Comments on: Hugelkultur: Composting Whole Trees With Ease

By: Christopher Towne

Christopher Towne — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:58:50 +0000

Hi – I just heard a story about forest fires in the US Southwest, claiming that people have disrupted the fire-cycle in the region. There are more standing trees per acre than there were before European settlers came there, so crown fires are more common.

I was wondering about the applications of hugelkultur in the region. It seems like this tecnique could be used to cull trees, bury carbon and increase water retention in the dry climate!

Has this been tried before?

By: Taiss Quartapa

Taiss Quartapa — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:55:36 +0000

Great article. Is there any feedback on Australian implementations with local wood sources?

Whilst I love the idea of implementing this, I can see the cost of cartage from the apple orchards to my place in NC Vic could be horrendous (on top of the costs of digging holes) making the venture horribly difficult to justify.

By: Scott Hall

Scott Hall — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:21:37 +0000

I am interested in using hugelkuture as a solution to some of the problems with the country we are working. The soil is basically structure-less decomposed granite, which becomes a waterlogged slurry when wet, and sets like concrete when dry (we can have decent dry spells). My idea was to use the beds as a swale, so it can absorb the water when it rains, but excess water is free to run away. Has anyone had any experience (or have any advice) with this? Also, the two main timber species growing are radiata pine (plantation) and eucalypt (native), does anyone know how eucalypt would go?

By: Edith Wiethorn

Edith Wiethorn — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:06:36 +0000

Good question, Aapo! A framing question for those with experience in field soil-microbiology studies : Assuming you have good soil in the range of “normal” – into what depth in the soil is the soil microbiology considered identifiably “aerobic”? For example, perennial alfalfa has a very deep root system – is the whole life cycle of alfalfa aerobic? From my beginning readings of Dr. Elaine Ingham’s work with The Soil Food Web – she does seem to say that areas with a root-zone rhizosphere can be anaerobic, depening upon local conditions, having mostly to do with water saturation excluding air. Back to Hugelkultur – I was thinking that beds the size I was envisioning – maybe 4-5′ across & 4′ high – would tend to be aerobic throughout due to having good drainage & no compaction to exclude air enough for aerobic microbes.

By: Aapo Leinonen

Aapo Leinonen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:55:08 +0000

Greetings from Finland!

Are hugelkultur beds anaerobic? Won’t they produce methane when the trees decompose? Is there any research done over this issue? I think would be important to know witch GHGs hugelkultur beds will produce, before pushing the method to very large scale use.

- Aapo

By: Richard Clarke

Richard Clarke — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:30:07 +0000

What a fantastic article. As an Australian Broadacre farmer coming up with broadacre permaculture ideas in a transitional system I really value such experimental work outlined here.
So there is a use for those fallen pine and cypress trees that were traditionally heaped and burned. As for adding nitrogen, animal manure, particularly the manure washed out of handling yards, could be ideal? Burying the logs on contour in the path of the manure feeding more green manure and fruit trees for farm workers to enjoy.
All those farms in Western Victoria that are ripping down and burning ten year old blue gums to sow wheat could really be burying the rows of trees and growing more productive species using poultry manure as a nitrogen source.
Mind you, it does cost a lot to dig a hole…

By: Jorge Montezuma

Jorge Montezuma — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:53:28 +0000

Great article! I live in Panama and there is quite a bit of rain here. Has anybody tried this in a tropical region? If so, what were the results? I have seen something similar that works here called magic circles. http://www.organicpanamapermaculture.com/magic-circle.php

By: Edith Wiethorn

Edith Wiethorn — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:23:57 +0000

Thanks, Mark – I see that conifer will go into one experimental Hugelkultur bed & that we will compare it with a couple of beds based on Cottonwood. I really appreciate your comment re seeing what fungus shows up in the conifer bed, since I plan to inform my gardening & growing more & more with soil microbiology. I am starting my study with Dr Elaine Ingham’s SFI approach – Soil Food Web Institute. Any further links to good explainers – welcome! The conifer soil pH will be useful if consistently more acidic – Blueberries, for example.

By: Kev Coleman

Kev Coleman — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:41:36 +0000

Excellent idea. I have a heap of partially rooting wood/coarse vegetation which i was going to burn (again) as it was too coarse for the compost heaps. Now I was also about to build some raised beds. I have the railway sleepers ready but I can now put them to better use re-building the rotten steps up to my main garden. The raised beds can be the Hugelkutur variety. I also have a load of very rotten branches and large logs which I will use. Funny thing is I am at home this weekend and I was planning major garden work.
Thankyou for a brilliant article.
Kev C

By: David Rivera Ospina

David Rivera Ospina — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:20:17 +0000

Gracias, excelente idea para aplicar en permacultura tropical.