Hey everyone ! For the past two years I’ve been working toward something I’m finally beginning to implement: "the Infestation" a term coined by Scott Hall. Those of you on his platform will likely be familiar with it. Scott actually shared a design with me, and I’m currently in the middle of preparing the soil. - What is an infestation, and what’s the purpose? The concept of an infestation is simple—it’s essentially how nature most efficiently drives succession forward from bare or infertile soil. In natural ecosystems, a tough, fast-growing pioneer species colonizes poor ground because it’s the most adapted to those harsh conditions. It rapidly occupies space, outcompetes other plants, and establishes dominance so effectively that even grasses have little impact on its growth. After a few years, this often results in a dense hedge or stand of that species—you can clearly observe this along many roadsides. In my area, the species that naturally behaves this way is Acacia saligna. It self-seeds readily and is extremely resilient. Successional Accumulation Inspired by this natural process, Scott has been developing the concept of “Successional Accumulation.” The goal is to run syntropic agroforestry systems without external amendments by harnessing the initial growth and biomass production of the infestation phase. The system progresses through: - Infestation phase (pioneer dominance and biomass buildup) - Stabilisation phase - Succession phase - The end goal is the same abundance we seek in syntropic ag - but achieved only through plant power rather than external inputs. I won’t dive too deep into each phase here, but I’m happy to discuss further. Why acacias in the Mediterranean? Scott and I have discussed extensively how to adapt this to Mediterranean climates. We both see Acacia species as particularly promising pioneers (e.g., Acacia saligna, Acacia dealbata, Acacia pycnantha, etc.).