea of green. They like this wet ground that the spruce also like.
Sóley (Buttercup) is also a popular girl's name - most famously, Sóley Stefánsdóttir, a wierd and endearing musician
I don't remember the name of this characteristic marsh plant, but they used to be harvested for stuffing and insulation. In some marshes there's an endless sea of them:
Out to sea:
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Working on the west side of the landslide. Still quite the scar despite it happening a decade ago; I do see it cover over, but only slowly. Planting these trees here should help ensure that it does not slide again, nor the adjacent areas that are hanging on.
Okay, sun is almost below the horizon now. One more tree after this one and I'll call it done.
Checked the clock: 10:07 PM. 14 trees left in the 40-tree tray, so 26 planted. Plus (25?) that bag... probably over 50? Plus the big tree. Okay, but it could have been better. Next time I'll finish up this tray and then do a tray or two of the lodgepole pines.
Let's get home and clean up
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I'll admit... perhaps there's some bad logic in spending an hour and a half (or was it more?) posting pictures and writing things each day I work on this But then again, I enjoy taking you guys along with me
Okay, sun is almost below the horizon now. One more tree after this one and I'll call it done.
Checked the clock: 10:07 PM. 14 trees left in the 40-tree tray, so 26 planted. Plus (25?) that bag... probably over 50? Plus the big tree. Okay, but it could have been better.
Next time I'll finish up this tray and then do a tray or two of the lodgepole pines.Let's get home and clean up
-------------
I'll admit... perhaps there's some bad logic in spending an hour and a half (or was it more?) posting pictures and writing things each day I work on this
But then again, I enjoy taking you guys along with me Attachments
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
I add this photo only in tribute to Karen:
@KarenRei while I would agree that stopping to take pictures and updating this thread might not be the most efficient use of your tree planting time. I believe that I'm speaking for the group in saying thank you for allowing us to follow along.
I will start by saying that I did take fewer pictures this evening. Also, I'll go ahead and give the tree planting count: somewhere between 50 and maybe a hundred thousand or so? Yes, the ambiguity will be explained later
So, I got off to a late start because... (sheepish grin)... while eating dinner before heading out I got sidetracked by arguing with bears on Seeking Alpha. Yeah, I know, I know...
Anyway I headed straight out to the land and... just kidding, I got sidetracked again I was driving along and I noticed that this was the brief period of "cottonwood snow", when the black cottonwoods (Alaskaösp / Alaska Aspen/Poplar) fill the air with their fluffy flying seeds (hence the name "cottonwood" ). And I was just too tempted.
They're interesting trees - apart from being economically important, and one of Iceland's fastest-growing trees, they're also one of only two plants on Earth (alongside arabidopsis, a weed) used as a model organism for biology research, in particular genetics study (it was the first woody plant sequenced). But I'm just here for those seeds
Thankfully the business was closed and nobody was there, because I probably looked pretty weird. But hey, I was cleaning up their parking lot for them, so they can't complain! My only spectator was a humble bumble.
One bag done. Probably representing less than a single tree's output. Really goes to show the importance of getting some trees on my land to reproductive size - tree seeding can be prolific!
Now, it fully occurs to me that this might be a pointless endeavour. For all I know, the seeds are all gone by the time the catkins fall off, and this is just residual fluff. Or perhaps some other reason why this wouldn't work. But hey... it's worth a try.
I initially start seeding them in careful locations. Until I pull out my phone, look it up, and discover that cottonwood seeds can fly up to 5 miles from the tree. Doesn't really matter where I put them, so long as it's "upwind". So I just focus on walking the various "upwind" areas for my land and throwing them into the air.
Half done...
Oh, hey, yet another mew patch of that nitrogen-fixing legume! I've never seen so much of it:
Nor have I seen so much grass in this area. I know to you all, this is just a grassy field, but to me, it's like a whole different piece of land. It was just gravel here and little scrubby plants last year before I added phosphorus. It feels so wonderful to see the money and work pay off so hugely. Still very mineral-deficient, but... fixing that carbon and laying down organic matter!
Really, everything has been blowing me away. I've never before seen so many birds as I saw on my land that day - countless spói (whimbrel), skógarþröstur (redwing / lit. "forest robin"), jaðrakan (black tailed godwit), some sort of duck species I've never seen before... just birds, everywhere I went, all mad at me for disturbing their peace
I can't help but think that all the new plant growth, and the increased bird numbers, are connected.
Anyway, I finish the seed spreading (not knowing whether I might get hundreds of tiny seedling trees or zero) and go back and get some trays of trees: the remainder of the oversized sitka spruce tray, and the tray of lodgepole pines that had a few sheep nibbles:
Also, I'll go ahead and give the tree planting count: somewhere between 50 and maybe a hundred thousand or so? Yes, the ambiguity will be explained later So, I got off to a late start because... (sheepish grin)... while eating dinner before heading out I got sidetracked by arguing with bears on Seeking Alpha. Yeah, I know, I know...
Anyway I headed straight out to the land and... just kidding, I got sidetracked again
I was driving along and I noticed that this was the brief period of "cottonwood snow", when the black cottonwoods (Alaskaösp / Alaska Aspen/Poplar) fill the air with their fluffy flying seeds (hence the name "cottonwood" ). And I was just too tempted.They're interesting trees - apart from being economically important, and one of Iceland's fastest-growing trees, they're also one of only two plants on Earth (alongside arabidopsis, a weed) used as a model organism for biology research, in particular genetics study (it was the first woody plant sequenced). But I'm just here for those seeds
Thankfully the business was closed and nobody was there, because I probably looked pretty weird.
But hey, I was cleaning up their parking lot for them, so they can't complain! My only spectator was a humble bumble.One bag done. Probably representing less than a single tree's output.
Really goes to show the importance of getting some trees on my land to reproductive size - tree seeding can be prolific!Now, it fully occurs to me that this might be a pointless endeavour. For all I know, the seeds are all gone by the time the catkins fall off, and this is just residual fluff. Or perhaps some other reason why this wouldn't work. But hey... it's worth a try.
I initially start seeding them in careful locations. Until I pull out my phone, look it up, and discover that cottonwood seeds can fly up to 5 miles from the tree. Doesn't really matter where I put them, so long as it's "upwind". So I just focus on walking the various "upwind" areas for my land and throwing them into the air.
Half done...
Oh, hey, yet another mew patch of that nitrogen-fixing legume! I've never seen so much of it:
Nor have I seen so much grass in this area. I know to you all, this is just a grassy field, but to me, it's like a whole different piece of land. It was just gravel here and little scrubby plants last year before I added phosphorus. It feels so wonderful to see the money and work pay off so hugely. Still very mineral-deficient, but... fixing that carbon and laying down organic matter!
Really, everything has been blowing me away. I've never before seen so many birds as I saw on my land that day - countless spói (whimbrel), skógarþröstur (redwing / lit. "forest robin"), jaðrakan (black tailed godwit), some sort of duck species I've never seen before... just birds, everywhere I went, all mad at me for disturbing their peace
I can't help but think that all the new plant growth, and the increased bird numbers, are connected.
Anyway, I finish the seed spreading (not knowing whether I might get hundreds of tiny seedling trees or zero) and go back and get some trays of trees: the remainder of the oversized sitka spruce tray, and the tray of lodgepole pines that had a few sheep nibbles:
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I'm noticing that the mushrooms seem to be starting to show up early this year. I don't know this species, but a slug apparently likes it. Iceland is abundant in wild edible mushrooms in the fall.
A "stripe" of sunlight lighting up Esja - the top shaded by clouds. Below, I'm working on the slope that I fear is due for a landslide. The wooden stakes mark the only tree that I'd previously planted on it - a lone and struggling western redcedar. They're there to act as a sort of windbreak and snow collector, to make life a little easier for it. If it does make it, however, it could become a spectacular tree; western redcedars in the Pacific Northwest are some of the largest trees in Earth by mass, and if our planet keeps warming, Iceland's climate will become increasingly like the Pacific Northwest.
The sun has long since set, but it takes such a low angle that skyglow lasts and lasts.
Heading back to my car at 11:24 PM (a late day because of the late start!). 50 actual trees planted, plus a bag full of cottonwood fluff scattered all over the bloody place.
Tomorrow's forecast is again nice, and I'm off work all day. But my first stop will be to pick up the clover seed. I'll need to talk with them to see if it's okay to delay planting the clover seed until the trees are all in (I imagine that it will be). The trees really need to get in the ground and get those roots established before the growing season ends!
Assuming that I can delay the clover, then it'll just be trays of trees after that. I'm thinking about bring some of the broadleafs (birch, alter, or willow) from home, just to mix things up. Whatever looks to be outgrowing its tray the most
Iceland is abundant in wild edible mushrooms in the fall.A "stripe" of sunlight lighting up Esja - the top shaded by clouds. Below, I'm working on the slope that I fear is due for a landslide. The wooden stakes mark the only tree that I'd previously planted on it - a lone and struggling western redcedar. They're there to act as a sort of windbreak and snow collector, to make life a little easier for it. If it does make it, however, it could become a spectacular tree; western redcedars in the Pacific Northwest are some of the largest trees in Earth by mass, and if our planet keeps warming, Iceland's climate will become increasingly like the Pacific Northwest.
The sun has long since set, but it takes such a low angle that skyglow lasts and lasts.
Heading back to my car at 11:24 PM (a late day because of the late start!). 50 actual trees planted, plus a bag full of cottonwood fluff scattered all over the bloody place.
Tomorrow's forecast is again nice, and I'm off work all day. But my first stop will be to pick up the clover seed. I'll need to talk with them to see if it's okay to delay planting the clover seed until the trees are all in (I imagine that it will be). The trees really need to get in the ground and get those roots established before the growing season ends!
Assuming that I can delay the clover, then it'll just be trays of trees after that. I'm thinking about bring some of the broadleafs (birch, alter, or willow) from home, just to mix things up. Whatever looks to be outgrowing its tray the most
Okay, awake now and having breakfast and tea (really slept in ). Have a couple things I need to do here before I set out (plant some seeds for my tropical room that have started to sprout, and I was thinking about experimenting with making a persistent capsaicin spray that I could spray onto trees (it'll take a while to do an acetone extract of some of my old unwanted chili powders. ).
Still haven't gotten confirmation from Lífland that the clover seed are ready, but hopefully they'll be there
). Have a couple things I need to do here before I set out (plant some seeds for my tropical room that have started to sprout, and I was thinking about experimenting with making a persistent capsaicin spray that I could spray onto trees (it'll take a while to do an acetone extract of some of my old unwanted chili powders. ). Still haven't gotten confirmation from Lífland that the clover seed are ready, but hopefully they'll be there
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Does that actually work, and not damage the tree ?
I know a little about capsaicin -- in humans it is a substance P neurotransmitter analogue. I never thought of its possible use in horticulture.
There are commercial products that contain it:
https://www.amazon.com/Bonide-127-Ready-Repellent-32-Ounces/dp/B000BOB7UW
Just not available in Iceland
I'd have to order online and pay far more in shipping and customs (2x in bulk, more in small orders). Although it is an option. For my homemade stuff, I'd do some small-scale tests firsts to make sure that plants don't care. I was thinking of an acetone extraction then mixing with dilute insecticidal soap (as an emulsifier) and very dilute binder so it doesn't wash away.If it doesn't work, or the plants don't like it, then I might try the commercial stuff.
Thinking about it, it'd probably be a lot easier and have a much higher chance of success just to go with the commercial stuff....Anyway, got the clover!
$405. This is enough for 6ha, but I was planning to stretch it to all 8,35. But given how much you've donated, I should have enough to actually be able to buy the recommended amount
I'll get 2 more bags when I'm ready to sow the clover seed (e.g. after the trees are all in the ground)Nitrogen, you're en route!
Eating lunch now, off to plant trees afterwards
It's really hot today - 18°C / 65°F right now 
30 kilos plus innoculant?There are commercial products that contain it:
https://www.amazon.com/Bonide-127-Ready-Repellent-32-Ounces/dp/B000BOB7UW
Just not available in Iceland
If it doesn't work, or the plants don't like it, then I might try the commercial stuff.
Anyway, got the clover!
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$405. This is enough for 6ha, but I was planning to stretch it to all 8,35. But given how much you've donated, I should have enough to actually be able to buy the recommended amount
Nitrogen, you're en route!
Eating lunch now, off to plant trees afterwards
(yippe!!! i'm learning new words in Icelandic!!) So far! 100% thanks to you guys!
Mín væri ánægjan að kenna þér íslensku
Don TLR
Active Member
You have such a nice plot of land and amazed by all your Jasper. I'm enjoying all the update and of course the pictures you are sharing.
