Plant Guilds

I thought I would share with you a problem I have come across and what I believe to be an exciting solution.

This past spring I was very frustrated because most of the trees on my property are unhealthy in one way or another. The English walnuts have anthracnose, the douglas firs have rhabdocline, and the willows and poplars have borers that nearly defoliated them in late spring. Then there is my fruit orchard– 8 trees of non-edible fruit. Between the insect damage and the blight they are a complete washout.

Of course, I could start reaching for the chemicals to try and treat each individual disease. But that seemed like a band-aid approach, not dealing with the ultimate problem causing this. And I don’t really want to live with all these chemicals in my environment.

In researching something unrelated I learned about the cycle a typical modern farmed field goes through. All of the native plants are removed through plowing and herbicides, and a new massive monocrop is planted (a field of corn, eg.). Because a monocrop is a set-up not found in nature, pests thrive hopping easily from plant to plant, requiring the farmer to apply pesticides constantly, killing the beneficial and harmful together. The tilling of the soil exposes the soil microbes to the sun, killing them. The herbicides and pesticides continue to damage the soil. Production decreases so the farmer must use chemical fertilizers. Now there are tons of chemicals in the field and the soil continues to die. More chemicals are added to compensate but it is a losing battle. Even crop rotation cannot stop this decline into eventual non-productivity.

(photo credit)

While pondering this I had a eureka moment. Our property was converted from corn/soy fields about 15 years ago, by the people who built our house and planted many of the trees. It was farmed for many decades before this. Without a doubt our soil is depleted of healthy nutrients and microbes and probably overloaded with chemicals from herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Our soil is sick. So it makes sense that the trees trying to survive on it are not able to keep themselves healthy and defend themselves from harmful insects and fungi.

So the question then is how to repair the damaged soil and make the trees healthy again. This is where the concept of plant guilds come in. Guilds are a concept similar to companion planting in the vegetable garden but on a larger scale. You group certain plants together to repair and nourish the soil once again. For instance, you may need a plant that can mine the soil deeply with its roots to bring up minerals lacking in the upper layers. And maybe you want to add a plant that produces a lot of greenery that can be slashed back and used as green manure to compost right around the tree. How about some plants with nitrogen-fixing capabilities.

Different trees have different guilds, or combinations of plants that will restore them and maintain a healthy balance. The tree is then growing in a more natural setting—amongst a variety of plants with a variety of functions, as opposed to growing on that ultimate monocrop of lawn. The soil comes back to life, nourishing everything that grows in it.

In future articles I will look at the different guilds that will help different types of trees.

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Julie Helms lives on eight acres with her family, sheep, goats and chickens.  She blogs about life on the farm at WoolyAcres.