Alley Cropping

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Dutchs

Dutchs

Just a guy loving life
Neighbor
Joined
Dec 2, 2017
Messages
544
So......I've been doing more reading up and i see an opportunity to take full advantage of my land. I currently have several acres planted in rows of Pines. They are a little older than 3 years now. I did the trees with 7 foot between rows so I can mow. They are spaced at about 3-4 feet in the rows. I see where people do what they call Alley Cropping...It's the practice of planting ground crops in the ground in the rows as a source of an income crop. I don't think i will do a cash crop just yet but would like to plant and just don't know what may do well. And I'm certainly not adverse to it making money but I want something I can keep and use day to day as a healthy crop for human consumption.......Make Sense? Anyone have any experience with this? Or would anyone offer suggestions of what may work where I know it's eventually be all shaded and pretty heavily shaded in another 2,3,4 years. Thanks and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated and considered.
 
TMT Tactical said:
Interesting concept. I have not heard about 'Alley Cropping" but I will be watching this thread to learn more about it. Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
I hadn't either TMT. Truth is I got a survey from the Dept. Of Agriculture they say I have to fill out and it is mentioned in the survey. Soooooooooo...Being the OCD guy I am I started reading on it and am trying to find appropriate crops to plant. I said the exact same thing you did...Interesting Concept.... So I will keep you all up on my findings and would still love any Info. Anyone may have.....
 
The name escapes me for now but there is a type of gardening where your crop is hidden in the woods. Those plants should work well. I think these are typically root veggies or less recognized leaf vegetables.

You might consider something like clover or other ground cover flowering plant. Then you can get some bees and sell honey, bee's wax, and pollen.
 
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~djgofort/Miscellaneous10.htm

This is an interesting article. I have Wild Blackberries growing everywhere right now anyway. At this point I just Mow them with a better crop of Blackberries I have planted in Ouchita. @Caribou ...I am looking for more info on the Root Veggies And I plan on doing Onions, Radishes and Garlic anyway so this may be the spot for them. Then my nice turned up garden area can be used for full sunlight stuff.... Still thinking...Feels like It is coming together a little....:)o_O
 
Caribou said:
The name escapes me for now but there is a type of gardening where your crop is hidden in the woods. Those plants should work well. I think these are typically root veggies or less recognized leaf vegetables.

You might consider something like clover or other ground cover flowering plant. Then you can get some bees and sell honey, bee's wax, and pollen.
Click to expand...
I think that is guerilla gardening
 
When we bought our property I purchased 1000 White pine seedlings from out state dept of forestry and put them out on 3 borders of our land. I planted mine in 3 rows with spacing between trees at 10' within the row, second row offset 5' , third row back to the same as the 1st. I also gave 10' between the rows. All this was based on the recommendation of the head district forester for our region. several died the first year or three. I kept them mowed for as long as the growth would allow. They finally grew in together, took maybe 7 years. They are now 30' feet tall and the largest are getting close to 20" diameter at the base. We've lost more over the year to pine beetle and to hail storm. But still have a decent stand.
I've never heard of the alley cropping. While the trees are small that would work. But as close as you placed your trees they will grow together with 5 years depending on what type pine you planted. And they will be dense. Great for screening you property, which is what I was going for. And yes they will change the soil to acidic over time. But they will be so dense you'll have a hard time growing anything that needs any sunlight in it.
I will be following this thread to see how things go. Best of luck with it.
 
Peanut said:
Soil gets acidic very quickly in an area with only pines growing. Blue berries do well in acidic soil. :)
Click to expand...
I read about that. Seems it will be a good crop for part of it. I don't have an exact measure but I'm talking about 2-3 acres Approximate..Also I'm reading that it will be good to prevent Erosion because it is all on a hill and That you should plant any trees East to West and I'll be darned that just happened to be how I did it in the first place........I'm thinking Multiple smallish crops......Depending on sunlight?
 
Bacpacker said:
When we bought our property I purchased 1000 White pine seedlings from out state dept of forestry and put them out on 3 borders of our land. I planted mine in 3 rows with spacing between trees at 10' within the row, second row offset 5' , third row back to the same as the 1st. I also gave 10' between the rows. All this was based on the recommendation of the head district forester for our region. several died the first year or three. I kept them mowed for as long as the growth would allow. They finally grew in together, took maybe 7 years. They are now 30' feet tall and the largest are getting close to 20" diameter at the base. We've lost more over the year to pine beetle and to hail storm. But still have a decent stand.
I've never heard of the alley cropping. While the trees are small that would work. But as close as you placed your trees they will grow together with 5 years depending on what type pine you planted. And they will be dense. Great for screening you property, which is what I was going for. And yes they will change the soil to acidic over time. But they will be so dense you'll have a hard time growing anything that needs any sunlight in it.
I will be following this thread to see how things go. Best of luck with it.
Click to expand...
Mine are Lobololly Pines...Very common for Florida Pine Crops. I did the same as you...Sort of. I bought 2500 Lobololly and my son and I planted them in different spots. My neighbor had done it before and he said 75% success rate was pretty much the established standard here. That's pretty darn close to what I got. I do believe these should give me a good 5-8 years of crop and that's because it is on a hill and gets a lot of Afternoon sun exposure. Seems from reading that here once I get done with crops....Some of which i may go perennial so i don't have to keep replanting. Seems Legume crops or like Peanut said Root Veggies can be good. Afetr They get to much shade I think I can plant Bahaia grass and it will grow.....Still reading on it. Thanks for all the thoughts so far. Of course anymore would be greatly appreciated....
 
Caribou said:
Are you going for lumber, a wind break, Christmas trees? Are these trees around the perimeter or covering a great deal of your land? What area do you live in?
Click to expand...
Extreme North Florida about 40 Miles East of Tallahassee. These will be for Lumber Harvest eventually. They cover a 2-3 acre square on a hill. I did plant some others coming in the drive. It's only 4 rows about 500 yards long each. I'm actually mulling over taking them all down for other use or possibly having a company come plant a dense area of pines.....My son and i did all these. By Hand...with absolutely NO idea of what we were doing. Originally it was just to hide seeing back into the land.....The ones I may takes down really would make great Mulch for my Fruit trees....
 
I expect that if you walk through once a year and lop off any dead branches, next to the trunk, you will wind up with fewer knots and better lumber. I imagine that you can take off lower limbs and make cuttings for your own starts. I don't know if there would be any cost savings but you wouldn't have the government asking you what you did with their trees.

The sawdust can be used for mulch or made into pellets. The left over slabs can be chipped for mulch or pellets or just used as firewood. The pitch is a great fire starter.

I've heard of Christmas tree farmers leaving the last limb on the trunk to get the trees growing back quicker. The roots are already established and you have a viable plant. I have no idea if this would work for lumber.
 
Caribou said:
The name escapes me for now but there is a type of gardening where your crop is hidden in the woods. Those plants should work well. I think these are typically root veggies or less recognized leaf vegetables.

You might consider something like clover or other ground cover flowering plant. Then you can get some bees and sell honey, bee's wax, and pollen.
Click to expand...

Plus nitrogen from the clover that greens really like. We put clover inside our potted leaf plants like collards.
 
Dutchs said:
Mine are Lobololly Pines...Very common for Florida Pine Crops. I did the same as you...Sort of. I bought 2500 Lobololly and my son and I planted them in different spots. My neighbor had done it before and he said 75% success rate was pretty much the established standard here. That's pretty darn close to what I got. I do believe these should give me a good 5-8 years of crop and that's because it is on a hill and gets a lot of Afternoon sun exposure. Seems from reading that here once I get done with crops....Some of which i may go perennial so i don't have to keep replanting. Seems Legume crops or like Peanut said Root Veggies can be good. Afetr They get to much shade I think I can plant Bahaia grass and it will grow.....Still reading on it. Thanks for all the thoughts so far. Of course anymore would be greatly appreciated....
Click to expand...

We had Pine Beetle in the area so we sold all our pine to pulp wooders. Said if they found a beetle they would charge us up to $10,000 a tree to get rid of them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top