Thanks for explaining that. Now I understand your plans I don't need to pen the queries I had 😊. I love following you progress and truly admire what you sre achieving on such an unpromising landscape.

What species of eucalyptus? That’s beautiful!

I’m an Aussie who is very familiar with the positives and negatives of eucalyptus trees, and I was honestly surprised by how many existed in Portugal when I visited there in 2019. They are obviously hardy in dry conditions and fast growing, and provide a lot of beneficial habitat for fauna - especially here for the Koalas. It’s great to see how you are using them for their short term benefits while you establish the shade, wind breaks and biodiversity for your food forest. However I also agree that they should be trimmed and dismantled as nice hot burning firewood at a BBQ gathering or compost when these benefits are no longer required to help reduce risk of bushfires and other negative impacts they can have on your crops. Keep up the great work and looking forward to continuing to learn about what works and what doesn’t for the milestones during your journey.

Eucalypts have beneficial uses for bee-keeping though. I love to see the food forest. Mine is very small and I've packed in the fruit trees and still it looks empty! I think I have 54 types of fruit trees and berries etc. It make me so happy to walk in there and yes, it is still young too. All the best. Your climate seems fairly harsh!

Eucalypts can be invasive if left uncontrolled, but if you compare the desert and Eucalypts, especially as a supporting species, the benefits are obvious to many. It’s just that some “environmental hypocrites” are desperately trying to come up with fairy tales and an image of their benefit to society, while they are not able to change the real processes in degenerative agriculture and climate change, but very aggressively attack people who grow eucalyptus and paulownia, invent and inflate problems invasive species. That is why I very much support your approach - which is reflected both in syntropic farming in Brazil and in the general concept of permaculture. I am also in the process of buying land in Spain, your family is a very good practical example for me!

I’m also from Australia, and I agree with this. I’ll also add, from experience, do NOT use eucalyptus cuttings as mulch or biomass. The soil will not like it, and you will find that instead of offering nutrients, anything beneath those trees will die.

Yeah. I'm near in the area, NE of Castelo Branco and agree on the mulch. It has antibacterial properties or similar. That's why eucalyptus forest are like green deserts. (Plus it drains water that evaporates through its stem making for real deserts one day) Nothing else really grows in those forests. It also repels insects and even bacteria/fungi need a long time to break it down. Completely agree on the mulch qualities you mentioned, just doesn't work with eucalyptus. I understand the need for organic material. Otherwise, doing a great job! I planted over 300 trees last year, it's a lot of work watering just to have them survive their first summer!

​@@Nell3810Oh no! My husband did just that. He cut the small trees, mulch and covered our newly planted coconuts. He only cut some small trees. There are still many more "for shades". He said.

Yes I was going to say a similar thing. Eucalyptus trees purposefully poison the soil under them to prevent competition. Definitely not a companion tree.

Yep. I am from Australia too. Most people don't realise what an impact eucalyptus trees have on the soil. He would be far better off, with wattles, or some other leguminous trees. I thought everyone knew, that citrus, hate competition, in the soil..😂

the fact that he's honest to us and to himself is an indicator that he'll likely succeed at what he's building now

Generally that is just how Dutch people are.. as a Dutchie myself we just tell people how it is or as we say: ''vork in de steel'' which translates to ''fork in the stem'' whether we made a mistake or we succeeded we're usually an open book in that regard and to us that is perfectly fine as we're all human and we just make mistakes.. no way to avoid that.. of course like every other country we do have people who do not admit to their mistakes and wrong doing but that's life

@Disabled.Megatron- You are missing the point. An “invasive species” definition: “an introduced species to an environment that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage.” So there are strong reasons for understanding if we are encountering or bringing in an invasive species to an area that will see negative effects in that area.

@@sfstucco yeah but if you keep invasive trees just for biomass and dont let them go wild that should be fine? i mean you can always cut them down i guess.

I agree, also eucalyptus trees are taking over from native trees in Portugal and they are highly flammable!

I loathe gum trees and I am surrounded by them. One extremely close is weeping black oil all over the ground, rocks and plants under this huge multi branched tree the leaves are shrivelling and our body corporate cannot afford for it to be removed by an arborist around AU$10,000.00 plus. then who wants to mulch from a sick tree? Someone the arborist won’t tell where it came from. This year we have spent over AU$10,000.00 on removing trees and huge branches of huge trees. If only they had planted hazelnut trees with truffle spores we could have afforded to have these sick gum trees treated. By the way even try removing one branch your arm with and length you will be crucified by the council and the tree huggers. You must ask permission and pay a fee for that and pay an arborist who will say it looks OK and in two weeks time that branch has fallen on a kid riding his bike RIP 🪦 but tree still stands minus that limb. They’re not called widow makers for nothing. They are not deciduous but drop leaves and bark 365 days a year. Give me silver birches, elms, lindens anything but these fire 🔥 furies their leaves slip under doors and under tiles burning away as the heat off the fire robs you of oxygen you may go into your pool or dam but there won’t be oxygen left for you to breath. California hates the cursed gums and I don’t blame them. Only the indigenous peoples know how to control burn 🔥 but white man refused to even have them recognised in the recent referendum so they are still not included as having been here for 65,000 years. Always Was Always Will Be! I voted YES 👍🏻

​@@FrancienDanielsWebb You can decrease growth / stop growth / or kill trees (vegetation) by using a strong acid like concentrated sulphuric acid. I successfully killed a very stubborn Giant Hogweed (heracleum mantegazzianum) by using concentrated sulphuric acid, which are phototoxic and causes phytophotodermatitis in humans. Warning: If you get concentrated sulphuric acid on your skin: It want hydrogen atoms, so it will take hydrogen atoms from your skin cell's molecules, creating black carbon in it's place!!! It's like a chemical burn, which don't create heat, so no fires are started.

I know eucalyptus are supposed to suppress other plant but right here there is video evidence that this way of thinking is incorrect or at least more nuanced. Eucalyptus are basically a pioneer species except they can live a very long time. The way they improve the soil is by burning again and again over decades until they die and something else has taken its place. With intensive management it will die like any other tree. They are saving environments all over the world from desertification. At least there is something growing in the soil instead of nothing right?

Thanks for sharing!