Japan's Tiny Forests are Thriving in Britain - here's why

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A good place to start learning more about Miyawaki Method

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[knpark]

Perhaps a botanist in Japan developed this new method because the Japanese learned the lesson the hard way. The picture you included in 1:00 shows a dense Japanese Cedar forest in the background. Chances are that the forest in this picture is not natural, but a result of Japan's massive reforestation/aforestation project in the mid-1900s. They planted a lot of Japanese Cedar because it grew fast and their straight trunks were good for lumber. Fast forward half a century, These forests are causing serious allergy outbreaks every spring, and their shallow and weak roots sometimes cause the whole mountainside to slide and collapse in a heavy rain. If there's a country that is interested in and eager to find out how not to ruin a forest with monocultures and prefers healthier and more diverse ones, Japan has to be one of the most fitting.

[rebeccaboudreau]

As a hobby gardener, I started planting drought tolerant gardens in my yard like this. It looks “busy” when it’s new with lots of little plants close together, but by year 2 it was thriving with minimal water in our hot California summers.

[Debbie-henri]

From my own experience, I can say this really works.
Part of my front garden was planted up with young trees for instant effect (and although I knew they were way too close together, I just accepted that I would be removing/cutting some down later on).
The area just shot up like mustard and cress. For the last 2 years I have been removing plants because it's such a jungle I can't get to the raspberries.
When I realised the front garden was growing faster because of the dense planting, I decided to put extra plants into a hedgerow along the top of the garden. Within months, it stopped being a gappy little weakling, with blocks of trees suddenly soaring upwards.

[yotrader]

Dr. Miyawaki's famous method is based on careful observation of natural forests around ancient Japanese Shrines, which were sacred lands and off-limits for farming, logging, living, or hunting. The concept is incredibly simple, create a self-sustaining forest (i.e. eco-system) with diverse native species...and let nature decide. The most important part would be soil preparation. Early forests planted by Dr. Miyawaki in the 1970s can be find at Yokohama National University Campus or Nippon Steel's Ohita plant. (They look like jungles after half a century.)

Japanese companies sometimes planted small-scale Miyawaki-style forests on their production sites abroad, so the efficacy was always known. Tree-planting was mostly for spiritual or cultural ritual. As long as they're native species which suit native insects, birds, flowers...the method should work anywhere in the world.

[nathandale]

It seems like burying a few logs taken from nearby natural areas would help to inoculate the soil. Buried decomposing logs also add nutrients and act to sponge up water needed later during the dry season.

[lamebubblesflysohigh]

Well it makes sense. Plants are competing for sun but also sheltering each other from the wind and generating new soil through leaf shedding every year which keeps localized immediate temperature around individual plants higher and thus their growth cycle is a longer. It will look much different in about 10 years when tall growing trees outgrown medium ones and 10 years after that when even medium growing trees outgrow shrubs and ground level plants. Weak individual plants will die due to lack of sunshine and due to competition for resources in the soil (and water during dry years) which is ok because that is how real forest works.

[kileyhanson]

I have to remind myself, coming from a biology background, that not everyone has been introduced to ideas like this. I love this method personally, it mimics natural progression very well and creates a very healthy microbiome. It warms my heart to see so many people talking about it 😊

[tvkkebn]

Awww, you have found my second favourite renaturing initiative in addition to Mossy Earth - Planet Wild. Really love to see you working together, too! 💚

[malcaniscsm]

This is really, really interesting. Things are getting dire, fast. We need to be able to invest very scarce resources into high return projects like this.

[Helveteshit]

There is a valid research that says 'Mother trees' are key for survival in the conventional method. Basically, if you plant only pine trees, you need one big established pine-tree to rear them up. Because the same species can share nutrients and moisture. Therefore, the faster they connect, by root. The faster, they can help one another.

[yorkshirecoastadventures]

I have a front garden food forest, that used to be just lawn.I employed what i learnt, about habitats and ecosystems, studying conservation and land management, in the 90s, to provide food for my family and the local wildlife. This concept is completely lost on my neighbours who have more traditional ideas about garden use.I explain to them about the benefits of eating fresh fruit n veg combined with biodiversity, but my words are lost on them.
Im happy to see ideas such as this spreading.

[rubscratch]

For large scale reforestation projects, wouldn't it be advised to plant small high density patches in this method, leaving areas untouched in-between. In comparison to a homologous low density planting of trees(as done usually). I suppose as soon as these patches of high density reach sexual maturity they will start to spread outwards. This in turn leads to a forest with varying ages of trees, aiding the natural cycle of forest growth.

[Dalia-bwnr]

Thanks so much for spreading the word about Planet Wild! Can't believe I did not know them before - some of their projects are just mind-blowing. Became their supporter after watching a few videos.

[SageRosemaryTime]

11 hours - 136 comments . . .People have a natural need to see these things happening. Appreciated !

[robd]

This misses a lot of nuance which admittedly is really hard to get across on YouTube. The facts as far as I'm aware though is that this is not the best or most economical way to create high quality woodland. In fact just because a tree grows fast doesn't mean it's healthy. The reality is these trees planted densely together are in fierce competition with eachother and to create good quality woodland with structural diversity significant thinning will have to occur. Arguably it's okay for smaller plots, shelterbelts etc. but this is not a suitable solution to our nature crisis by any means, it's an expensive quick fix to creating an urban green space over a better but slower method.

[ninalehman]

I had noticed that sewing seeds closer together than the seed packet recommended helped the plants grow better in our (US) southwest desert environment. I believe that it helped them to keep the humidity higher in a place where humidity is normally quite low.

Similar factors are at work in the Japanese technique. By having many layers of plant life of all different heights, they all help each other make maximum use of resources. Any water will stay in that area longer, and multiply the effect of any rainfall.

[TheWoodlandOrchard]

This specific method/name is new to me but my experience is that high density planting often produces better results, although it ultimately negatively impacts production in a temperate food forest. In fact I'm about to do some selective thinning in one area to open up the canopy and increase light levels. At the same time I'm increasing density in another part of the site. Thanks for the video.

[PeacefulGardenLife]

Dr Miyawaki has been doing this type of planting for years. It involves working from the ground up - soil first then plants. It’s amazing what he has accomplished.

[finbarrcorcoran]

New industries should be mandated to grow these next to their infrastructure.

[elliotlane]

Leave Curious, Mossy Earth and Planet Wild all great channels with great retainers.