We discovered a wild blueberry patch in the woods – let’s maximize it for fruit AND firewood!
Coppice Agroforestry by Mark Krawczyk: https://amzn.to/3OXgx5P
David’s books: https://amzn.to/3iviTwK
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Today we’re coppicing oaks and sweet gum trees, as well as doing some pollarding. If we coppice woods for firewood production around this rabbiteye blueberry patch, we should be able to produce lots of blueberries as well as an abundant supply of firewood for winter.
43 Comments
We discovered a wild blueberry patch in the woods – let's maximize it for fruit AND firewood!
Coppice Agroforestry by Mark Krawczyk: https://amzn.to/3OXgx5P
David's books: https://amzn.to/3iviTwK
Thanks for watching.
Literally could spend this whole winter getting wood and setting up the berries for next year couple hours a week should do it
Maybe 10-15 years ago my area got mauled by emerald ash borer. I asked several forestry personnel, game wardens, etc if it wouldn't be a good idea to coppice as many as we could to save them before the roots died. I got a pretty underwhelming response from everyone. I coppiced about 50 on my property. a few died, but all of them that came back the spring after coppicing are still alive. I would safely guess mine are the only live white ash in the county. I see no emerald ash borer on them until they get more than about 6-8" diameter. I believe it is now on me to outlast the bugs, the trees have proven they can.
I have a ton of blue ridge blueberries in my woods, but the deer got to them before me, so I’ll move some within the dog fence.
What a treasure to find more land than you originally thought👍. 👵🏻👩🌾❣️
I'm jealous. This opens up great opportunities for biochar. You could generate as much as SkillCult and live on your own Terra Preta that will serve your family for millennia.
Cut away my brother!!
Blueberries are suppose to be good for you…I don’t know a lot about them …would you consider selling seeds off them ?
So many straight trees – I hope you can use as many as possible for timber/building instead of just firewood.
As for the berry bushes I have one suggestion, which is to trim them back so you can reach them, but also leave a couple of metres of berry bush above where you can pick. As other people have mentioned, trimming them back so that you can pick the fruit is a good idea, and I think leaving higher branches for wildlife could work well.
I had a persimmon (Fuyu) tree in a rental I was in and it was about 4m tall (about twice as high as I could pick). I noticed that the birds seemed to hang out mainly in the upper branches and rat the fruit there, so I was quite happy to leave it like that. If it had been pruned down so I could reach all the fruit I think the birds probably would have wanted to share those fruit with me! So I think leaving higher branches for the birds, so they leave the fruit you can pick is probably a smart idea.
A close family member bought a house and declined to get the property surveyed which was very unfortunate. Due to a problem with his next door neighbor walking into and across his back yard everyday he discovered he was now the owner of a house with just the property the house was sitting on. He doesn’t even own the driveway where he parks his car. Unbelievable! But true.
There's an ancientwoodland not far from my house called Bradfield Woods which "is a working wood that is unique as it has been under continuous traditional coppice management since 1252". They sell the coppice products to the public. There are some Ash coppice stools that they think are 1000 years old.
Placing some of the scraps/branches around the bases of the blueberries might be worthwhile for increasing soil fertility.
That's a beautiful dilemma! Also, you could have a few heritage pigs out there.
Blueberries dont need direct sun! They naturally grow in the understory of forests and do best with lots of shade! Same with almost all plants in the vaccinum species aka huckleberries and blue berries.
Watch out for black walnut trees. They like each other but many other things do Not like them and won't grow.
What great ideas! We have about 10 wooded acres in east Texas (8B) that I'm trying to figure out how to maximize value. Gonna check out the book you recommend. Oh– re: the yaupon… it's like chocolate for goats. They love it! But don't get tempted to put the wood in your fireplaces… it flash burns. Keep up the great work!
There are some studies about the utility of cop picking. Apparently, because the roots are established, it grows back much faster.
you should get a survey to be sure it's yours .. ask your lawyer or at least go to planning and zoning.
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I found a small stand of low bush blueberries, which I didn't know were native to South Arkansas. There is a lot of tree shade and overgrowth. How can I improve my little treasure?
Sounds like you got a nifty old house. Multiple fireplaces to me sounds like the 40s or earlier.. I love old houses.. sadly to get the property I wanted, I had to settle for a mid-century modern. My least favorite era of house design
Tax maps may give you an idea where the property line is. You can often see fences that extend off and on for miles in Alabama.
I have wild blueberries in the back of my property the flowers look just like blueberries but either the fruit is so tiny I never see it or they are so small the birds eat them and they’re too inconspicuous for me to find.
vaccinium arboreum
It would be funny if someone one up'd your channel in the 2020's by trying to open a creative, funny, educational content source like yours calling it 'Dan the Great' haha – delirious thoughts from 4:15 AM in a jet lagged insomnia. Thanks for the book recommendation. It didn't look like your woods were very mature or thick in that area, I don't think cutting down some of those trees to bring in more light will be a big deal (since you asked, I really like blueberries – so for me more blueberries = good )
Always fun to watch your videos and most of the time I learn something new. About the tree felling: why not test and fell one or more when the leaves starts to show? Heard a lot of people say that the leaves will "suck" all the sap out of the tree real fast. Wouldn't mind if you had a video comparing which firewood is the driest. Cut in winter or cut in early summer? Cheers
I discovered you last spring, I live in Cortez, Co. Elevation of my garden is 6000 ft. I too have issues with soil, or better stayed, lack of soil. You have taught me so much, and I need to learn more. You have inspired me so much, and I hope to produce a video documenting what I have done and will continue to grow. I can't wait to see how things look in Your woods next spring! God bless you and your's.
When we first bought our place, it felt so wild and free to go romping and exploring with the kids and finding maypop, sassafrass, ironwood, black locust, toothache tree, and other weird stuff among the oaks, hickories and gums. Its so fun to explore a new place! Enjoy!
Pretty cool design someone left for ya there
Any excuse to get the chain saw out!
Good ideas David.
One more challenge that you will face is the fact that birds like blueberries, rabbits, groundhogs, and deer like them too! Lol
Your green thumbs will certainly stain blue IF you figure out a way to save some for yourself. Most people use lots of netting and stake it above and away from each bush. You can use that idea for your project when the time comes. I look forward to that episode.
Blessings,
https://youtu.be/dLKJYC5nY-E
Hey D.
The root systems of the trees will die back and slowly improve the soil… coppiced, pollarded or dead. But the consensus of agroforestry types I've been studying suggests at least a third of the above ground biomass be left in place for soil improvement.
Feeding it to the blueberries was suggested in another comment, or the same for selected coppiced trees you want to favor, but "nests" with piles of smaller branches on a ring of larger logs will give the new tree plantings you mentioned a boost while partially protecting the young trees.
The management also has the added benefits of higher quality and bigger lumber from the trees you leave standing, increasing biological diversity and reducing fire risk.
Not applicable in your case, but on sloped terrain, dropping and leaving an occasional whole tree on contour has greater long term benefits.
I'm sure you're aware of all of that, but I'm throwing it out there for anybody that might read the comments but not the book you suggested.
Could you grow mushrooms from some of the pieces of wood?
Jackpot! That's an awesome find!
Eureka! Congratulations on a great find and great idea!
Coppicing. I was talking to my brother about the practice. In fact I was researching it and my brother unprompted emailed me about it. Asked me if I ever heard about it. It seems like my brother hoans in on things I am just digging into. It's weird.
The book, sprout lands changed my opinion on coppice and pollarding. As an arborists I thought it was a great mistake. Our survival literally depended on these pruning methods
Where in south AL. do you live ? I live in Dozier
For the algorithm
I don't care where or how you cut a sweet gum….it's going to grow back. BUT…sweet gum isn't good fire wood. Green: it's very hard to get burning. Dry: burns easier but doesn't give much heat. AND…you'd better watch that Yaupon! To say it's invasive is the understatement of the history of earth! It's the bane of loggers! Yes, it's good for tea….but it'll take over in a heartbeat.
I'm in chapter four of the same book. 🙂 I look forward to seeing what you do with the wood.
How can I tell what type of wild blueberries . And do you fertilize them?
7:55 Just please use native Morus rubra…not more invasive Morus alba…
Oak, hickory, and maple, off to the side to put in the grill.