Today my dad asked me if he could use wood chips around tomato plants.. (permaculture forum at permies) (2024)

Elanor Gardner

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Today my dad asked me if he could use wood chips around tomato plants. I knew that tomatoes like a little acidity. I knew from a podcast, that there was one particular hardwood that was good for alkaline-loving plants, but didn't remember which one it was and I had to look up which hardwood it was. Don't use black walnut wood chips around tomato plants, the article said.

And this type of scenario has been my problem with starting a food forest. I have every intention to make a food forest, but at the end of the day, I still have an orchard, a vegetable garden and a medicinal garden. It does not qualify as a food forest. I do not yet have the knowledge I need to succeed with the food forest. A food forest should be able to fix nitrogen back into the soil to keep itself going. I definitely do not have that going on. But each day I gain a tidbit or two from hanging out on this forum. Currently I mean to move my blueberries to be near my pine trees because they also like acidity, so I guess I am a little smarter than before.

One of these days, I am going to take a series of pictures and put them on here and ask people to point me in the right directions. For now, I have to say, I had never even heard of a food forest before I joined this forum. I am now a step ahead. And I thank you all, especially you, Mr. Wheaton.

I have aspirations of becoming Gert someday. (Those of you who do not know who Gert is, do a search up in the Permies search bar for Ferd and Gert.)

Douglas Alpenstock

1210

Tomato plants are heavy feeders. Anything that sucks away nutrients affects production. But on the other hand, retaining consistent moisture in harsh conditions is critical.

Wood chips are sort of a spectrum -- it depends on how far they have broken down, and that determines best use. Raw wood chips tend to suck up nutrients, so that's tricky.

For tomatoes, a thick layer of compost on top and a thin layer of wood chips on top of that, to hold the moisture, could work very nicely.

Last year, in heat waves and drought, I tried a desperate experiment. I soaked wood chips, biochar, free municipal compost, and stinky anaerobic bio-goo from my rot barrels together. And after a week or so, when that whole mix was suitably saturated and disgusting, I put it down by the shovelful on the surface of struggling annuals. They immediately went nuts and produced like mad. The plants have spoken.

I did not try that with my tomatoes. Maybe next year.

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good to know.

Bio Char - another term I do not yet know....

Timothy Norton

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I think any addition of mulch to your tomatoes would be welcome if you don't have anything down yet.

Wood mulches tend to last a while, I too have a vegetable garden separate from other things instead of some kind of hom*ogenous food forest, so my annuals generally get a straw mulch layer because it breaks down by the next year.

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Paul f*ckes

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Abraham Palma

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HI, Elanor.

woodchip mulch can have different effects depending on how much you fertilize, irrigate, how wet is your climate, sfsf. When in doubt, I'd experiment. Mulch only half of your tomatoes and watch the difference.

About making your own food forest, although you don't "have to" make one to be a permaculturist, I could suggest two paths to you:

Path 1. Design (rule 1, observe).
This is, stop weeding and observe what emerges. Then replace those weeds by similar species that you like better. For example, if you see Sisymbrium officinale growing, you know you can plant Brassica alba, or even a Brassica oleracea, since they are of the same family, and probably have a similar ecological function. You can do this with any weed until there's no plant you can call weed.

Path 2. Survival of the fittest.
This is, plant a humongous amount of different crop species around your trees and let nature select the fittest among them. Any plant you dislike or that is not faring well can be used as mulch. It's a bit more expensive and you need to find a good variety of seeds, but it's easy work (and no botany knowledge is required).

https://permies.com/t/175744/permaculture-sites/permaculture-projects/Project-Gardens-Orchard-Dignity

Nancy Reading

3148

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Another thing to remember (!) is that plants don't read books, or browse the internet. Don't take anything you read as absolute truth since every situation is different. I grow fruit and vegetables here with more or less success, but if I believed the books then I would think nothing would ever grow.

Seed + soil + water + sun = plant

I have found that seeds don't grow well in the packet - and that is the best true advice I can give!

Your neighbours are probably the best guide to what will grow for you. Failure is OK too remember those often don't get shared, only the successes! Learn and try something different.

It's great that you are converting your father to permaculture too!

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

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Nancy Reading wrote:I have found that seeds don't grow well in the packet

Oh, my!!
I'm still laughing!

https://permies.com/t/175744/permaculture-sites/permaculture-projects/Project-Gardens-Orchard-Dignity

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