Planting a few palms

[amazondk]

I posted some pictures from our land on the other side of the Negro River in Paricatuba a while ago.  We have started to do some work on the place now.  I left my wifes nephew and her son over there during the week to start cleaning things up a bit and to string some barbed wire down on side of the lot.  The fence posts were already there.  It is important to stake out ones property around here.  Eventually I will either put up a brick wall or a hardwood fence.  But, for now wire works.  I still to add a few rows of wire and make a gate.  My goal was to start taking out some of the unwanted vegetation in certain parts of the lot, knock down some of the taller trees in the line of sight to the Negro River, and plant three Elaeis guineensis trees that I took over there during the week.

Since there is no bridge yet, and it will be about 3 years until there is every trip to Paricatuba starts and ends with the ferry boat.  As one arrives at the road head on the other side of the river at Cacau Pereira you start to see a lot of Astrocaryum jauari in the flooded forest.  These palms are an important source of fish food and common along river banks in flooded forests of all types of rivers.

My son was enjoying the palms and the boat ride.

Dave had asked in the Igapo thread about houses on stilts or floating houses.   Here are some floating houses.

[amazondk]

Here is a fast boat taking passengers the other way back to Manaus.

The local market and express boat terminal of Cacau Pereira.

The ferry arrives.

We stopped at the market and bought some fish to roast on the grill and a watermellon.  Caio my son, in the bottom right, enjoyed the sights.  He just turned 2 months, so there are a lot of new things to experience.

[Tyrone]

Don, Thanks for the pics of your part of the world. A really beautiful tropical place.

It's also good to see pics of your little son. He looks happy and healthy.  

Best regards

Tyrone

[amazondk]

The lot is still a bit of a mess.  There is a lot of clean up work still to do.  But, now you can see the river better from the center of the lot where the house will be.

I cleared out the brush from the area where there is a nice stand of Astrocaryum aculatum, known locally as the tucumã.  There are a lot of mature trees on the property.  And, a lot more in various stages of growth.  They are spiny, but I love the fruit and I also think they are good looking trees.

Looking out toward the street is the area where I planted the 3 Elaeis guineensis palms.

[amazondk]

Here is the first one to be planted.  My goal is to have them fill up the space between the tucumã when the get big.  They are very large palms.  I spaced them at about 6 meters between.  I may be been a little better to go 8 meters.  But, it will be ok with me if they overlap a little bit.  

The soil on our lot is a sandy type with quite a bit of organic matter.  It should be pretty good for growing a lot of things.  And, it is a lot easier to dig in than clay.

The first palm I planted on the lot. And, where the second one will go.

They will form an oil palm triange.  The hose is not an irrigation hose it is the water line for the lady that lives at the end of our lot.  They don't really have the water system finished in the village yet.

[amazondk]

More of the first palms planted.  Now it is time to see how fast they will grow.

[amazondk]

In the middle of the lot is an old concrete slab that was used by the church that had a retreat on the lot.  Well, it is not really concrete, it is cement and sand in a pretty poor state at the time.  To the back is a brick structure that was supposed to be a kitchen.  My future country home will be located here.  The slab is 10 x 12.5 meters.  The kitchen structure is 7 x 4.9 meters.  I am going to more than likely make the slab foundation 15 x 15 meters.  In the mean time I am going to finish the brick structure and make it into a place we can use while there. My idea is to make a timber frame structure, which would be 225 m2 or 2,421 sq. feet.  Around this I plan on putting a veranda on all four sides of varying size.  In the front looking out toward the river I plan on putting on a big deck.  The timbers will probably be tatajuba, a very resistant beautiful local wood.  I will probably make them 20 x 20 cms (8 x 8), with the main beams 10 x 20 or 25 cms (4 x 8 or 10).  The ceiling will be hardwood decking as well.  Since there are a lot of brick and clay tile factories nearby I will infill the structure with brick and use clay tiles.  Houses in Brazil are normally made of brick, like the ones in the pictures, with a stucco coating.  I will probably use ceilings over 3 meters high.  There is a lot of breeze in the location and the house will have good air flow and high ceilings make will make it cooler when A/C is not used.  In fact central A/C is not really used here at all.  Normally only the bedrooms have A/c, or maybe the living room as well.

It will be a go as you pay project.  I do not intend on getting any financing, I really don't ever want a mortgage again.

At least the mently process of developing a plant is fun.

It doesn't look like much, but it is a start.  The place is a long place from American suburbia for sure.  No Home Owners Association to deal with, building permits, or other things.  There is the community president to deal with, but I don't see much problem with him.

I found this little Oenocarpus bacaba growing behind the structure in the bush.  There are a few of them.  And, I have a lot of small ones started.

This is looking from the river side of the lot toward the slab.

[amazondk]

The view is wonderful.  This is looking from the slab out towards the Negro River now that some of the bush has been opened up.

I can just see myself lounging on the deck soaking up the view and hearing a boat go by every once in a while.  Not, to mention the sound of the breeze in the palm trees and birds singing.

This is looking off to the left toward the river at the Mauritia flexuosa grove at the stream bed.

This is my lone big Inaja, Attalea maripa.  There are a few babies scattered around.

[amazondk]

Tyrone,

I have Euterpe precatoria seedlings coming out my ears.  The ones I had in a bag to send you have now all germinated as well.  I still plan on sending you some.  I am glad you enjoy seeing a bit of my part of the globe.  Palm trees do grow pretty well here to say the least.  Amazonia is a beautiful place and the Negro River is the most beautiful part in my opinion.  And, our lot is on a real nice piece of the river.

dk

[ariscott]

Things should grow very fast for you... especially with the rain that you would be getting there. We don't have home owner association here either... I don't know how anyone would be able to build anything with them around. Definitely build something unique... that was what we did... and even though it did take longer than we thought, we are happy with the results.

Regards, Ari

[Jeff in St Pete]

Nice location you have there Don!  I can imagine how nice it will be sitting on your porch and watching the river flow by.  Keep us updated on your progress!

[amazondk]

Ari,

I would love to see some pictures of your place.  What kind of house did you build?  I have had this timber frame idea for quite a few years.  I plan on keeping it as simple as possible.  But, the result should be quite nice.  I will custom make everything for the most part.  The doors and windows I will have made to order by local wood workers.  We have some great materials to work with.  And, in my case wood is pretty cheap since that is my business.   I plan on getting in the ground what I can in the nex month or so.  That way the plants can get established before the dry seaon comes in July.

Jeff,

If you ever feel inclined there is a good connection on Copa airlines from San Jose to Manaus via Panama City.  Even if I do not have the deck built it is a great place to hang our.

dk

[simona]

I really enjoyed your bit of life story Don! Great looking Babys you've got, your son and those new planted palms!

My best wishes to all of you there and please keep us posted with your progress. As you discribe it and with all your work determination, it will look really great! Succes!

[bgl]

Don,

This must really be exciting, and I know you're going to have a great time, planting palms and getting the construction going!

And belated congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of your son 2 months ago. He looks like a happy little guy!

Bo-Göran

[ariscott]

(amazondk @ Mar. 02 2008,13:18)

QUOTE

Ari,

I would love to see some pictures of your place.  What kind of house did you build?  I have had this timber frame idea for quite a few years.  I plan on keeping it as simple as possible.  But, the result should be quite nice.  I will custom make everything for the most part.  The doors and windows I will have made to order by local wood workers.  We have some great materials to work with.  And, in my case wood is pretty cheap since that is my business.   I plan on getting in the ground what I can in the nex month or so.  That way the plants can get established before the dry seaon comes in July.

Unfortunately, we can't build our house from wood because of the termites problem we have here in Darwin. We have the native huge termites called mastortermis, which eats green wood as well as going through cracked concrete, electrical insulation, rubber, or anything petroleum based material. So, it is a steel framed house with steel cladding on concrete slab. Since the concrete slab is about 600mm off the ground, we were able to do timber decking with steel frame. I will post some pics, later today...

And yes, wood is VERY expensive here in Australia. I was thinking about getting the decking from Indonesia and putting them on a container over, but for the amount that we are using, it is not worth the effort. Besides, all our furniture are Indonesian already...

I tried to get everything in before the monsoon hits here, although I am still planting now. We probably have 2 months max of raining left. Do plants slow down considerably in the dry season there?? They do here, as we hardly get any rain. Are you putting in irrigation?

Regards, Ari

[amazondk]

Ari,

We have a lot of termites here too.  But, many of our native trees are imune to them.  The wood is extremely dense and in addition contains chemicals which repels them.  Termites have an important role in the forest in breaking down organic matter.  Many times the termites will nest on the wood, but they will not eat it, they go elsewhere for dinner.  Maybe they don't want their teeth broken.  The down side is that much of the sawdust is toxic and when working with the wood you need to be careful.  There are some species that will even blind people if the sawdust gets in the eyes.

Our dry seaons is no where as dry as yours.  Plants do tend to slow down with lack of moisture though.  Many trees lose their leaves this time of year for a short time.  But, this is only a question of weeks.  Our month with the least rain is around 80 mm.  So, there is still some moisture.  In the forest it never dries out, even in the dry season.  There is still enough moisture circulating to keep things from drying out.

Bo,

Thanks.  I think that Caio will enjoy playing by the river as he grows up.

dk

[Al in Kona]

Don, again I thoroughly enjoyed your posts - this time showing us where your property is located, what it looks like,  how you get there and even sharing the planting of your first palms, etc.  Your ongoing future plans for the property, house and all sound exciting as well.  I wish you and your family the best in beautiful Amazonia along the Rio Negro.  Yes, I'm sure your son will enjoy that river as he grows too.  Take good care of him - he's a good looking baby.  And as for palm planting, choose your palms well and you'll have a beautiful jungle garden plus a river view as well!  Exciting, isn't it?  

Oh yes, keep those photos coming.  As you can tell by everyone's comments we all do enjoy them immensely.

[amazondk]

Thanks Al,

I have never had a piece of land this size to play with.  I am looking forward to changing the landscape to enhance the natural beauty of the place while maintaining it's essence.  People have lived in this area for at least 5,000 years and I am sure that a lot of people have used this land before me.  One thing that makes me think this is that there are no large stumps around at all.  This part of the Negro River contains a few archeological sites that have produced adavanced pottery dating back several thousand years.  The older pottery was more advances than the newer stuff.  It only makes sense that people would have chosen to live in this area.  There are few insect pests, the fish were still plentiful, and it is still close to the Amazonas river where the fish life is even richer.  I know that this lot was used for planting watermellons in the past decade at least.  One key thing is to keep the view to the river open.  So, it sort of limits what can be planted in that area.  I continue to discover new plants growing on the lot as well.  I have found more Euterpe precatoria babies, along with more Attalea maripas.  Not to mention the Oenocarpus.  I am sure a lot more will appear.  And, when cashew season comes in July we sure will have a lot of those.

dk

[Gbarce]

Don -Really exciting stuff going on for you.  

I was just wondering - where do you buy  your palms over there?  Do you buy seeds on line, sprout them and eventullly plant them on the ground or is there a specialist nursery that you go to?  Will you just be using native species?

[amazondk]

Gene,

I have been looking into that subject a bit lately.  Native palms, of which there are a lot of varieties are for the most part from wild seeds or collected plants.  The nurseries in Manaus carry some exotic palms.  But, aside from royal palms and a few others they are expensive.  I am looking to what I can do to get seeds and palms from southern Brazil where there is more availablity.  I could have a great garden just using native species as there are a lot of them to work with.  And, for the most part I think that is what I will have.   Besides  some of the natives are real good food sources.  I counted the larger tucumã palms on the property and there are over 30 of them already.

dk

[realarch]

Don, I was wondering the same thing as Gene about where you get your palms , but you've already answered the question. Did you get your oil palms from a nursery? Good to see you're finally getting a chance to play in the dirt. Your son is is growing fast, what a difference a few months make.

Ari, I had no idea termites were that much of a problem in Darwin. I know they are bad here in Hawaii and California as well, but not to the extent in your area. Onry little buggers.

Tim

[amazondk]

Tim

I actually got those palms at the city nursery.  They give plants away in limited numbers.  Since the oil palm is one of the trees used in city landscaping they have all kinds of them.  They limit you to 8 plants at a time.  But, you can go back as often as you like.

Regarding termites we have a all kinds of different types around here.  One thing there is no lack of are ants and termites.  But, as I said many of our lumber species, such as ipe, massaranduba, tatajuba, and others are totally resistant to termites.  I had some wood in a lot of mine, angelim vermelho, that was there for about 6 years.  The termites were all over the stuff, but they had not eaten anything.  They used the stuff for a home.  The posts of the structure were of another species, tanimbuca.  This was a tree I had sawed up in a lot near mine.  The wood was all cut with a chain saw. The posts were in the ground about 80 cms deep and about 2.5 meters in height for 6 years as well.  The angelim as the base in the air to these posts, which were 7 x 7 inches approximately.  When I sawed up the tree it had worm holes in it.  There are worms that bore through living trees, but not dead ones.  The terimtes were all inside the posts, but there was no damage.  There was a little rot where the posts met the ground.  But, I think this was because it had a little sap wood.  They market certain species in the States as iron wood, specifically ipe.  And, it really is iron wood.  I don't know about the Australian termites, but I would imagine that they would not be too keen on the iron woods either.  In a US climate, even Florida an ipe deck will last a minimum of 50 years.  I think even longer.  If it does not have ground contact it will probably last hundreds of years.

Here are a few pictures of my retrieval of the wood on the lot that I sold.  I had a bathroom door made out of a few planks for my house here in Manaus.  I am going to plain the posts and use them in another structure, maybe in Paricatuba.  They are sort of funky looking with the holes.  But, should be pretty.  The wood is beautiful golden color.  You can see the termite tracks all around.  They had not eaten any of the wood only lived there.  The posts I plan on using for the house are bigger than these, buy 1 inch.  

This was too much work for an old guy so I let the youngsters do it.

[Tyrone]

(amazondk @ Mar. 02 2008,07:02)

QUOTE

Tyrone,

I have Euterpe precatoria seedlings coming out my ears.  The ones I had in a bag to send you have now all germinated as well.  I still plan on sending you some.  I am glad you enjoy seeing a bit of my part of the globe.  Palm trees do grow pretty well here to say the least.  Amazonia is a beautiful place and the Negro River is the most beautiful part in my opinion.  And, our lot is on a real nice piece of the river.

dk

Don, I can just see your Acai plantation now. Everywhere you look Acai, acai, acai. Heaven.  

regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

Mastotermis will kill any alive & mature trees... they are BAD!!! We lost a few due to termites, but we use baits and chemical to control them now. We haven't lost too many since. I don't think any tree is resistant to mastotermis, except maybe teak tree... Every year, we have to put termite boundary around our house to keep them away. Unfortunately anything tropical - termites always present.

p.s. Sorry, Don... didn't get to take photos of the house... I will post soon....

Regards, Ari

[realarch]

Don, thanks for the info, always so interesting hearing about daily life's details in other parts of the world. I can just imagine how dense and heavy some of that termite resistant wood must be let alone just working with it. I agree, let the young guys handle that. Speaking of heavy, one of the trunks of the D. lutescens had fallen down and trying to move that 20' trunk was like moving a double extra strong steel pipe column. Man o man.

Be careful where the holes in the bathroom door are located.

Ari, sounds like a constant battle for you. Thankfully just treated wood seems to do the trick here, although tenting the house is pretty common. We tore out all of the wall board down to the studs in the basement on our current trip here and found no evidence of temites at all which was a nice surprise for us.

Tim

[sonoranfans]

Looks great Don, nice project in the making, nice view.  I'll bet in a few years the place will be amazing.  You can probably grow almost anything there, many options to frame the view of the river.  I'll be looking forward to your progress on the project.  Some of the best parts of life involve significant undertakings, challenges.  We should all be so fortunate to build our own place(and not have a mortgage!).

[Tad]

place looks swell Don, I am amzed at the boys growth, muy grande!! looking good.

[ariscott]

(realarch @ Mar. 04 2008,12:25)

QUOTE

Ari, sounds like a constant battle for you. Thankfully just treated wood seems to do the trick here, although tenting the house is pretty common. We tore out all of the wall board down to the studs in the basement on our current trip here and found no evidence of temites at all which was a nice surprise for us.

Tim

Nah... it is not too bad. Just have to be aware and control them, that's all... Most of tree and palms have their own resistance to termites, IMO, as long as they are healthy. Just have to realise it is a fact of live and every now and then you will loose things to termites. That is why I usually plant more than one!!

Regards, Ari

[amazondk]

Here is a picture of the type of house I plan putting on the lot.  I took this picture yesterday while driving to Boa Vista in Roraima.  This house is a ranch house with a pretty traditional style for our area.  My house will be much bigger and made of other materials.  But, the general idea is the same.  It is a square house with verandas on four sides.  This creates a lot of shade and open covered area for living.  Made properly the house will have a lot of cross ventilation so that air will flow throughout the structure.  Although it is pretty hot here if the house is made right you really do not need a lot of A/C.  I do like to have it on when sleeping at night though.

As I mentioned I plan on making the structure of the building with a timber frame.  We have beautiful wood to work with here and I think that more than likely I will make  the structure from tatajuba.  This specie is extremely durable and resistant to rot and insect attack.  It is yellow when cut and with a finish coat turns a beautiful golden brown.  I am going to start buying logs up where the sawmills are and cut up the wood a bit at a time.  

Here is a sample of tatajuba with a finish on it.  I plan on making a woodworking shop at our Paricatuba place as well.  Wood is another passion of mine.  I love to work with wood and see a block of wood turn into a table, a chair, or a house.  I can't wait to see what posts and beams of this wood will look like.

[ariscott]

Very similar houses to the ones in Darwin, Don. Verandah on 4 sides... but here mostly steel or concrete block homes. I prefer steel myself, since it doesn't retain the heat at night, hence cooler inside. Have fun with the building!! We just did ours and not planning to do it again anytime soon.

Regards, Ari