Subject: Mollison too general?

From: Kevin Snorf <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 1999 23:18:46 -0700

I am doing an organic gardening internship this quarter and we got into
a big discussion about permaculture and Mollison's ideas. Keep in mind I
am a beginner to permaculture and most of these ideas. On a tape of a
lecture Mollison gave at Eco-farm I was listening to Bill describe the
need for shade in vegetable farming situations because most plants
produced higher yield when they weren't exposed to intensive prolonged
heat patterns. His idea was that integrating trees would curb heat
stresses thereby increasing yield. Seemed logical to me so I asked the
guy I am interning with if he had heard the idea and if he was thinking
of going for more of the forest approach. Since he was mainly dealing
with medicinal herbs he said most of the herbs seemed to thrive in full
sun, but did not discount Bill's ideas. He suggest that Bill's ideas
were "too general" and not mindful of independent crop species and the
needs of plants at an individual level. Certainly a logically valid
point. But my question to the group is does Mollison deserve some merit
here AND in general can I expect Mollison to over-generalize or over
simplify? Any help here would help, especially before my ideas of
permaculture get too lofty. This is not meant to stir up a Mollison
debate, but merely to get different perspectives on how to interpret
Mollison and see what critiques of his ideas are out there. 
Wishing you all well,
Kevin Snorf

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From: Russ Grayson + Fiona Campbell <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 20:56:58 +1000

Kevin Snorf wrote:

> stresses thereby increasing yield.

Kevin Snorf

This might apply where heat is intense during the warm season, say in some
areas of Australia where plants of temperate climate origin are being
grown. Even here, in a warm temperate climate with hot, dry summer weather,
the herbs of Meditterranean origin grow best in full suin because that's
the type of climate they experienced in their region of origin. Sure, we
have problems of heat wilt during midsummer in January so some gardeners
simply erect a temporary shelter of light shadecloth.

Some vegetables don't mind the full sun - for example, in the Solomon
Islands we have found that tropical vegetables, while they will grow in
shage, actually do better in full sun in some cases.

It's the problem with generalisation - maybe it's best to ask loca growers
how they grow their crops and accept that as useful information.

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