🗺️ Orchard Layout Planner
Drone-mapped permaculture orchard planning for western North Carolina
Base map: satellite reference (no drone scan)
No drone scan loaded. Showing satellite imagery as a placeholder.
Click Configure Drone Scan to load your ODM ortho or a Google Maps screenshot.
Perennial Catalog
Western NC species. Click to select, then click on the map to place.
39 species
0
Perennials placed
0
existing
0
planned
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N-fixer ratio
Permaculture target: ~25-40% in young orchards
How to use:
1. Click a species in the catalog
2. Click on the map to place it
3. Click an existing tree to edit/move
Your Plantings
No trees yet. Pick a species from the catalog and click on the map.
🛸 Drone-mapped base
- Use your own ODM orthophoto, not generic satellite
- Two ingestion modes: tile pyramid or single image overlay
- Google Maps screenshot fallback if you can't fly the site
- "Pick image corners" button: click two points on the map to set the bounds
- See
docs/DRONE_MAPPING.mdfor the workflow
🌳 Trees & shrubs
- ~35 species curated for western NC (zones 6b-7b)
- Nuts, fruit trees, fruit shrubs, cane fruit, vines
- Mature canopy drawn at scale on the map
- Tracks N-fixers, layer, and slope tolerance
🌱 Beds for annuals
- Polygon beds remain for understory and annuals
- Toggle between Trees mode and Beds mode up top
- Beds and trees coexist on the same scan
Hillside orchard planning tips
📐 On a slope:
- Site canopy nuts on the ridge; fruit trees mid-slope
- Run rows on contour, not up-down — reduces erosion
- Frost-sensitive (peach, fig) belongs on upper slopes for cold-air drainage
- Wet-loving (pawpaw, elderberry) goes in low draws
🤝 Guilds & spacing:
- Pair every 3-4 fruit trees with one N-fixer (goumi, sea buckthorn)
- Mix layers — vine on canopy, shrub between trees
- Keep black walnut 25m+ from apples/blueberries (juglone)
- Aim for ~30% N-fixer ratio while orchard is young