can teak be useful ??

Discussion in 'Put Your Questions to the Experts!' started by witingaia, Oct 14, 2017.

  1. witingaia

    witingaia New Member

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    weve shyed away from planting teak as it has such a bad reputation of depleting earth fertility and leaveing it very acidic ... but recently a friend bought a hectare of teak and has no worrys about its workability .. her view is that yes the teak takes lots of nutrients from the earth but if it is then chopped and left on site those nutrients go back to the earth ... it seems to make sence .. we dont want to plant a plantation but as the are fast growing and very leafy they could be useful for creating biomas and shade in the dry season ... any thoughts ..????
     
  2. Bryant RedHawk

    Bryant RedHawk Junior Member

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    Indeed teak trees are very hungry and can deplete soil that isn't cared for and nutrients replaced. Teak wood doesn't decompose very quickly so to use it as a chop and drop item I would think you would need to make chips out of the trunks and limbs, even then you are going to wait a long time for the oils to leach out of the wood so it can decay. I would think about using it sparingly as perimeter wind break/erosion control base then plant other, more suitable plants, letting the litter fall from the teaks form a base item in the chop and drop replenishing of the soil or using those leaves as part of a composting program for enriching the soil.

    Shade is indeed a good thing in sub tropical and tropical locations so using the teak trees more like a perimeter fence does make sense and it can also end up as a cash crop if the need arises. Many other trees, shrubs and plants can co-exist pretty well as long as the soil is nurtured so every plant is in balance with the environment you are conserving the soil so it fills your needs and desires.
     

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