Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

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On a similar topic, 10 years ago, a couple of friends and I led a replantation drive in a 2 acre patch of land (a portion of a larger degraded area slated for replantation with the help of the government and NGOs) near a dried up lake in India.

Instead of the usual mass mono culture plantations that are cost effective and easily doable, we decided to do something different. Here's a couple of things we did:

1. Use native species 2. Instead of a blanket plantation of rows of trees, landscape a more natural habitat. This included, a dense canopy, a meadow and some sparce shrubbery all on different areas of the lot. 3. Include plants that provide food and shelter for native fauna, even if the plants weren't native. 4. Landscape a little to allow for water retention 5. Focus on soil improvement in the beginning

We did a few more things to ensure high survival rate, but that's probably not of interest. The results were amazing. Our section was the one with the most promising results. Our lot grew like a natural habitat in the 2nd and 3rd year in a way that you'd never feel that this was a barren piece of land. And eventually, some of the species started spreading to the nearby lots as well. The other lots didn't do so well, some of them had survival rate of about 30-40%, but a lot of them ended up more like less than 10%. Mind you, we are talking about 40C+ summer temperatures.

I am interested in how you ensured high survival rate in a very hot climate if you’re willing to share.

Of course, beyond the fact that we used plants that survive in the weather here's a couple more: 1. We tilled the land (burying whatever dead plant material was above it), almost the entire lot. High temperatures tends to harden the top soil and therefore increase water run off during the rainy season. Tilling ensures higher water absorption when it rains. 2. We amended the soil just around each of the planted saplings with coconut coir and cow dung because the soil was really degraded, devoid of much organic matter. 3. The way we would plant each tree would be that the sapling at the center, with a depression in the soil around it followed by a small bund around the depression, and some hardy shrubs/ground cover on the bund. During the rainy season, this collects a lot of water and retains it for the roots for a longer time, and once the dry season kicks in, even if there's no water at the surface, the shrubs around the bund kind of prevent direct sunlight from hitting the ground, thereby retaining moisture even in the dry season. 4. For the first year we had to ensure we water the plants till they take root and can sustain themselves, especially during the summer. We couldn't set up a drip irrigation system, nor could we flood the surface with water. We instead buried clay pots in the ground around the plants and would fill them with water regularly during the summer. The clay pots release water slowly into the ground throughout the day, and since the pots were covered with a lid after filling up, water loss to evaporation was minimal. The plants would get water directly at the roots in a slow and steady manner.

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