after a meeting with the forester today(which my dad forgot to tell me about) i remembered i had been looking at some tabs about Akira Miyawaki and phytosociology. who knew there was a vast foundation of theory for which the modern forestation method was built. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afforestation_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytosociology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytogeography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytochorion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afforestation "Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no recent tree cover..." Reinhold Tüxen(1899-1980) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_T%C3%BCxen supposedly Miyawaki worked with Tüxen at one point and was greatly influenced by him in regards to vegetation mapping. Akira Miyawaki(1928-2021) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Miyawaki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_forest "Miyawaki forests" "... Watering is unnecessary for native plants acclimated to the local environment; although watering for the first few years after planting, and during drought periods, will reduce mortality of individual plants... ...Miyawaki developed the method as a means of replenishing forest soils by allowing dead leaves and twigs to decompose in a moist, wood-rotting ecosystem.[12] This process may be less successful in drier fire ecosystems where nutrients are recycled as ashes.[13][14] The dense pocket forest forms a capture mechanism for wind-blown embers, dried ground litter is an ignition source, and the multi-layered pocket forest forms a fuel ladder with wildfire risks in urban areas.[15]..." virginia is pretty wet(usually) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax_community "In scientific ecology, climax community or climatic climax community is a historic term for a community of plants, animals, and fungi which, through the process of ecological succession in the development of vegetation in an area over time, have reached a steady state..." https://www.sugiproject.com/blog/miyawaki-method-for-creating-forests it looks like they plant all those individual seedlings - expensive! is scattering seeds a viable alternative? around here it is certain to get overgrown by rosebush and briars, but is that actually a problem? doing a miyawaki forest at large scale would certainly require some maintenance in the early/intermediate growth stages. https://broadview.org/miyawaki-method/ neat story! here is a link to a TED by Simard: TED: How trees talk to each other | Suzanne Simard(18 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un2yBgIAxYs scientific! fungus is the "internet for trees". "tree wisdom" via chemical messengers - interesting! i'm wonder if i can find the video that originally got me interested in miyawaki? here it is! Japan's Tiny Forests are Thriving in Britain - here's why(9 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0d7Hox5J4M the difference between miyawaki and traditional regeneration is pretty obvious - miyawaki looks about 100x total biomass growth! Planting a Mini Japanese Woodland on My Irish Land: The Miyawaki Method(24 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1-bNpA9FQE "miyawaki method more suited for urban forests" turned soil, planted densely a diverse selection of shrubs, understory trees, and canopy trees. the first site is on a pretty small plot. 2nd forest is about 4x area: "300 trees and shrubs planted within 400 square meters". that is dense! i think a usual commercial planting is maybe 1/4 that density? Tiny Forest documentary about the effects of the Miyawaki method in the Netherlands(9 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyHVQtDtlMk lots of work put into building soil. all seedlings manually planted into soil turned by excavator, and topped with straw. a commercial adaptation would have to skip some steps. basic miyawaki planting summary: 1. develop soil by turning and amendment 2. densely plant species mixed to fill all 4 categories(canopy, understory, shrub, herb) 3. mulch? perhaps it is possible to get a similar density of new growth using seeds vs planting all those individual saplings. vines and briars are probably an issue. the pertinent question is whether it is cost effective to free the small seedlings from the brush using sheers after the fact. theoretically shrub roots should help break up soil, so perhaps turning soil might be unecessary given a plan to work on the brush with sheers later. clearing brush needs to be done delicately as to not damage target seedlings. the only question remaining is where do i get the quantity of seeds i need to apply with sufficient density by the acre? and how do i spread them? those are some big what-ifs, however i have a feeling this could work! saving some notable 20th century botanist wiki's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Clements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Chandler_Cowles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Gleason https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Tansley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josias_Braun-Blanquet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Oberdorfer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Oltmanns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Paczoski https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaf_Einar_Du_Rietz and some 19th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Humboldt