Hi everyone, We are developing a ~2.5 ha commercial agroforestry project in eastern Spain, in a Mediterranean climate. The farm was formerly agricultural land but has been largely abandoned for ~15 years. We are aiming for a productive system centered on fruit trees. Two experiments we're considering implementing a small intensive cut-flower area and eucalyptus for cut foliage. The attached design shows our target/productive crops. The support species are not shown yet. Its AI generated and not very true to the actual design but we think it gives a general idea of what our vision is. We started a support-species laboratory in March 2026. Our current shortlist of longer-lived support species includes: - Paulownia - Melia azedarach - Wild olive / acebuche - Mulberry - Acacia saligna - Leucaena - Lentisco - Teucrium We also have a broader pool of pioneer/early secondary species that we are testing for biomass, establishment, soil cover, temporary shade, nutrient cycling and biodiversity. So our main question now is not which species exist, but how to turn this into a practical production system. We'd particularly appreciate experience on the following questions: 1. Support trees before or together with fruit trees? --> Would you establish support species 6–12 months beforehand, simultaneously, or use a staged approach? 2. How complex should a commercial consortium be? --> How many support species per productive line have worked for you in practice? 3. From pilot to production: After one year of trials, how do you decide which consortium is good enough to scale? As we planted the whole laboratory on the same weekend, we feels that some failures might not necessarily mean that that species should not be planted at all. Perhaps it was just not the right moment for it or the seed or plant material we used wasnt great... 4. Simplification: Have you simplified your system after several years? Which species did you eventually remove? 5. Spontaneous vegetation: How do you integrate existing vegetation rather than simply clearing everything? We have lots of Hyparrenia, Lentisco, Fennel, Pine and Wild Olives growing on our land and feel that it wouldnt make much sense to remove it all just to have a bare piece of land to start with. 6. Has anyone combined commercial cut flowers with agroforestry/syntropic systems? Experiences from conventional/ecological floriculture are also very welcome.

Do bananas have any place in a drylands system even pure biomass bananas eg musa sikkimensis/basjoo. Trialling sikkimensis in Victoria Australia it's quite rate in Australia tho if it trials well might have to tissue culture it if its promising.

The Fava Bean Trick ! Fava beans are great for smothering weeds, and they sprout easily with the first rains. In this video, I show how I use them - and how much easier they make the work. No need to get on your knees pulling grasses in the first year. You get 2 cuts with them, and each cut took me 20min/100m/1 person. It's really not that much work - about 2 and a half hours for these 3 rows of 240m each. By the time they phase out, it’s already Summer here in the Mediterranean, so there’s basically no need to weed anymore. Then when the rains return, your rows should be established enough that weeding becomes a minimal task. You might need a bit of weeding in year two if your trees haven’t grown enough - but in my experience, one more pass is usually enough - cutting them, not even uprooting them. After that, the trees outcompete the grasses and take over. What other plants do you think could do a similar job? I’m thinking artichokes or cardoons could work really well - but they’d need to be started as seedlings.

Hey all 🌱 As most of us are like me working on more consultations and installations, I thought of developing a syntropic agroforestry designer & manager, first for myself but I’m happy to share this openly with you. It really helps me manage multiple client installations, designing & visualizing their designs (also to share them). It's called Syntroply. Main features are: •⁠ ⁠For each land profile it scores 140+ Mediterranean species to that plot •⁠ ⁠Designing your tree lines and visualize them (yearly growth scale included) •⁠ ⁠Automated nursery mapping (combining clients possible) & downloadable plant spacings for when planting on the field with a team •⁠ ⁠Season-by-season management calendar that can be shared with clients or through monthly management tasks mailing It's still in beta and I'm building it in the open for the people who actually do this work. Two things: 1️⃣ Have a play → https://syntroply.com/ I'd genuinely love your eyes on it. 2️⃣ Any feedback is very valuable to me, happy to build something that really helps accelerate our work in the best way possible. Happy planting 🌱

Hi guys ! I've been quite inactive lately. My phone broke which made making videos impossible since the quality of the camera on my second phone was absolutely horrible so I have had to pause videos, hopefully will start making videos again in 2 weeks once I receive my new phone ! But, in the meantime I'm gonna share a screen recording of how I make designs based on water available, crops, prices, light exposure and ect ! Will take you through 5 of my designs for this Autumn ! Will be available next week ! Hope your agroforests are doing good after the heat of Summer has passed - still very present in Andalucia (35 degrees still) and expected to cool down in October/November like usual.