The Plum Moth - Grapholita funebrana

You may have come across small pinkish maggots in a plum before. The maggots are often found near the stone accompanied by tiny parcels of dark coloured material. These are Grapholita funebrana, the Plum Moth and more specifically, the caterpillar (larva) of the Plum Moth. The dark coloured material is their droppings (frass).

Larva of Grapholita funebrana (Plum Moth) observed  in early - mid summer

During this post we'll look at the life cycle of the Plum moth and some ways to prevent them in the biological garden.

But first just to let you know we've revamped our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture Plants, Seeds, Cuttings, Bulbs, Rhizomes and Polyculture Multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy and finally we've added a Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree order form for Farms, Orchards, Nurseries, and Large Regenerative Landscape Projects. If there is anything in the store you would like to see but is not there, please let us know. We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Thank you. Enter Our Store Here

Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes.

Whilst picking plums in late August from a plum tree in our garden I noticed that the Plum Moth larvae so frequently found in the early ripening fruit from July - early August were absent from the later ripening fruits. I assumed it must have something to do with the organism's life cycle and so embarked upon a little research to find out more.


G. funebrana (Plum Moth) emerges from a cocoon as an adult moth from late May - mid July. The adult moths mate with each other and the females then proceed to lay their eggs on the small ripening fruits. Caterpillars (larvae) hatch from these eggs, tunnel into the fruits and feed on the "flesh" around the stone until fully fed. At this point the caterpillar (larva) emerges from the fruit and finds a cozy concealed spot either in the tree, on surrounding fallen dead branches or in the soil. Here they spin a silk cocoon (pupa) in which they overwinter, emerging as adults in the spring.  If climatic conditions are favourable, some first generation caterpillars may pupate early and emerge as adults later on in the same season,  laying their eggs in the ripe fruits. Three generations during spring and summer have been reported in some places.     

Adult  Grapholita funebrana 4 -7.5 mm long

We always have a long warm summer here and two generations are likely. It seems the bulk of our plums ripen before the second generation can begin to do damage. The early plums that are infected make good fruit for drying. We cut the fruit in two, collect the larva for the chickens, scrap off the tiny amount of frass and leave to dry on a tray in the car with the windows slightly cracked. They are delicious :)
In our gardens the plum moth does not really bother us, however when growing fruit on a larger scale this organism can cause significant loss to a harvest. This specie and other members of the genus Grapholita are commonly associated with many plants in the Prunus Genus, and Grapholita funebrana is one of the most important lepidopteran pests of fruit in Europe.  Larvae can cause significant damage to apricot, cherry, peach, plum, and other Prunus species. The following are signs of infestation:

• Presence of eggs on fruit and fruit stalks.
• Entry holes on fruit surface.
• Dissecting a suspicious fruit may reveal larvae or frass in flesh near the seed.
• An infested fruit may show symptoms such as discoloration, gummy droplets oozing out of the caterpillar’s entry hole, premature ripening and fruit drop.

 

Solutions 

Having a good understanding of the "problem organism"  is crucial to providing solutions and can help us in a number of ways

• We may be able to prevent the organism becoming a problem altogether by putting in place effective control measures that break the pest's life cycle before it becomes a nuisance.   
• We will know at what stage an organism is going to inflict damage on a crop.
• We will know when the organism is most vulnerable to means of control.
• We will know what we are looking for and will be able to identify a problem early on.

To recap on the Plum Moth life cycle we have the following stages:  Adult - Eggs - Larva (caterpillar)- Pupa (cocoon).  At each stage it may be possible to reduce the population numbers.    

The adults are most active between 18 and 22°C. The moths rest on the tree leaves during the day, becoming more active after sunset. The adult moths are generally sexually active before sunrise and lay most of their eggs in the evening. A healthy diverse garden/farm ecosystem will naturally support many bird and bat species who feed on the adults moths and larval stages. We can focus these allies by placing bird feeders in fruit trees particularly when the the temperatures rise above 18C.  Commonly used commercially is the Phereomone trap. This trap gives off the pheromone (the secreted or excreted chemical factor) of the female moths, thereby attracting male moths and trapping them thus preventing mating. It's costly and time consuming and is not100% effective.

The Eggs are deposited by adults around sundown at temperatures around 25°C. The females deposit 3 to
5 eggs per fruit. Eggs hatch in about 1 to 2 weeks. It's not at all practical to intercept at this stage.

The Larva is the stage of the life cycle that one is most likely to come across and can easily be removed with the infected fruit and destroyed, thereby preventing future generations. The fact we feed the larvaa to the chickens when preparing the early fruit for drying prevents further propagation and is why it's important not to let fallen fruit accumulate under a tree.  

Pupa:The larvae pupate in bark crevices or protected areas in the soil. Poultry are expert foragers for small parcels of nutrients such as a pupa. By arranging a coop around the base of your fruit trees during late May to mid July the poultry will scratch relentlessly for foods such as the Pupae and deliver some welcome nutritional excrement whilst at it. Blue and Great Tits feed on the pupa and can be attracted to the trees with balls of fat and seeds. French research has found that an adult tit can consume 12000-18000 of hibernating moth caterpillars per year. Hanging feeders in trees during the winter is also of benefit.             

Relentlessly at work in the compost pile.

We can also mitigate the damage done by these organisms by considering the host plant. We may be able to establish good control of the specie on our site, but if there are plums trees in neighbouring gardens or wild plums in the windbreaks or hedgerows and the fruit is unpicked, local populations may grow rapidly and soon be looking for new breeding/feeding grounds.

When considering growing plums, it's well worth observing local plum trees and other host species for signs of the Plum Moth. By studying the fruit of local wild plums or organically grown plums along with average temperatures records,  you may be able to work out at what point the fruit ceases to be infected and choose a variety that ripens during the time period between generations. You may also observe that the wild fruits are not that troubled by these pests at all . It appears to me that many of the local wild plums Prunus cerasifera and Prunus insititia in the relatively undisturbed (wild) areas around us are largely unaffected by the Plum Moth but that the isolated trees in fields, garden trees and trees in poor locations (i.e compacted soils) tend to be targets. Perhaps trees in healthy communities can repel the moths in some way?    
 

Prunus cerasifera - Myrobalan Plum / Cherry Plum

Susceptible Cultivars 

Some Plum cultivars are noted for being more susceptible to damage from the Plum Moth such as Czar and Victoria as well as Amers, Anna Spath, Buhlertal Prune, Emma Leppermann, Italian Prune, Lowan, Stanley, Valjevka, Valor and Wangenheim Prune. (Agroforestry Research Trust Volume 9 No.1 pg3). 

If you would like to learn more about Grapholita funebrana - Plum Moth , it is worth noting that it is often referred to as Cydia funebrana in older literature.

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)

Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery or Online Store 

• Consider joining us for one of our Courses or Online Courses

• Comment, like, and share our content on social media.

• Donate directly via PayPal to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com or via FTX Pay

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Design and Create Webinars - Forest Gardens, Urban Gardens, Permaculture, Regenerative Farming   

We're hosting a range of online learning sessions including how to create habitat to enhance biodiversity, how to design and build a forest garden, polyculture design software tutorials, regenerative farm, and landscape design, urban gardening and much more. If you would like to be notified when our next sessions are coming up please add your email below and hit subscribe and we'll be in touch.

You can also register for our online training, services, and products directly here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nitrogen Fixing Species for Agroforestry Systems

I am currently working on a Regenerative Landscape Design for a site in Todorovo, Bulgaria. The plan is to establish an Agroforestry system known as Alley Cropping wherein rows of mixed species of edible trees and shrubs are planted at intervals with spaces for herbs, forage, and/or grain crops to be grown in between. It's a dynamic system that is inherently diverse, providing multiple yields and excellent habitats for wildlife while at the same time being relatively resilient to a changing climate.

The site design - Paul Alfrey 

An essential component of the design will be the Nitrogen fixing perennial plants within the community of fruit and nut trees. These plants will be pruned at regular intervals to provide biomass for surface mulch and to release a biological source of nitrogen to the surrounding productive plants and soil life by means of root shed associated with top pruning. 

When selecting plants for the Nitrogen Fixing component of this design, I was looking for species that could withstand record lows of -28 (Zone 5), tolerate some shade, were fast growing, tolerant of trimming and coppicing, able to grow in clay soils, known to provide significant quantities of nitrogen, easy to propagate from seed and provide some food for humans and other animals. The following plants fit the criteria.

• Elaeagnus angustfolia - Oleaster, Russian Olive
• Elaeagnus commutata - Silverberry, Wolfberry
• Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive. Autumn Elaeagnus
• Caragana arborescens - Siberian Pea Tree

 We are planning to grow the nitrogen-fixing plants for this site from seed and to involve the local community in doing so.  Many local people, particularly the older generation are skilled horticulturalists with many seasons of experience behind them. We hope to include a number of these people in the process of propagation, each one functioning as an individual unit.  This will keep the propagation process small scale, making it far easier to use biological methods. The propagation will begin in the autumn as Elaeagnus spp. all require cold stratification unless they are sown immediately after they are picked. Caragana aborescens will be sown later.

The Benefits of Propagating from Seed

When I first started growing shrubs from seed I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the plants established. In my experience from growing these and other nitrogen-fixing shrubs, seeds germinating in the spring can establish well and be ready to plant out in the autumn of the same year (subject to species hardiness and, of course, the weather conditions in a given year). The following spring after autumn planting, I practice formative pruning to encourage the shrubs to become denser and by the third summer after sowing  I have recorded growth of up 80cm high and 60cm wide specifically for Elaeagnus angustifolia .  The growth I have witnessed from plants in my own stock has, in some instances, outperformed established 6-year-old plants I have growing in the garden, purchased from a commercial nursery.

When propagating from seed you have the advantage of selecting the strongest seedlings.  Another significant reward is that you are promoting genetic diversity within your populations, something you are not likely to find in the majority of cloned nursery stock.

If you would like to grow your own nitrogen-fixing plants we have a supply of excellent seeds at very reasonable prices. (see below for more details).

 Enter Our Store Here

Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes.

 

Plants Profiles for the Nitrogen Fixing Component of this Design.

 

Elaeagnus angustfolia - Oleaster, Russian Olive

Overview: A deciduous large shrub or small tree from Europe and W.Asia, growing approx 7m high and 7m wide. Hardy to zone 2 (-40C), tolerates part shade, salt, and air pollution.
It has silvery branches often thorny, with silvery scales when young, silvery willow-like leaves, silvery flowers in June, and yellowish-silvery fruits ripening in October. Plants prefer continental climates.    
This species is often cultivated in Europe and Asia for its edible fruits (there are many named varieties some of which are thornless). The plants begin to flower and fruit from three years old. It is very tolerant of pruning even right back into old wood. The flowers are sweetly scented. Fruits hang on the plant for much of the winter providing a valuable source of winter food for birds. The fruit is readily eaten and disseminated by many species of birds. This species is considered invasive in the United States.

Uses: Edible fruit -raw or cooked as a seasoning in soups. The taste is dry sweet and mealy. The oval fruits are about 10mm long and contain 17 amino acids with total sugars making 54%of the composition. In China they are made into a beverage
Expected fruit yields are 7-9kg per plant. The seed is edible raw or cooked. The seed oil, flowers and leaves are used medicinally. Plants can be grown as a hedge in exposed positions, tolerating maritime exposure. An essential oil obtained from the flowers is used in perfumery. A gum from the plant is used in the textile industry in calico printing. Leaves are used as goat and sheep fodder. The wood is hard, fine-grained and used for posts, beams, carving, domestic items and makes good fuel. The plant is attractive to bees and is known to be grown as a biomass crop on a 3 year rotation. In Pakistan it is valued as a pollard fuel and fodder crop.      

Nitrogen Fixing Potential: This specie is classified by USDA as being a HIGH nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 160+ lbs/acre or 72>kg/4050m²

Propagation:Establishment and reproduction of Elaeagnus angustifolia is primarily by seed, although some spread by vegetative propagation also occurs. Cold stratification required for 30-60 days.

Elaeagnus commutata - Silverberry, Wolfberry

 

Overview: A medium deciduous shrub from N.America, typically growing 3m high and 1.5m wide but sometimes double that. Hardy to zone 2 (-40C). Branches are thornless and reddish-brown, leaves are silvery on both sides . A profusion of fragrant silvery flowers appear in May-June, followed by round silvery fruits ripening in September. It typically grows on dry to moist sandy and gravel soils in steppes, meadows or woodland edges. It tolerates very alkaline soils. Plants prefer a continental climate. It can regenerate from old wood making it a good coppice plant. It resents root disturbance. Plants produce suckers quite freely often sending them up at some distance from the plant. Plants start to fruit often after 2 years.

Uses: edible fruit, raw or cooked, good with soups and for making jelly. Edible seed, raw or cooked. Plants can be grown as a hedge in an exposed position, tolerating maritime climate. The fibrous bark is used in weaving and rope making. Dried fruits are used as beads. Flowers provide nectar for bees. Cultivated as an ornamental plant for its silvery foliage.    

Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a MEDIUM  nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 85-160lbs/acre or 39-72kg/4050m²

Propagation: Seed is  best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. It should germinate in late winter or early spring, though it may take 18 months. Stored seed can be very slow to germinate, often taking more than 18 months. A warm stratification for 4 weeks followed by 12 weeks cold stratification can help. The seed usually (eventually) germinates quite well.

Elaeagnus umbellata - Autumn Olive. Autumn Elaeagnus 

 

Overview: A large deciduous shrub from E.Asia, growing 4.5m high and 4.5m wide, hardy to zone 3(-35C)
tolerates part shade, very drought tolerant. Branches are often thorny, leaves are bright green, silvery beneath. Yellowish white, fragrant flowers, are produced in May-June, followed by rounded silvery brown (ripening red) fruits in Sep-Oct.  Sometimes cultivated for its edible fruit. There are many named cultivars. Flowers are rich nectar and very aromatic.Plants can fruit in 6 yrs from seed. This specie is considered weedy in the U.S

Uses: Edible fruit raw or cooked which is very tasty and can be made into jams, preserves etc. The fruit contains about 8.3% sugars. 4.5% protein. 12mg per 100mg Vitamin C. Mature bushes in the wild yield about 650KG of fruit over 2-3 pickings . The harvested fruit stores for appox. 15 days at room temperature. It can be used as a hedge plant and tolerates maritime exposure succeeding in the most exposed positions. The wood is a good fuel. The nectar from the flowers is attractive to bees comprising 28% sugars. The plant is used as a nurse tree, when planted with fruit trees it is reported  to increase the overall yield of the orchard by 10%. It can also be grown as a biomass crop on a 3 year rotation.   

Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a MEDIUM  nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 85-160lbs/acre or 39-72kg/4050m²

Propagation:Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. It should germinate in late winter or early spring, though it may take 18 months. Stored seed can be very slow to germinate, often taking more than 18 months. A warm stratification for 4 weeks followed by 12 weeks cold stratification can help. The seed usually (eventually) germinates quite well. Prick out the seedlings into individual pot as soon as they are large enough to handle and plant out when they are at least 15cm tall.

Caragana arborescens - Siberian Pea Tree 

 

Overview: . A deciduous shrub originating from Central Asia  belonging to the Fabaceae (legume) family  growing to 5-6m high and 4m wide with an upright habit. It is vigorous. Flowers are borne from buds on the previous years wood and are typical of flowers from this family. Flowering occurs in May. Pollination is via bees, usually wild bumble bees.  Pods develop from flowers looking like small pea pods, they are 4-5 cm long. The pods ripen to amber or brown from June -July onwards and seeds fall by August. The plant is extremely hardy tolerating winter temperatures of -40 Hardiness zone 2. Prefers a continental climate witrh hot dry summers and cold winters.
     
Uses: The young pods are eaten as a vegetable, lightly cooked. The pods become tough later in the season. The seeds are rich in fats and proteins (12% and 36% respectively) about the size of lentils and can be cooked and used in any way that beans are used (the cooked flavour is somewhat bland, so best used in spicy dishes ). The young raw seeds have a pea-like flavour although it is not clear whether they should be eaten raw in much quantity. Widely used in windbreaks and shelter belts and used in wildlife-erosion control plantings stabilizing soil with an extensive root system. Good wildlife fodder and can be used to as poultry food. A fiber is obtained from the bark and used for rope making.          

Nitrogen Fixing Potential: The species is classified by USDA as being a MEDIUM  nitrogen fixer with estimated yields of 85-160lbs/acre or 39-72kg/4050m²

Propagation: Seed propagation is the norm. Seeds germinate better after a short period of stratification and/or soaking in warm water  prior to planting.

These species profiles include extracts by Martin Crawford, Director of Agroforestry Research Trust from the excellent quarterly publication Agroforestry News Vol.4 No.3. I highly recommend subscription to this journal as essential reading for all who are interested in temperate tree crops and agroforestry. Put a log of Krugiodendron ferreum on top of an issue and it will still be worth its weight in gold :)

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens, and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)

Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery or Online Store 

• Consider joining us for one of our Courses or Online Courses

• Comment, like, and share our content on social media.

• Donate directly via PayPal to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com 

The Search for Research

A common and very reasonable complaint I hear of Agroecology (and by Agroecology I mean all the different brands and labels associated with this i.e biodynamics, permaculture, regenerative agriculture, regrarian, sustainable farming etc) is that there is a lack of research and experimental data to support the claims made by its proponents. There is, in fact, quite a lot of research undertaken regarding agroecological systems (see below) however it has not been disseminated effectively and is relatively difficult to access.  I have not been able to find any research relevant to small scale that addresses the simplest of issues.  I have been looking for answers to what I consider to be very simple questions, such as how productive is a four species annual guild in direct comparison to growing the same 4 species separately in the same amount of space with the same nutrient and water inputs. I decided this year to embark upon some self directed research, my modest efforts focusing on recording the inputs and outputs for an annual herb and vegetable guild (click here for an overview of this garden) and comparing this with available data from conventional practices. You can view the results here.

The Permaculture Association have taken the lead on promoting research for permaculture and have a dedicated section on their website,  their aim being to "build a strong evidence base for permaculture and improve permaculture practice". They have created a great booklet for anyone wishing to undertake their own research. Its very easy to read and purposefully designed to be accessible to everyone. Click here to view.

They have also launched the Permaculture Association's international soil tests a test that started in the UK last year and has now been extended to the international community. We are taking part in this.

     If you are looking for peer reviewed research relevant to Agroecology,  you will find much of interest from the below journals some of which are open access and available to everyone. 

• Agronomy for Sustainable Development  Click here for a list of open access papers
• Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (formerly Journal of Sustainable Agriculture)
• Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems
• Agroforestry Systems
• Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
• Agriculture and Human Values
• Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

 from Rafter Sass Ferguson's Blog - Liberation Ecology

Agroforestry Research Trust  publish an excellent quarterly journal. I highly recommend subscription to this journal as essential reading for all who are interested in temperate tree crops and agroforestry.

The The European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF) aims at promoting the use of trees on farms as well as any kind of silvopastoralism throughout the different environmental regions of Europe. EURAF publish an excellent book of abstracts on their website.

Links related to Research

http://www.orgprints.org/
http://www.fibl.org/en/switzerland
http://www.agroecology.org/CaseStudies.html
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/research/1-team-who-we-are-and-what-we-do
http://surveymonkey.net/s/forestgardenbaseline


If you know of any other good research resources please add a comment below.

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)

Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery or Online Store 

• Consider joining us for one of our Courses or Online Courses

• Comment, like, and share our content on social media.

• Donate directly via PayPal to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com or via FTX Pay

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Design and Create Webinars - Forest Gardens, Urban Gardens, Permaculture, Regenerative Farming   

We're hosting a range of online learning sessions including how to create habitat to enhance biodiversity, how to design and build a forest garden, polyculture design software tutorials, regenerative farm, and landscape design, urban gardening and much more. If you would like to be notified when our next sessions are coming up please add your email below and hit subscribe and we'll be in touch.

You can also register for our online training, services, and products directly here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keep Calm and Pick Some Chamomile!

One of the things I love about living in Bulgaria is the abundance of herbs that are literally bursting out of the pavements here. This time of year the wild larder is stocked high with so many wonderful plants, this morning my attention was taken by Chamomile.

Every year we harvest this plant and dry it for a supply of herbal teas. The first time I collected chamomile I was confused in trying to identify the plant . Browsing through herb books to look up the herb I found many names, both common and scientific. First of all the word chamomile is sometimes spelled camomile then there’s Roman (or English) chamo­mile, a perennial, and German (or Hungarian) chamomile, an annual. The German species might be listed as Matricaria chamomilla, Chamomilla recutita, or Matricaria recutita. Roman chamomile is referred to in some sources as Anthemis nobilis, in others as Chamaemelum ­nobile. To be bring some clarity to this issue I present the following.

The currently accepted nomenclature is  

• Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile, the annual
• Chamaemelum nobile - Roman Chamomile, the perennial.  

The plant growing in abundance around our house is Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile. 

 

Telling Chamomile Species Apart

An easy way to distinguish the Chamaemelum nobile- Roman from  Matricaria recutita - German is by splitting the flower receptacle open down the middle. If the recep­tacle is solid, it is Chamaemelum nobile - Roman; if hollow, it is Matricaria recutita - German. You should test five or ten flowers to be sure, because ­occasionally a German chamomile flower will be solid in the interior.

Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile

Roman chamomile has slightly hairy stems, while those of the ­German are smooth. In the live plant, the flowers of Roman chamomile sit singly atop the stem, while those of the German are on divided stems in a comb-like arrangement (known as a corymb).

Plant Descriptions

Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile is a sweet-scented, branching plant whose tiny leaves are twice-divided into thin linear segments. The flowers, up to one inch across, have a hollow, cone-shaped receptacle, with tiny yellow disk flowers covering the cone. The cone is surrounded by 10 to 20 white, down-curving ray flowers, giving it the appearance of a miniature daisy. German chamomile is native to Europe and Western Asia.

Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile

Chamaemelum nobile - Roman Chamomile, on the other hand, has a spreading habit and grows only about a foot high. Leaves are twice or thrice divided into linear segments, which are flatter and thicker than those of German chamomile. Its flowers are also up to 3cm across, but its disk is a broader conical shape, and the receptacle is solid.

Chamaemelum nobile - Roman Chamomile

A quick intermission just to let you know we've revamped our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture Plants, Seeds, Cuttings, Bulbs, Rhizomes and Polyculture Multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy and finally we've added a Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree order form for Farms, Orchards, Nurseries, and Large Regenerative Landscape Projects. If there is anything in the store you would like to see but is not there, please let us know. We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Thank you. Enter Our Store Here

Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes.

Medicinal Usage  

German chamo­mile, and to a lesser extent, Roman chamomile, is among the best-researched medicinal herbs now used in Europe. It is used in a wide variety of ways and in dozens of products: compresses, rinses, or gargles are used externally for the treatment of inflammations and irritations of the skin, mouth, gums, and respiratory tract, and for hemorrhoids. A chamomile bath—450g of flowers to 75L of water—is also used.
Internally, a tea made from 2 to 3 grams of the herb to a cup of water is used to relieve spasms and inflammations of the intestinal tract, as well as for peptic ulcers. A mild tea is also used as a sleeping aid, particularly for children. These medicinal uses, cited in a monograph developed by the European Scientific Cooperative for Phytomedicine, are backed by intensive research of recent years as well as many centuries of common use.

  

Harvesting and Drying Chamomile  

Run your fingers through the plants catching the flowers heads as you go. I always leave a few heads on the plants, remembering the flower heads are the next generation of plants.  I lay the flower heads on trays and leave the trays in a south facing window, turning periodically to ensure an even dry. After the heads are dry, they are put into jars and stored in a dark, cool place and....voilà!  You have a ready supply of calm in a jar.  
     

Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile drying out

For more info on these plants click below for the Plants for Future profiles of the two species.  

Matricaria recutita - German Chamomile 
Chamaemelum nobile - Roman Chamomile

• 
  

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)

Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery or Online Store 

• Consider joining us for one of our Courses or Online Courses

• Comment, like, and share our content on social media.

• Donate directly via PayPal to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com or via FTX Pay

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Design and Create Webinars - Forest Gardens, Urban Gardens, Permaculture, Regenerative Farming   

We're hosting a range of online learning sessions including how to create habitat to enhance biodiversity, how to design and build a forest garden, polyculture design software tutorials, regenerative farm, and landscape design, urban gardening and much more. If you would like to be notified when our next sessions are coming up please add your email below and hit subscribe and we'll be in touch.

You can also register for our online training, services, and products directly here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nitrogen Fixing Plants

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth and development and although around 78% of the earth's atmosphere is nitrogen, plants cannot utilise this. Plants instead depend upon combined or fixed forms of nitrogen, such as ammonia and nitrate. Currently the majority of this nitrogen is provided to cropping systems in the form of industrially produced nitrogen fertilizers. Use of these fertilizers has led to worldwide ecological problems, such as the formation of coastal dead zones, and requires a high energy input to produce. Biological nitrogen fixation, on the other hand, offers a natural means of providing nitrogen for plants.   

Legume aka Pulse Crop) in association with Rhizobium bacteria.  

Biological Nitrogen fixation is an important component of organic gardening/farming, forest gardening and other agro-eco practices. Through a partnership with micro-organisms in their roots, some plants can turn atmospheric nitrogen into nitrogen fertilizers useful to themselves but also becoming available to their neighbors over time through root die back, leaf fall, and chop and drop pruning. These are known as the nitrogen fixing plants.
This is a mutually beneficial relationship with the plant providing carbohydrates obtained from photosynthesis to the microorganism and in exchange for these carbon sources, the microbes provide fixed nitrogen to the host plant. 
While it does not replace the need to bring in other nutrients depleted by harvests such as phosphorus and calcium, nitrogen fixation provides a valuable biological source of an essential fertilizer.

There are two main groups of microbes that plants associate with in order to utilise the atmospheric nitrogen to fuel growth. They are  Frankia and Rhizobium.

Frankia

Many plants partner with micro-organisms called Frankia, a group of Actinobacteria. These plants are known as the actinorhizal nitrogen fixers.

 

Frankia can be seen above as the yellow nodules forming around the roots of an Alder - Alnus sp. 

Actinorhizal plants are found in many ecosystems including alpine, xeric, chapparal, forest, glacial till, riparian, coastal dune, and arctic tundra environments and can be found in the following plant families  

• Betulaceae, the birch family.
• Myricaceae, the bayberry family.
• Casuarinaceae, the Austraian “pines”.
• Elaeagnaceae, the oleasters.
• Rosaceae, the rose family.
• Rhamnaceae, the buckthorn family.

These plants tend to thrive in nitrogen-poor environments and are often the pioneer species in plant communities playing an important role in plant succession.
Welcome to our Online Store where you can find Forest Garden/ Permaculture plants, seeds, bulbs and Polyculture multi-packs along with digital goods and services such as Online Courses, Webinars, eBooks, and Online Consultancy.  We hope you enjoy the store and find something you like :) It's your purchases that keep our Project going. Yuu can also find our full list of trees. shrubs and herbs for forest gardens on our website here 

 Enter Our Store Here

Plants, Seeds, eBooks, Consultancy, Bulk Fruit and Nut Tree Orders for Permaculture, Polyculture, Forest Gardens and Regenerative Landscapes.

Rhizobium

By far the most important nitrogen-fixing symbiotic associations are the relationships between legumes (plants in the family Fabaceae) and Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium bacteria. These plants are commonly used in agricultural systems such as alfalfa, beans, clover, cowpeas, lupines, peanut, soybean, and vetches. 
The Rhizobium or Bradyrhizobium bacteria colonize the host plant’s root system and cause the roots to form nodules to house the bacteria. The bacteria then begin to fix the nitrogen required by the plant. Access to the fixed nitrogen allows the plant to produce leaves fortified with nitrogen that can be recycled throughout the plant. This allows the plant to increase photosynthetic capacity, which in turn yields nitrogen-rich seed.

Vetch - Vicia sp. with Rhizobium colonies clearly seen as nodules on the plant roots

I'll be writing in the near future on how to integrate nitrogen fixing plants into your plant communities in order to make the most of this biological source of fertility.

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2022. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2022 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We offer a diversity of plants and seeds for permaculture, forest gardens and regenerative landscapes including a range of fruit and nut cultivars. We Deliver all over Europe from Nov - March. - Give a happy plant a happy home :)

Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Bionursery or Online Store 

• Consider joining us for one of our Courses or Online Courses

• Comment, like, and share our content on social media.

• Donate directly via PayPal to balkanecologyproject@gmail.com or via FTX Pay

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Design and Create Webinars - Forest Gardens, Urban Gardens, Permaculture, Regenerative Farming   

We're hosting a range of online learning sessions including how to create habitat to enhance biodiversity, how to design and build a forest garden, polyculture design software tutorials, regenerative farm, and landscape design, urban gardening and much more. If you would like to be notified when our next sessions are coming up please add your email below and hit subscribe and we'll be in touch.

You can also register for our online training, services, and products directly here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------