A forest ecology in a box?

[devance]

I had a idea that a cardboard paper box [ cheap, filled with the proper holes] filled with the proper mix of a ecological forest seed mixture[cheap] might be used under the belly of private aircraft[cheap, as voluntary] for reconstruction of denuded areas.

Just rip off the tape from a rip thread and the seeds might flow for several miles.

Have to be the specific ecology balance, to the region.

Alot of problems with the idea, but money might not be the biggest one.

[TheFriendlyPlanter]

Depends on a lot of things... How damaged the landscape has become, what are the remaining influences (weeds grazing). But nature has a great way of healing herself.

Pioneer plants are definately the way to go in these situations. Grasses/acacias/ native 'weeds' will all stabilize the soil and allow the process of succession to begin. Aerial spreading of bulkloads of seed could be a good way to begin with the pioneer species! A couple years later go again with your dry Sclerophyll mix, then your wet sclerophyll mix, then your rainforest mix, and cap it all off with a final run full of Antarctic beech and baby native animal mix Lol, just kiddn.

The more different species you introduce though, the better the landscape can recover, that's for sure.

I would probably go with a metal box.

[devance]

In the day of the global terrorist,'I would probably go with a metal box.'

would send off alarm signals and have to be inspected.

A cardboard paper box wouldn't.

Lightweight, easily opened and sealed for inspection by police.

And seeds are lightweight, and the mix would be produced by the specific country/ecology scientists inside the country.

[genki]

reminds me of something stamets once wrote about making a giant sprore slurry and using a water bomber for mass innoculation

[ThunderIdeal]

i dunno. current efforts always seem to use tubestock rather than seeds, not sure why but there must be some logic there?

i dunno. it seems to me that presence of seeds isn't the problem, it's more to do with damaged land (by man or just naturally, making it hard for natives to thrive) and presence of suppressive noxious weeds?

interdimensional, i'd love to hear a bit more about these native weeds. reading about permaculture (different, because it usually involves year round attention), i don't remember much talk of native weeds. they mentioned noxious weeds for use as pioneers, and so did annette mcfarlane in her sustainable land use class. different scenario i know, but i'm genuinely curious what kind of natives make excellent pioneers, particularly undergrowth plants. i think palms and ferns wouldn't be overlooked. aussie grasses seem to be useless against introduced grasses. casuarinas, surely?

maybe introduced species shouldn't be overlooked either, for instance small pasture legumes that aren't going to choke the trees that come later.

you'd also have to consider which seeds are easier to collect, and if you are manufacturing an ecosystem within just a few years, fauna is also going to play a part.

it's interesting, it'd be good to have some edumacated minds focus on the idea (i know that some smartypants are reading this).

years before studying horticulture i had the idea of creating desert oasises to try to, uh... green australia. unfortunately climate imposes it's limitations, but imagine creating mulched, irrigated areas in the desert so that the flora starts to spread and progress, birds start to fly in and leave their droppings, eventually the flora is actually evaporating more water into the air (whether or not it results in rainfall in that particular spot.... in theory if the rain won't fall there, then my idea is actually drying the "soil" out!)

vert must have some input, among others. vert has mentioned doing this kind of thing out of his pocket.

[ThunderIdeal]

good point genki, fungus and microbes would be a must!! i don't think it's a project for half-assed enthusiasts like me, it's a project for biologists.

[TheFriendlyPlanter]

interdimensional, i'd love to hear a bit more about these native weeds. reading about permaculture (different, because it usually involves year round attention), i don't remember much talk of native weeds. they mentioned noxious weeds for use as pioneers, and so did annette mcfarlane in her sustainable land use class. different scenario i know, but i'm genuinely curious what kind of natives make excellent pioneers, particularly undergrowth plants.

All I meant was any native herb type thing that just pops up from the seeds remaining in the soil. Any such native plant is valuable for soil stabilistaion and beginning vegetative succession. I remember seeing thousands of native tobacco (N. megalosiphon) springing up out of rabbit warrens right beside a nature reserve that only contained approx 1 plant per hectare.

Such plants often attract a range of insect pollinators that greatly increase seed formation in nearby trees especially in remnant patches and edge habitats etc. Then there's the increase in birds that are hunting the insects. They bring in seeds and also pollinate flowers and so on.

The simple rule is the more different species the better, weather it's a tree, shrub, herb, or grass, get the whole spectrum happening.

As for tube stock, it's a good way to go if you can afford it and water it all but pioneers generally have the major benefit of producing millions of seeds and are tough buggers, resistant to drought and herbivory. So seed dispersal over large areas (by plane) is definitely a valid option, and one I think is worthy of a bit more experimentation.