1.1 Seed Harvesting

Look for seeds that belong to the same vegetation type and region you want to plant, and do not use invasive species. If you need help understanding if they are native, look up a species identification guide, such as this one on plants of the Cerrado and Amazon. Store the seeds properly until the time for planting.

The seed mixture batch (muvuca), to make a forest, should have a minimum of species that live up to one year, shrubs and vines that survive up to three years, trees that endure up to 30 years, and centennial trees, all mixed in a proportion calculated to guarantee good soil coverage from the second month after planting.

After collecting native seeds and calculating the necessary amount of muvuca, you may still need seeds to make your forest. If this is your case, it is possible to buy native seeds of our flora from several Brazilian producers.

2.1 Mechanized or Manual

In steep ground or areas not accessible to tractors, the planting can be done manually in small pits. In flat areas, tractors and even airplanes can be used to plant and manage the muvuca.

Use a concrete mixer or throw the seeds on a tarp laid out on the ground and mix everything using a spade or hoe. Add sand or sifted soil in a similar weight as the seeds. This helps keep the seeds well mixed. Optionally, you can break dormancy and inoculate the seeds before mixing them into the muvuca.

The beginning of the wet season is the ideal time for seeding, so the plants can grow a lot in the first few months and will be better able to withstand the dry season. If the planting area is in a marsh or floodplain, start seeding when the soil dries out.

Depending on how the planting will be carried out, you should make two or more muvucas with seeds of different sizes or shapes. Separate large seeds from the small and winged ones, as the large seeds, can be buried up to 3-4 cm deep in the soil, while the small and winged seeds should stay near the surface.

3.1 Isolate the area

Talk to everyone involved, evaluate well, and isolate the area where you will plant from factors that could hinder the muvuca’s development.

Lowering the grass prior to tillage may be necessary. Managing the livestock can lower and weaken the grass and prevent it from producing seed, but it can also cause soil compaction and erosion. Gathering the grazed grass at the foot of the trees is labor-intensive, but it is a good strategy for controlling the grass in row crops, improving soil fertility and moisture.

One option to initially eliminate dominant plants, such as brachiaria and colonião, which hinder the initial development of muvuca, is to perform manual or chemical weeding techniques.

If you are going to burn, get permission from the competent agency, make a firebreak, call people to help, observe the best time and stay in place until the fire goes out. Another option to weaken weeds and other dominant plants is performing successive tractor harrowing during the drought season.

4.1 Mechanized broadcast seeding

For broadcast seeding with the help of a tractor, it is necessary to turn the soil over and make it well leveled previously. Take care not to cause erosion, and remember that about 30% of the soil’s organic matter is lost with each harrowing.

Broadcast seeding can be done manually or using fertilizer or lime spreading machines. Use your seed per m² calculation to regulate and calibrate the machine manually, achieving the planned seeding density for your planting.

After scattering the seeds, it is necessary to bury them between 1 and 4 cm deep and carry out another surface soil revolving. This can be done with a tractor, and a leveling harrow closed, a tire roller, or manually, with a rake.

Mechanized direct seeding in rows is indicated for non-compacted soils or where the rows have been previously subsoiled. Any grain planter can be used, and a large muvuca could be placed in the fertilizer box and another mixture of small seeds in the appropriate container.

After mechanized seeding, we can plant those seeds that do not fit in the machine or cannot be buried. Manual planting can also be performed in sloping areas, tree stump scattered terrain, swamps, and places not accessible to the tractor.

5.1 Monitoring

Evaluate if your planting requires any complementary action, such as weed control, ants, or filling the gaps enhancing soil densification. The best result is the sprouting of native plants that you did not plant! Grass (or other dominant plants) control, either mechanical or with specific products, is the leading management action needed to prepare the soil, and the shade of the growing muvuca has not been enough to control them.

There are specific products on the market, selective for narrow-leaved plants (monocotyledons). They can effectively eliminate the grass if applied up to 2 months after planting while the grass is still young. If not eliminated, apply again at the beginning of the next rainy season, but be aware that more applications in a row can also slow the growth of broad-leaved plants. Refer to your state’s legislation.

The regular spacing of the rows allows manual and mechanized management operations: we can weed between the rows, weed the rows, and accumulate the weeded grass at the foot of the little trees.

In this period, it is possible to harvest beans, corn, passion fruit, maxixe, pumpkin, watermelon, gourd, etc. Take the opportunity to prune bushes and vines that are too dense, increasing the natural daylight for the growing trees.

6.1 Gap thickening

The densification in the “gaps” that may have remained after the initial planting is done by direct manual planting, in small pits, or with seedlings.

It is already possible to harvest fruits such as cashew, murici, and Brazilian pepper, taking the opportunity to prune back old or too dense plants.

To control the grass in this phase, it is possible to manage light cattle (more or less one animal/hectare) in the area seeded with the muvuca, but only during the rainy season. It is necessary to monitor and take the cattle out as soon as the grass is down.

7.1 Pruning

We can remove branches from the trees to increase the luminosity inside the forest and favor the growth of fruit trees and other species of interest.

From 7 years on, we can perform the first cuts of wood (logs) for firewood and fences and favor species with a longer cycle, greater value, and slower growth. For this purpose, it is mandatory to obtain authorization from a competent agency.

Some fruit trees can take up to 16 years to start fruiting. Medium cycle wood can be harvested after 15 years. Noble woods, between 25 and 60 years old. Always observe the natural regeneration in your forest and make sure that it renews itself throughout these cycles. Follow a sound management plan!