3. Some of our teachers:
Price & Susan Peterson
Steve & Marjorie Sarner
Mary Farmer
Mariano and Niña Gallardo
Osmar Moreno
Lourdes Caballero
Michael Mullin
Sarah Terry & Craig Owings
4. Our goals:
-- decorate our yard
-- attract birds and butterflies
-- restore forest habitat
-- windbreaks
-- fruit trees
5. Plan for today
-- patio: plants for decoration, birds, and butterflies
-- trees for windbreak & restoring habitat
-- plants for protecting and reclaiming soil
-- 2 useful books
-- improving soil: compost
-- frequently asked questions
-- where to obtain the plants
94. Some considerations for growth
Altitude
• Volcancito & Jaramillo ~1200-1400 m
• Boquete & Palmira centro ~ 1100 meters
• Las Molinas ~ 600 m
• Lower Frances ~ 300-400 (guyacán,
poinsianna, corotú, Panama tree)
Water/humidity
-- Alto Quiel above 1800m = cloud forest
-- Jaramillo & Palo Alto humid/bajareque
-- Palmira dry + more sun
95. Wind:
-- some plants can’t take it.
-- give them a break!
Soil
-- old pasture (nance, guayba, guabo, cecropia)
-- fruit trees (orange, avocado, limon)
-- forest (oak, roble, cedro, espavé, aguacatillo,
bambito
If you are high in Jaramillo and plant aguacatillo,
you might attracte quetzals!
101. Soil:
must protect bare soil!
-- compaction by rain
-- loss by erosion.
-- loss of nutrients by washout
102. Macuna pruriens
velvet bean
One approach:
“Soil: securing the future - The
magic of mucuna bean”
www.new-ag.info/01-
6/focuson/focuson8.html
103. Macuna
-- protects/holds soil
-- shades out weeds
-- reduces mowing
-- fixes nitrogen
-- composts in place
-- will climb
-- but not invasive
-- easily cleared
Honduran farmers:
-- sow hillsides
before the rains
-- later sow maize
107. Where can you obtain these plants?
Our vivero has most of them.
-- what we lack, we can start for you.
-- fastest route to fruit: graft onto an existing tree
-- we can graft your citrus & avocado.
All sales are donated to the Biblioteca de Boquete.
If you wish to receive our list of plants & directions to
our farm, please give us your email address.
