Willow Biomass Line - Temperate Syntropic Agroforestry

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:02]Good morning. It's May 4th here in Virginia, zone 7AB at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountain.

[00:00:11]And this morning, I'm starting to plant my black willow biomass row in my new centropic section.

[00:00:20]Uh this is the row I'm starting with.

[00:00:24]You can see that a lot of the um cover crops and flower seeds and everything else has been coming in really well in this row.

[00:00:45]A lot of pee in there, oats, winter rye.

[00:00:53]The center tree line is doing fine.

[00:00:57]Everything's leafing out. Even though we've had a couple of late freezes that have done some damage, center tree line is starting to fill in.

[00:01:07]Paw paws have not emerged from their seeding yet.

[00:01:14]So, when I'm creating a biomass row, I have to think about where it's going to be within the row.

[00:01:22]relative to the center tree line because you don't want your biomass in the center tree line because then it's too hard to uh cut it down quickly and smoothly and efficiently. It needs to be organized where you can run through your biomass row quickly with either machinery or with hand tools or a machete or however you want to do it.

[00:01:47]But you want to think about efficiency when you do that. And the best way to do that in a a a tree row, a tree line, you know, it's linear, is to have a linear row of biomass, not a random placement of biomass plants um and not in that center tree line. You also have to think about the sun because this is these are biomass trees.

[00:02:11]They will block sunlight.

[00:02:14]So the most favorable position for that in this row since this is a south facing slope is on the north slope which is the up slope the back of the slope.

[00:02:26]So my willow biomass row will go on the back side or the UPS slope side of this row.

[00:02:36]All right. Then where within the row do you want it? Do you want it close to that center tree line? Do you want it far away from the center tree line? Do you want it right on the toe, which is where the tree row meets the alley?

[00:02:53]Um, it's a decision you have to make.

[00:02:56]I don't like it close to the center line because close to the center line is where I'm going to be piling all of my biomass.

[00:03:04]So, I need room for that. I need a space for that. Um, I'm thinking two feet at least. Now, two feet from the center line is where I place this shovel.

[00:03:17]So, the center line is right there where that sprinkler riser is, and I put that shovel at the two- foot mark. I still have a foot left to get to the toe, which is where the alley begins.

[00:03:34]So, that's where I'm thinking I'm going to run this row of biomass is at the two-foot mark.

[00:03:47]And then that'll leave me the toe to work with still because the toe is where uh nutrient and water collect. It's a very fertile area.

[00:04:00]You can use it to grow your biomass row.

[00:04:02]That's no problem.

[00:04:04]Or I may use it to grow crops.

[00:04:08]I may use it to grow a pumpkin crop that will uh climb up into the willow trees and use the willow as trellis.

[00:04:17]So I I I want to leave my toe available.

[00:04:20]So I want about a foot of toe. Then when I get up into the shoulder, the UPS slope shoulder, I want my biomass, willow biomass roll.

[00:04:30]So I'm going to be planting along there.

[00:04:33]Every two foot spacing is what I'm going for.

[00:04:40]Two foot away from the tree line, two foot between trees.

[00:04:45]And my willows I have been soaking in a bucket of water. And they now have root sprouts.

[00:04:55]Hopefully you can see that.

[00:04:58]I don't want the sprouts to get too long because that interferes with they'll break off when I'm inserting them in because I want just a little slit of a trench to stick them into. So, I don't want to snap off a bunch of roots that I just spent, you know, a lot of time developing. So, I just want those roots barely coming out.

[00:05:18]And then when I get them in, I want to make sure they stay nice and moist so that those uh black willow sticks root very well and then start leafing out and then producing by my my biomass.

[00:05:34]Now, why did I pick black willow? Well, it propagates so well. It is native.

[00:05:42]It grows rapidly. There are hybrid willows that will grow a lot faster.

[00:05:48]And I do have a hybrid that I'm going to use uh in that row, the fodder row, because I'll growing be growing it for fodder mostly. And the other reason for the black willow is it is a fodder species. The goats love it. They love the leaves. They love the bark. They'll strip it all the bark of it off of it.

[00:06:07]So, it's a great fodder species as well.

[00:06:10]And it does make good biomass. um recovers rapidly from being cut all the way to the ground or uh above higher above the ground and kind of a pollarded style even though it doesn't really act like a true pollard.

[00:06:25]But um that's what I'm working on today. A black willow biomass row on the UPS slope shoulder.

[00:06:36]uh leaving a little bit of room about a foot of the toe for planting crops in.

[00:06:44]And I have plenty of help today obviously.

[00:06:49]See you next time.