Hugulkultur in the Tropics
by Ben Behrend, 2019 Apprentice
Hugelkultur means “hill” or “mound” in German combined with “culture”. It has been practiced in Europe for hundreds of years. Hugelkultur is a simple agricultural practice that doesn’t take much to set up and provides numerous benefits. As the wood decomposes it creates air pockets; it releases nutrients slowly and also absorbs and retains water. This retention of water is important during drier periods or places like the desert or the dry season in the tropics.
This year at Rancho Mastatal, it has been hot and dry, causing strain on many of our plants. Immediately surrounding our main gathering area/kitchen is zone 1 which would be a great place to experiment with hugelkultur. Not much has been written on Hugelkultur in the tropics. Several groups of apprentices have trialed using woody material underneath garden beds. Whilst it is difficult to say with certainty that due to the hugelkultur practices yields have increased, it is safe to say that yields have increased and i would summarize that this due to many factors one of which is the use of hugelkultur. I feel inspired to continue experimenting myself and see how it works first hand. Below are instructions that you can follow to make your own hugelkultur.
· Dig a foot or two of the top soil and put that aside.
· Pile in decomposing tree limbs the more “rotten” the better, biggest on bottom and working up with smaller. Some people use burned logs, or add ash for extra potassium. Not all woods are created equally when it comes to hugelkultur
o It is not good to use Cedar for example as it takes longer to decomposes due to its natural pesticides/ herbicides/anti-fungal/anti-microbial properties. Black locust won’t break down fast and is very toxic. Based on this i would guess that Spanish Cedar and any hardwood used as fence posts may not be suitable in the tropics either eg Guachipelin, Madero Negro etc…
o Woods that work best: Alders, apple, aspen, birch, cottonwood, maple, oak, poplar, willow in temperate climates. For the tropics i would guess that any wood refered to as “semi-duro” would work i.e. any medium strength hardwood eg. Roble, most fruit tree woods etc…
o Layer the sod on top of this
· Layer sheet mulch an example
o 5 inches well aged compost
o 4 inches manure
o 8-12 inches of hay, straw, dead decomposing leaves, seaweed
o 1 inch of newspaper/cardboard
o Soil amendments (blood meal, bone meal, manure)
Letting the mound “rest” for several months, or even 1-2 years before planting is sometimes recommended. Beds are built up in a mound that can be up to waist height, any desired a length, and a narrow width (one source recommended three feet width). The recommended angle of the mound is 60-85 degrees by some sources, creating a triangle. Others, make a less steep slope that is also documented to work well. Over time as the wood decomposes it creates a sponge like bed underneath. This holds the moisture and produces lots of nutrients and fungal friends.
Toby Hemenway mentions in “Gaia’s Garden”, you can start potatoes a month early in this kind of bed. “Some naturalists theorize that roots and fungal mycelia may translocate water from these woody caches to plants and fungi many feet away.” (Gaia’s Garden, pg. 70). Wood locking up nitrogen has been a concern by some yet Hemenway feels wood decomposes so slowly that very little nitrogen is tied up by microbes gnawing at logs.
Over the first year, your hugels may sink as much as a foot depending on the climate. This is a natural settling of the pile, as the mound breaks down and decomposes. If you want to “rebuild’ hugels at the beginning of each year you can add more compost, otherwise you will produce excellent humus by the time your hugel levels out. Hugelkultur offers an attractive way to build top soil and retain water during the dry season.
We will keep you updated with our progress, in the mean time let us know what you are trying to do at home or have done with hugelkultur!
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