Lesson 6.35 LEUCAENA LEUCOCEPHALA

  

FOOD FOREST COURSE

AGRO-ECONOMY Lesson 6.35 

LEUCAENA LEUCOCEPHALA

 

Leucaena originated in the midlands of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and southern Mexico. And I see them also in Spain here.

The Leucaena tree is very useful fodder for livestock and for mulch.  This small tree is a very easy to grow pioneer crop.  It is drought hardy and grows fast.  Both the pigeon pea and leucaena are useful for restoring degraded areas as their nitrogen input plus their mulch material in the form of chop and drop will greatly help to assist in building up the soil again.  The leucaena tree also has a deep tap root and this will help break up compacted soil.  It is in fact one of the true pioneers that will help restore denuded areas and it will not invade the natural forest.

The leucaena is often called the miracle tree because of its incredible fast growth.  In the tropics it will grow 5-6 metres a year, but typical growth is between 2-4 metres a year.  It can be grown where livestock graze but only out of mouths reach!  A good tactic is to grow it on the other side of the fence and throw branches over for fodder.  Goats especially benefit from leucaena as they need forage rather than grass more than any other livestock.

 

It is always wise to diversify the species grown in any system and other companions such as calliandra, black locust and gliricidia will help stop any of these from becoming a nuisance.  People living close to natural forest and bush land might need to take care that birds don’t inadvertently spread seed from these legumes outside of the controlled growing areas.  In a permaculture system we systematically use rampant legumes to feed and mulch the soil and too many of one kind could become a problem but the advantage of using these prolific legumes with their resultant biomass far outweighs any other concerns. 

Climate change with its excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can be sequestered by growing lots of biomass.  The carbon dioxide gas is drawn back from the atmosphere down into the soil to create carbon again.  Carbon belongs in the ground and growing lots of legumes and other support species is the most effective way of cleaning up the atmosphere.  Other benefits are, of course, creating lots of mulch to add organic matter into the soil and putting nitrogen into the soil for fertility for food crops.

Leucaena is also excellent for firewood, charcoal and timber.  The seed of the little leucaena tree is used to make tempeh and throughout the Pacific, necklaces and dyes are also made from the seed. Text from the roots, Elisabeth Ferkonia (Aus.) PDC studied with Bill Mollison.

 

 

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