1.5 year Syntropic Food Forest Survives Frost - Design Ideas + Lessons

This Bay of Plenty Syntropic Food Forest has done well at managing the frosty winter temperatures, and has bounced back for it's second growing season!
As the microclimate + evergreen canopy develops (eucalyptus, tree lucerne & acacia) the frost damage should be less + less each year.
Enjoy some of the insights from Brett & his epic food forest! We began the design process for this space about 2 years ago.

[@leonsaquaponicsandhomegard6793]

Looks fantastic 😊😊😊

[@jockmugford1457]

Curious to what area of New Zealand you are from? avocado and banana normally wouldn’t grow where frosts are

[@SCOTTBULGRIN]

Great information.

[@PermacultureLife]

Awesome. Good job. Mine has been working well so far

[@Roozbeh134]

It is indeed amazing when you see others lives your dream! 😅 a very joyful and instructive video. Thanks for sharing

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Really glad you’re getting value from the videos 🙌

[@palmo.a.palmo.sintropia]

yessss, salutes and much love

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

🙏🙏🙏🌿 Thanks mate!

[@palmo.a.palmo.sintropia]

sintropy 4 life 💯 flat mother loving power🙌 ( this means equilibrium) peace

[@humanbeingnotahumandoing1]

Great video! Thank for the insights ❤️

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Glad you got value from it!

[@humanbeingnotahumandoing1]

@@byron.in.new.zealand definitely, I really dig the way u are explaining things, giving also clients the possibility to share their experiences :)

[@jockmugford1457]

Genuinely interested as I want to start my own version of this, I live in Canterbury and dam I want some bananas and some tropical fruits growing

[@cosmicbeer]

At this stage, is it possible to harvest anything commercially to help support the development? If not, on average, after how many years does a setup like this become economically viable?

[@dukereg]

Were particular varieties of bananas chosen for cold tolerance? Which ones?

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Mostly just whatever LadyFingers we had access to in this system.

[@warrenrose9448]

How did the bananas stay protected beyond the undergrowth

[@clairestokes4119]

Is the purpose of this system to grow produce to sell, or at this scale more for personal use?

[@vvdv3444]

What are the economics of this? How much is spent and what is the expected return and man hours involved?

[@nickbennetto9133]

I am considering what herbaceous biomass species could be used in areas more prone to frost/cold (Canterbury). Have you any experience/thoughts on using poroporo?

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Herbaceous biomass is definitely more limited in those colder climates, but seasonal ones like comfrey, Cana Lillies, yacon, sun chokes can be amazing. Haven't seen or heard of anyone using poroporo - Could be a good one to look into!

[@chuzzism]

Where in NZ is this property?

[@Cherimoyafarm]

That looks awesome, love the scale of it! Where were most of the plants sourced from? Own nursery?

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Glad you like it! Plants were sourced from at least 6+ nurseries. No one place has everything you need for an install like this haha

[@shannonsexton8921]

I suggest tree Lucerne is actually dying as it's loosing it's successional niche. That's a good thing. To rich, wet, fungally dominant soil.

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Exactly

[@Floridamanfoodforest]

Is there a rule that's common practice when dictating row orientation?

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

If it's on flat land, N/S is ideal. If there's a slope, contour (or nearly on contour if trying to move water) is ideal

[@Floridamanfoodforest]

@@byron.in.new.zealand Thanks Byron!

[@jchandler3336]

How do you irritate?

[@zanecrofts7085]

Wow if you can survive minus 5 degrees I can gtiw bananas in wainoni Christchurch as we close to Beach and hardly ever get more than minus 5 degrees.

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

Definitely worth giving it a good effort! Especially if you’ve got a microclimate you can use under a more established tree, or growing your own support trees

[@zanecrofts7085]

​@@byron.in.new.zealand Will you do follow up video to see what the winter canopy looks like

[@byron.in.new.zealand]

@@zanecrofts7085 Absolutely

[@loganheather]

Love this. We got told not to bother planting bananas ( south of Cambridge). I didn't listen. Pretty sure we've had 5 frosts this year alone. The trees get knocked but seem to come back stronger in defiance. Our 1 yr old bananas even survived the -5 degrees we got last October. I'm holding hope out they will fruit one day! This video has inspired me to try a few more syntropic plantings. thank you for sharing.