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One suggestion: On the short edge batons, if you rip them at a slight angle (~80°), and attach them with the smaller side facing in, I find it easier to pick up. Knocking off the sharp edge with a block plane help as well.
Great concept, need to make some for me. (and then find a source for hundreds of tree seeds).
Thank you
Amazing productivity in a small space. A tiny forest that spreads around the world
These look great! I’m likely going to build one because I start chestnuts and it’s critical to protect them.
I write from the south of Chile. It is winter here and we are approaching the winter solstice. What is the best season to do this job?
That is an awesome idea thanks for sharing and I love how you made those boxed protected from different animals getting in.
That is outstanding! I have very few nut trees around me. Is there a commercial source to purchase nut seeds?
What a wonderfully efficient use of space!
I'd be leery of putting almost anything directly under power/phone lines and especially right around the pole, though. Utility companies can get real persnickety about that if ever they need to do maintenance or address an emergency like a blown transformer or downed line. There's likely a legal right-of-way agreement in the deed giving them full access to that space, and if they have to back a truck up to it or something, they may not be very friendly about it.
By which I mean, they might just smash the hell out of your boxes to get at the pole. The last time a utility worker was on my property he bragged about how much he enjoyed driving plumb through locked gates and knocking stuff down, because there's really nothing the landowner can do about it. That's just one rare person with a bad attitude, but legally… he was right.
Check with the local utility company and they should let you know how much space they require for access.
If you have access and are allowed too, scrap yards (it’s like being a kid in a toy store) are great around where I live to buy unwanted wire fence, screen, metals poles, rods, you name it, only dollars for unlimited amounts
Great instructions!
Cool system! Thanks for sharing. Also, thanks for propagating these great food forest plants.
Wow, you can just build in the right of way next to the road?
Won’t be good when they run fiber, might lose some beds.
Literally working on something like this now and wasn’t even looking for this video but I’m glad it popped up. Having field mice issues here in the NE Arizona Mountains(new home). Will be doing this same mesh as a garden bed cover but maybe even as small as the 1/4 inch. Still configuring lids for them to access the veggies but I’m glad there are others thinking along the same line. Best!
My farming partner built a few of these two or three years ago. We've grown oaks, chestnuts, peaches, nectarines, pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazels and more. So easy and a pleasure to plant.
Question: over ripe wild berries I pick to eat can be put in these boxes to sprout & grow out through the summer? I'm interest in the cane & bush varieties that I'll take cuttings from (at appropriate time).
Question for Sean or the community: The maple trees in our hedgerow have produced a bumper crop of seedlings, many of which have seeded in the farmers field who will till later this week and dump pesticides. There are thousands of seedlings taken root. My app identifier is calling them "black maples" which I assume could be hybridized black and sugar. Question being, is it worth my time to save as many as I can, put them in air pruned beds and try to market them? I don't know if there is a market for black maple/sugar maple trees… Thank you!
Great video thanks a lot ! I was wondering what are your thoughts on cold stratification of seeds directly in the air pruning bed during winter? We are in Québec (4a) and we tried that last fall, mostly for walnuts and oaks. We cover them with lots of mulch and so are starting to wake up to this date. Hope to have your insights on that technique!
Huge fan of your channel. You inspired me. My neighbor is horrible at maintaining his yard. I've always cut what abuts my property, and sometimes more when he really lets it go. He and I spoke a bit over the weekend. I offered to cut his grass if I could use some of his backyard for planting beds. He was more than happy to give up any yard responsibilities. I cleared a bed of grass with a broad fork and planted some tomatoes and zucchini. While mulching my planting bed, I pulled what I thought was a weed but was actually a walnut. The tap root was still in tact so I went over to Dan's yard and planted it. Thank you for the inspiration, motivation and education.
I'm lucky to have my own sawmill so I let my slabs (the offcuts from my first cuts) come out a little thicker than usual, and I made 12-15 foot long 3 foot wide air prune beds. Today I'm sawing the framework so I can put the hardware cloth up, because I'm starting to see a lot trees sprouting up. I'm thinking I'll give the trees 18 inches of head room, hope that's enough until the squirrels are no longer a threat. Does anybody have any experience doing extra deep multi-season air prune beds for when they want to grow bigger trees?
Love the info. Thanks!
It can be funny hearing of the different garden pests around the world. Chipmunks! Never seen one. I have to keep the kangaroos and parrots away.
Wow what a great system, can't wait to start this for myself! Very inspiring!
Your assistant needs ear protection too. It’s not fair that he has to hear you drilling while your ears are protected
I would kill for the space to do this myself. I've been trying to grow horse chestnuts from seed this year and the squirrels keep digging them up to nibble on the conkers!
Thank you for sharing the art of the possible and a huge slice of inspirational fuel for the fire! Your work, both at home and here on YouTube, is adding value to the world. Your videos are like seeds being planted and growing to magnificent fruition the world over. Here in the Highlands of Scotland your work is reaching out and speaking to us and so then on to friends and neighbours from there. Besides loving these air prune boxes and beautifully simple predictor protection cages we are slowly growing systems that work for us locally based on so many of these 'idea seeds' we've enjoyed from other videos! Thank you so much for your generous nature and soul to inspire and help others.
P. S. We take delivery later this week of wine cap spawn to start our first fungal beds thanks to your previous excellent and inspirational videos (all of which I've been excitedly re-watching today). The local nursery was kind enough to gift us some mushrooms when we went to order and pay for our spawn today, they tasted sensational fried with onions and bacon and served up on toast! We can't wait to taste our own 'first fruits'. Keep up the amazing work, it is truly appreciated. 👍 🏴
Thank you. I don't currently have plans to start a nursery, but I want to grow a coppice system for firewood on 3/4 acres. This will be handy with some seed from the local oaks, ash, alder, birch, et al.
I can't thank you enough for all the wonderful lessons you've thought me over the past year .I grow. apple. orange .lemon. hazelnuts. Fig .avocado. all from seed and I'm adding to my plant collection every week .hopefully I will have a food forest here in Ireland one day and you have helped me achieve that .so not only are you helping biodiversity in America you are doing it here in Ireland and across the world . Thank you so much .Best wishes to you and your subscribers .
Do you float any of the nuts to see what's good or just put a bunch in and hope for the best?
This is so incredible and even more inspiring! I can not wait to have the space to set up a few boxes like this (along with a chicken system that is heavily inspired by what you do)!
You continue to be my favorite permaculture channel by far, and I will continue to watch and love every video you put out.
Do you need to give them any protection over winter?
Nice job! I've been doing similar things in my yard to protect stuff from my chickens and the squirrels. This great design will pay off for years to come!
Love your videos, such great information.
Air prune boxes complete I will IM you on Facebook the photos not as tidy as yours but should last long enough for me to fill my property with beautiful trees. Thank you
Thanks for the video
Those boxes are cool. I feel sorry for you having to work with all that hardware cloth! That stuff is such a pain to cut and bend like that. Great work!
Sean, what do you think of growing something like wild senna in one of these boxes? Are they best planted in situ?
would the air prune boxes work for things like bignonia, echinacea, iron weed, goldenrod, and feverfew
Nice one. Built my first proper air pruning box today into an existing structure. Built a 4 foot x 20 foot x 3 foot high bed ages ago for composting poultry bedding & have converted it to half a firewood store & half air pruning beds. I have some downy birch to start off with but, will be sowing hazel in there this autumn. Great to see your setups & how you've been doing it. 👍 PS. We're lucky, no squirrels or chipmunks. Just voles & mice & roe deer so, going to forgo the top cages. Will mesh the tops until the hazel germinates & let rip!
I'm curious, has anyone tried starting paw paws in these? Seems like a good way to get their roots going before the tap root takes over.
Would burning the ends or the whole plank help with longevity? I have white oak and was thinking of burning as I make bio char