Tropical Food Forest Ideas and Inspiration with David The Good

[@davidthegood]

Man, I sure enjoy this beautiful, messy food forest. Thanks to everyone for getting me up to 100k subscribers! The free composting booklet: www.thesurvivalgardener.com/simple-composting/ My books on Amazon: amzn.to/2ZVGD16

[@TamraDL]

I’ve come a long way since March! I finally understand yams lol. Such a good feeling to grow grow grow .. thanks, David!

[@lisakukla459]

Aw! Yay!

[@TamraDL]

Lisa Kukla ❤️

[@davidthegood]

Good work, Tila!

[@mikenewell9217]

What have you learned about yams, I Would like some yams

[@MelindaLongoria]

Love your family's enthusiasm for gardening. Just plant what you want. Plant it too close or farther apart. Just plant it. :-) Thanks for the video. Lets all survive.

[@davidthegood]

Yes indeed. Thanks, Melinda.

[@jazzytheweirdkid5446]

Hi! I thought I would mention my favourite tree in my food forest. The Mulberry! I thought it was a bush when I put it in but it's a GIANT! This guy is an accumulator, so I am soothed that our several attempts at comfrey so far have failed. It sprung up. Twice my height in a year. So I planted eight more! I hear that it's abundant, but accumulator often is code for super food, so even if not it's well worth whatever you get from it. I will use it as an "elderberry" mother tree centering another area of my garden and hope for great results.

[@paulkish007]

Planting edible trees is my fun also. ThankYou David!

[@maricresmaemoreno9929]

Good harvest banana ,papaya .wow! Nice cutting the grass. stay safe...

[@arvyarvy4242]

this is my favourite homesteading channel cause it looks so much like home Cameroon-West Africa. well right now i live in Cyprus but im plannig on going back home to create a homestead just like the one my mom kept. everythig you talk about is so familiar. its beautiful and makes me nostalgic

[@davidthegood]

There is nothing like the tropics!

[@LeChristEstRoi]

In the tropics/subtropics, I discovered that monstera deliciosa seems to be an interesting understory plant once the trees are established. This plant thrives in shade, looks beautiful and produces excellent fruit. In theory monstera deliciosa is a climber with huge leaves which can suffocate an average fruit trees if not kept in check, but it's not agressive and can easily be maintained as a bush. It won't try to climb up the trees like crazy.

[@davidthegood]

Yes, and it is so beautiful it's a joy to grow.

[@carson911]

Yep that is exactly where my monsteras are thriving in the ground.

[@genevievegreene1595]

This is how I plant my garden. Lots of things I forgot about surprise me with food.

[@pennyfenner1354]

Good one David, lots of great info... I'm in Far North Queensland Australia, and am about 3 months into my food forrest creation. Gotta get those pigeon peas in! Thanks!

[@linaD08]

Congratulations on 100K!!! Got my Florida Survival Gardening book copy... yippyy! Thank you David for your guidance and dedication. As you say, plant a lot of things and see what happens... amazing surprises every single day!

[@mjk9388]

I just started reading Ann Ralph's "Grow a Little Fruit Tree" last night. I'm really enjoying it. Read Gaia's Garden last week (the entire book in a week) and couldn't put it down. Excellent book recommendations David, thank you. I'm considering purchasing Edible Forest Gardens Vol. 2 next. I'm starting to realize I really need to up my game on my 7 year old food forest after reading these books.

[@davidthegood]

Once you start acquiring gardening books, it is hard to stop.

[@mjk9388]

David The Good One thing I’m considering is planting a perennial cover crop of Alfalfa, Red Clover and Chicory and planting my other perennials and annuals within that mix to put more cover on the ground and bring in more roots, nutrients and insects . Do you see pitfalls with that? I have a 2000 sq. Ft food forest. Zone 9A San Antonio, TX.

[@juguruteacher6204]

You've truly inspired me. A majority of the videos I watch say you must do this, buy that, add this, mix this..... and so on. I've been spending tons on soil. I won't buy anymore. I'll be patient. build up my soil and experiment.

[@cookiemonster1871]

To the person reading this: have a great day/night and stay safe during the hard times Dh

[@madhatter785]

Love you!

[@Iloveorganicgardening]

What a fun tour. It's fun to see you discovering food as you go.

[@Austinandpup]

We cut our bananas as mulch. Jean cut some a little low and now has pups all in her new garden spot.

[@farisasmith7109]

Hope your getting some of the rains that's coming through. I'm doing the same thing. Planting out trees and weeding. And yes in the Caribbean once the rain starts, you really have to stay on top of the grass or they overtake everything.

[@dylan8285]

I've seen some people use sweet potatoes as a groundcover in their food forests along with others like perennial peanut to stop alot of the weeds from taking over and losing your trees in the weeds with quite a bit of success. Sweet potato is obviously a good choice cause you will get alot of food but the perennial peanut is a nitrogen fixer so its up to what you want. Also whenever you talk about something about the jungle (like how fast the weeds and grass grow) literally everytime my brain plays Welcome to the Jungle by guns n roses

[@SimplyDBee]

Thanks for that. I am trying with the sweet potato and baby spinach as a living mulch and it is doing ok. But some tall weeds are still trying to go in between but a lot less than before. I'll try with the peanut plants to see how it goes as I live in the tropics just like David and it is a struggle to keep the weeds down. They literally grow into trees overnight.

[@d.e303-anewlowcosthomebuil7]

winter sqaush is good too

[@d.e303-anewlowcosthomebuil7]

@@SimplyDBee near to d.c. too, the weeds ate my garden!....butttt.....some of them are great to eat and some are downright beautiful....

[@kevincurtright1692]

Great to see stuff l can really apply here, in the Virgin Islands. Happy birthday, and happy 100K !

[@davidthegood]

Thanks, Kevin. Yes, I'll bet you have a similar climate.

[@evw6486]

It was birthday blues! Keep on truckin'! Tom gets out of rehab for the second time this summer, the sweet potatos seem happy. Overweight, 71 years old, and suffering as only a Yankee can in this Georgia heat, still I wish you well!

[@davidthegood]

Thanks, Ev.

[@chopis531]

I love your growing-food-style! Thanks for all the great content!

[@melissamoore521]

Happy Solar return (late =.) I love your videos! Just wanted to know that you made me cry a little, when you said that you wanted to plant trees for your birthday. May the Divine bless you to amazment!

[@doraw7766]

You're the best. Thanks for being straight forward.

[@banhatlessducks]

Happy birthday David.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you

[@ameisherry]

Corn 🌽 squash cucumber 🥒 sunflower 🌻 beans they are good companion and all love water 💦 I would plant them in the same area and only focus on watering that area in a daily basis so you won’t be overwhelming

[@juguruteacher6204]

I'm just commenting as I go. I've got loads of coconut and palm trees in and around my garden. I tend to use a sharp garden hoe to clear out an area and pile those a few inches thick for mulch. It's a bit of a task but It seems to suppress weeds by 90 percent. Also I don't have to pay someone or burn it to get rid of it.

[@camis.1347]

Broward County has a fruit and vegetable council?? Didn't know that and I lived there for almost 10yrs. Cool pumpkin!!!!

[@mrdirtfarmer7647]

Getting after it!

[@davidthegood]

One weed at a time.

[@juguruteacher6204]

Pereskia aculeata, I have this growing wild just in front of my house. I was going to clear it away but I will let a few grow and run wild. Very cool and as you said much better than a tide pod.

[@PopleBackyardFarm]

I am just loving your farm!

[@WildFloridian]

Thank you for the walk around!

[@davidthegood]

Thank you.

[@farisasmith7109]

I used to try to pull the vines off the trees, then my dad said just cut the vine at its source or at the base and it'll just dry and eventually crumble off without damaging the plants.

[@lisakukla459]

Sometimes it's just so satisfying to yank and tear at something like that, though. But your dad's way is clearly the smarter way.

[@farisasmith7109]

@@lisakukla459 I hear you. Thanks.

[@rachelhall4808]

Farisa Smith I’ve been doing that recently... it doesn’t look pretty, but I’ve been fighting that urge to work harder for aesthetic results and work smarter. All the brown stuff is soooo much easier to spot and peal away.

[@davidthegood]

Yes, cutting them makes sense. I just neurotically unwrap them too, just because I can't take it.

[@farisasmith7109]

@@rachelhall4808 Yes it is and you don't strip the plant. If it's not too tangled I do take my time and unwind vines. I too love that satisfaction of seeing it nice and clean, but in really heavy vines, yeah I listen to my pops!

[@ameisherry]

😂 it’s so cute the way your wife ask you what you really want to do for your birthday 😆

[@wofakwame4163]

The best thing to do on the birthday, plant something.

[@virginiachai5697]

You and your family are an inspiration, our family wants to do something like that too

[@zaneymay]

Love the banana split. 🍌

[@nancyfahey7518]

I found a strange fruit (@walmart of all places) tamarindo. It tastes like a sweet tart with maple syrup in it. The seeds are super hard so I scratched them with an emory board and soaked them overnight with water and peroxide.

[@wonderforadventseason8128]

I have a tamarind tree and we make Puerto Rican style drinks with them.so yum

[@NashvilleMonkey1000]

David, you're supposed to make arches with the 20 ft tall grass, kinda like how those birds make decorative nests~

[@davidthegood]

Good idea

[@godonlylovesme1638]

What's the purpose of making the arches?

[@lawntofoodforest]

Thank goodness sanity prevailed. I couldn’t handle more bare earth beds and excuses on not being able to import mulch. It’s so easy to grow it and you dont have to have woodchip. Yes it helps but nature does fine with good old succession. What species do you want to get into the system? The classics are a good backbone, pineapple, cassava, mangoes, sweet potato, ginger, turmeric. Are you getting any more citrus or too expensive for grafted?

[@davidthegood]

Citrus greening is a problem, but I have added kumquat and calamondin.

[@chakiperdomo1372]

I think it is better to plan ahead than experimenting, i do not want to loose trees, it takes some time for them to grow. I do not have that much time left. Experimenting is good if have time. But for beter results an faster results, planing is better..

[@JaredDoesStuffandThings]

Always rockin the high socks 😁

[@titanlurch]

Happy Birthday David.

[@GrowAllTheFruits]

Pereskia leaves are edible and supposedly a popular cuisine in some places. Pereskia aculeata has serious invasive potential, grow with caution. Birds will spread the seeds all over. I normally don't worry too much about this sort of thing but we're talking about an extremely thorny vine here. Not fun.

[@vinnettepope8255]

Thank you David for your wonderful 😊🙏garden encouragement to just experiment and see what happens 😀

[@wofakwame4163]

How difficult to understand and decode nature. Afterall, weeds are allies and living mulch to protect and improve soil. They also limit erosion during tropical rains, promoting water penetration etc etc. Can be replaced with groundcovers which are edibles, N-fixers and/or colourful flowering weeds for pollinators. Away ROUND-UP, please. Planting something as birthday memory, the greatest idea I've ever heard. You're good, David, many many more years.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you.

[@rahmansetiawan4085]

Wow great,, the atmosphere of your place is exactly like in my village.

[@emiliehurley5390]

Subscribed to your channel and bought eight of your books.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you, Emilie. Welcome!

[@idiocracy10]

fire ants never start biting until about 500 of them are on you, then they all bite at once. Demon spawn

[@hocndoc]

(Not yet, not yet, not yet. NOW!) Be careful! I've had Type 2, regulated diabetic patients go into ketoacidosis after fire ant bites - as few as 6 blisters.

[@sdehues]

I'm up to date with your recent content, but I would love to see a video of this place today.

[@MasterKenfucius]

People in Africa take a banana corm and split it into 30+ pieces and they get tons of banana trees from that. It's a rough way to do tissue culture. I wish I could find the video I saw on that again...

[@missdigioia]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kITbl4CEotxsh9E

[@missdigioia]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rJO6gYWdptaLptk

[@MasterKenfucius]

@@missdigioia Yes, thank you, I already found the video and pasted it down below.

[@joannarii7377]

My pumpkin plants in the ground didn't produce the ones that went up in the tree canopy produced.

[@adammcgeorge3538]

Food jungle Dave, coin a new term and run with it!

[@ourfloridagarden4191]

Excellent edit and production of this video. Congratulations on the 100,000 subs.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you.

[@michaele.4702]

Good to find someone else with a channel for horticulture in the tropics I been gardening in the south philippines for about 8 years. you need to keep a pair of succors on hand for stuff like the vines perennial peppers or good self seeders would also work good in the system you have set up there.

[@josieflowers1027]

I feel your pain. For a second, I thought you were in my backyard. Red ants 🐜 , mosquitos 🦟 and never ending wild grass! 🇧🇿 ☔️👩‍🌾

[@davidserge2914]

Good David Inspiring

[@richverreault]

Wouldn't a mower (the kind that sucks up all that it cuts so you can lay it where you want to) do the same job yet, quicker?

[@psychicponybear336]

That is an impressive hat

[@kathyleikauf4482]

*Way better than the tide pod challenge LOL

[@manjawarner3162]

What do you want to do for your birthday, mom? Spend time in the garden with you. What do you want to do for Valentine's Day, my love? Spend time in the garden with my lover. What do you want to do for Mother's Day, mom? Spend time in the garden with all my kids and grandkids. What shall we do for Easter, mom? Spend time in the garden with our Lord, THE Master Gardener of all time. The question, "What do you really want to do?" at any given time, elicits pretty much the same response. The only variation is: Planting, Building, or Maintenance

[@babetteisinthegarden6920]

I just wish I had more room for more trees I can barely get around my garden as it is now I tried the multiple tree planting desert gold Peach Santa Rosa plum and some kind of a heart plum the only one that made it was the desert gold Peach And I will be removing that this year course it is 16 years old and it's full of boars but I do have three daughters from it

[@ProdByXorak]

I’m from santa rosa 707

[@babetteisinthegarden6920]

@@ProdByXorak Do you have a whole bunch of plum trees I'm in lemon Grove and I have one lemon tree

[@boringopr4369]

#7:06 just to mess people up and I'm David the good 😂😂😂 Good one David

[@sunnydayssandytoes4337]

You need thigh highs :D Love the coconut trees

[@danihall3676]

Informational as always. Thanks! 😊

[@mjf719]

My birthday just passed a few days ago as well and I planted papaya seeds. :)

[@davidthegood]

Happy birthday, Melissa!

[@roseannenorman7129]

I used my chicken droppings/shavings to augment the soil and now I've got, I guess a problem with oat grass everywhere. Didn't really want it, but at least it tastes good.

[@arnelzablan1498]

Belated Happy Birthday

[@qualqui]

Happy Belated Birthday David The Good! "A year ago and 2 days" so your birthday is July 21st? Bro that's my birthday as well, lol...anyways between Curtis Stone and you,driving me batty, why, well about one hour and a half ago, turned on my pc, and saw your livestream, it said "premiering" and Curtis's saying: "Live Now", so figuring that you were just starting out and Curtis was advanced in his, went over there and then in that livestream YOU pop up! lol....And now I realize your livestream is 31.27 long while Curtis's was 87 minutes in its entirety! Anyways, thank you for sharing this tour of your IRIE Food Forest, loved seeing the diverse trees you have there, the Loquat, beautiful foliage and yeah the fruit isn't the best,here we call them 'Nísperos' and the fruit is small, maybe olive sized, had 2 that came up but I think they got exasperated with me not planting them on the ground and they died,but my Jackfruit babies, the black zapotes and I didn't mention my Mamey Zapote, I think it also WANTS LAND! My Mamey zapote is about 2 feet tall, and digging the moment its as bushy beautiful as yours. Uprated and hopefully the next livestream you do, I'll be there PUNTUALLY and hoping nobody else has a livestream at the same moment! ;)

[@applesomething]

I have a couple of mamey sapote seeds from fruit we ate. I'm going to try to grow them but now that I know there's a chocolate one? I have to get that.

[@davidthegood]

They are not related, but both are good fruit trees.

[@banhatlessducks]

I have an improved variety of loquat I made that's under 5 foot and bushy full grown with huge fruit and like 2 small seeds per plant. Any advice on how to capitalise on this? (joys of having fruit bats around to do the selection of the best fruits for you) once you trust in God trippy stuff happens. Follow the fractals as you say hahahaha

[@davidthegood]

Yes. I would grow a bunch of seedlings from whatever other loquats you find, then graft scions from your good one onto them. Name the variety. Sell grafted trees for $40 each. I would buy one.

[@banhatlessducks]

@@davidthegood legend thanks heaps dude. God bless you and the family and keep on rocking

[@davidthegood]

No problem. Good loquats are hard to find. Easy sell.

[@banhatlessducks]

@@davidthegood may I also suggest a death hedge goodstream with the comment section on the video (not live) be subscribers with Gardens commenting "check mine out" to be able to see everyone's gardens if we all make a food forest/death hedge tour without KZbin blocking the links. Even without the comment thing I reckon a death hedge goodstream needs to happen

[@joshaklese4969]

Higgins Hat!

[@Jrshort08]

Where on the equatorial line do you live ?

[@anla3957]

I've been following your method and I pull weeds and drop them near my young trees but i noticed that the mulch regrows at the base of the tree! Aagh! The work never ends living in the tropics! 😅

[@davidthegood]

Some stuff regrows for sure. At least the dry season is a bit of a break.

[@evansullivanrichgels5531]

Holy cow David! How do you keep track of all your plants.

[@davidthegood]

With my incredible mind.

[@forrighteousness]

You should grow an Ice Cream Bean tree I hear they grow really fast, fix nitrogen and fruit. You can't lose!

[@davidthegood]

I have them in there. They are good.

[@LittleJordanFarm]

The area I'm trying to create a food Forest in has alot of BlackBerry for me to contend with any advice? Blessings

[@davidthegood]

If you raise the pH, they often go away if cut repeatedly. You can also mulch over them, or, carefully dig them all and aggressively pull any new shoots that come up from the roots. That is what I am doing in my grocery row gardens.

[@geriannroth449]

Hi David can you tell me how to propagate the stawberry /jamaican cherry tree? I have tried planting seeds airlayering cuttings even via root suckers but no real success....

[@portaadonai]

Is there a tropical rabbit or something that eats grass? Let them in at certain times, with fencing to contain them in specific areas until they mow the lawn in that area?

[@bradsuarez2683]

I foresee lots of rain in your future!

[@SpellsOfTruth]

Grabs plant. "This is not a sock". I lol

[@deloresgutierrez1350]

I live in Puerto Rico and seriously need help getting edible plants started at the right time for here. Any advice? Still learning Spanish.

[@davidthegood]

Yes - watch and see when your neighbors are planting and what they plant.

[@tinkokolynn761]

Orchid tree is a fixer and can eat new shoots and flowers but I never tried the bean and seed (

[@Erewhon2024]

Pereskia foliage is also a potherb.

[@davidthegood]

I have eaten it. Not bad.

[@SpellsOfTruth]

how do you tell if something is a nitrogen fixer? I know legumes are nitrogen fixers but how you know about the others? Is it a distinguishing part of the plant?

[@davidthegood]

Nodules on the roots. But even better, just let someone else do it.

[@because_helives]

Good day sir use carbort to cover the glass

[@jksatte]

What made you decide to move? Here you are planting tree's and then a few months later you live back in the US. Janice

[@davidthegood]

Covid and cultural issues.

[@639viablecarrot]

Please expand on "cultural issues"

[@michelesanchez6828]

Maybe you can get a lamb to eat the grass, happy Birthday!!

[@davidthegood]

I have a feeling it would eat my trees too.

[@michelesanchez6828]

hahaha🐑probably!!

[@alalmaoui5212]

where is this at?

[@geriannroth449]

Hey David you did a video in which you where reading a book on tropical fruit trees could possibly remember the name of that book & send me the link to purchase it please

[@davidthegood]

Fruits of Warm Climates by Julia Morton.

[@geriannroth449]

@@davidthegood thanks David this is another great book but this isnt the one i saw you reading at the start of the video i think it had a white background on the cover and i remember seeing the word tropical or tropics in the title . The hardcover edition jas numetous coloured pictures but the soft copy doesnt i think hope theses queues help to jog your memory Thanks again David for the super quick response doh 😎😎

[@gettotheroots]

Do you ever have problems with ticks and other parasites?

[@davidthegood]

Ticks on occasion. Various scary tropical internal parasites. Bahfeemi.

[@neens1369]

How about leeches?

[@rosebloodwater13]

Yesterday at Lowes I had to remind myself "No you don't have room for that BlackBerry yet and no just because that begonia is on sale for four dollars and looks relatively healthy don't mean 'TaKe Me HoMe NoW YoU FoOl!!!" 🤣

[@davidthegood]

I know this internal monologue!

[@d.e303-anewlowcosthomebuil7]

Hey bro.....a small bamboo stick near each tree and you ca find them.....= good

[@gardeningismyhobby]

It is like in Indonesia...

[@anthonygiust3153]

Where can I get that machete?

[@davidthegood]

I cannot find a link for one in the US.

[@phangz8394]

caterpillar on the passion fruit vine......did anyone else catch that?/

[@tinawindham6958]

Passion butterfly? I have a vine that the orange butterfly and larvae need to survive. I have tons of it. The butterflies r so pretty, orange is my favorite color.

[@d.e303-anewlowcosthomebuil7]

Maybe make paths with a lawnmower, if wood chips are hard to get.

[@davidthegood]

I use my string trimmer. Mower works too but I don't own one.

[@EnduranceinChristJesus]

Would cows help

[@TSis76]

Went to watch video about fruit trees and get a message it was removed for violating community standards?!? Happy belated!

[@davidthegood]

It is back up. AI made a mistake, I assume.

[@hocndoc]

I learned all about sawflies last week. A hard lesson: they aren't *pollinating* those zucchinis, cucumbers or cantaloupe.

[@unsaltedtomato899]

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!¡!¡!

[@ZE308AC]

why did you toss that papaya @David the Good?

[@davidthegood]

Too soft.