Growth studies - 2025

Plant type: 

Baby almond trees, two species, Padre and Butte.

Application 

Hand drilled holes surrounding each tree, simulating direct  injection of solids. All monitored trees were planted on the same date  in Jan ’23, and the soil was treated on 26 May ‘23. 

Location: 

A commercial almond orchard in Turlock, California

Results: 

Height and trunk diameter were measured every  2-3 weeks; soil moisture readings were also taken for the first few  months, but this orchard lacked the ability to reduce the irrigation  water to test trees.  Photos taken on 1 September ’23. 

After only 3+ months, on average, 

• the Butte almond trees grown in the treated soil are 20% taller, 
• the trunks are 40% thicker, 
• and the trees are much bushier, compared to trees grown in untreated soil. 

It is premature to make any claims re: increased crop yields, but this farmer was surprised and impressed.

Plant type: 

Baby almond trees,  type Butte.

Application 

All monitored trees were planted on the same date in May 2023, images were taken on June 18, 2024.

Location: 

A commercial almond orchard, Rapp's Ranch, Central Valley, California

Results: 

See hight of untreated tree (left image) and treated tree (right image) ompared to Mr. Rapp's size.

 After about one month:

• much taller tree compared to control,
• thicker trunks compared to control, 
• treated tree much bushier compared to control.

Plant type: 

Baby almond trees,  type Padre.

Application 

All monitored trees were planted on the same date in May 2023, images were taken on June 18, 2024.

Location: 

A commercial almond orchard, Rapp's Ranch, Central Valley, California

Results: 

See height of untreated tree (left image) and treated tree (right image) ompared to the size of the person in the photo.

 After one year the treated trees are:

• much taller compared to control,
• had thicker trunks compared to control, 
• treated tree much bushier compared to control.

Plant type: 

Almond trees,  type Padre.

Location: 

A commercial almond orchard, Turlock, California

Summary: 

On 29 April 2025, we performed a “drill and fill” on 1 tree planted in 2023, and 3 trees planted in 2024. Their growth will be compared to an adjacent tree of the same initial planting conditions.

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The 2023 trees are in Row 3, and both were “control” (i.e. no SAI treatment); they are “runts” of that vintage. The two trees are adjacent; the smaller one was “drilled and filled”.

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The trees in Row 5 were control (i.e. no SAI treatments. The trees in Row 17, were the two best performing trees which received “John’s Blend”. The question being asked is, “if we treat the best performing, or worst performing trees, with D&F, can we accelerate growth in Year 2?”.

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The D&F trees got a pink tag.

The pattern of the drill and fill is one that can be done in the future by a machine. It consists of 8 holes/tree, 3” diameter, 12”, 4 holes to the left and to the right of the tree trunk, 2 holes at 24” from the trunk, and 2 holes at 30” from the trunk. Each hole was filled with 2 cups of JB (biochar, plant compost, animal compost, microbes, and mycorhizzae fungi + the starter food for the fungi).

We know that the roots ended up about 30” from the trunks (5’ diameter), so that is about 125 sq ft/tree of roots; likely to grow a little larger in 2025. 125 sq ft = 18,000 sq inches (at least) per tree. A hole of 3” has a surface area of 7.065 sq inches. At 8 such holes per tree, this disrupts at most about 0.003145 of one percent of root surface area per tree.