An endless cycle of bottle collecting, soil mixing and transplanting.

May 27-June 12, 2009

Time has been divided between watering revegetation sites and tree production in the greenhouse. The seeds beds continued to pump out Jaboncillo, Seca, Guachepeli and Ceibo saplings.

It is an endless cycle of bottle collecting, soil mixing and transplanting. Lots of times we dug up trees from the seedbeds, which would turn the soil, subsequently new seeds would begin to germinate, requiring further transplanting. As a result, the greenhouse has been filling up rapidly with ten by ten squares of three-liter bottles in sets of one hundred like the aerial view of blocks in a city. A block of Seca trees recover from the transplanting process next to a block of Jaboncillo, across the street is a square of Pechiche. Block after block after block.

Out in the field, each site that has been planted this year, ten in total, requires watering so that the young trees don’t die before getting the chance to develop a root system in the soil. A source for water, a particularly precious resource in this region, has been acquired within walking distance for all but one of the sites.

The following sites were watered during the past two weeks: La Universidad Catolica, Jorge Lomas, Ruperti, all three in el Astillero and Beletine. Watering requires filling up gallon jugs at the water source and carrying them first to the site, then up the hill to the trees. Each tree receives between 1/3 and 1/2 a gallon depending on how many trees there are, the availability of water and the amount of help we have on that particular day.

At the time of watering we always make sure that there is a nice bowl shape around each tree so that water can percolate into the soil directly surrounding the tree, instead of gushing down the hillside. Also important is to place leaves (mulch) in these depressions in order to cover the moist soil to curb evaporation, encourage insect activity in the soil and provide additional nutrients.

Pásalo bien,

Clay