pruning agroforest

The waning moon and beginning of our cold and dry season is the right time to do a drastic pruning in the agroforest. Pruning is a method to carefully select and remove most of the branches and big leaves (in case of banana trees). Within an agroforest, this practice has various purposes:

  • it opens space to expose the lower plants to more sunlight and air circulation, which also helps to reduce the incidence of diseases
  • the organic material from the trees serve as a soil cover, keeping the soil moist and providing new nutrients to the system
  • the energy taken from the leaves will be concentrated in the roots of the plant and give it a new strength to grow and thrive.
What in the first moment looks like cutting down the agroforest, is in fact a necessary energy booster for the plants. Once the rainy season starts again, they all will come up with new force, increasing the fertility, density and biodiversity of this incredible agroforestry system.