Monday, May 07, 2007

Little Green Fruits, in Chacala

There’s a little path between my place and my favorite neighbor’s house, here in Chacala. It saves me walking down a flight of stairs to the road, and thqat up a small hill going up to her house, so I use it a lot.

I though I usually noticed every little thing that grows along that path. And I prune the green stuff back regularly. But today, all of a sudden, this tree I thought was dead, is now covered with little green fruits. Almost overnight. Hardly any leaves, but lots of fruits. I am going to ask somebody what they are later today.

I guess I see or learn something new every single day in Chacala. Today it was the green apples, I mean fruit. Plus some neighbors down the hill are adding on a nice sized bathroom to their house. They were digging the hole for the dirty water/septic this morning. I was amazed to see how much space there is back there. Everything is done by hand. With two guys with some handtools.There is a second papaya tree growing up thru between the plumbago and gardenia in the front of the house. I can’t believe how quickly it’s growing. Maybe a foot a week right now. With blossoms.

A few days ago the government guys who come around every week showed up really early in the morning. If I hear them I run down to protect my plant babies from their spray stuff. The workers are part of a huge effort to control a “plagua” that is attacking the hibiscicus in the states of Nayarit and Jalisco.

The inspectors seem to have tried to identify every hibiscus in either state (I think). And if they find the white foamy stuff they spray. And spray, and spray. And if there are still problems, they hack the plant down to nubbins and haul away the remains.The other day they removed the second hibiscus from the front of the house. There’s a empty space where it was. But I know it will grow back quickly.

I don’t know what’s in the spray, but the workers don’t wear any protection. They have a big tank full of spray on the back of a pickup, with a generator to run the sprayer, and about 100 feet of hose. I hate it. I try to get my pots out of the way, but they don’t pay any attention to where their hose goes. They always leave a mess. Oh well.

2 comments:

mcm said...

The tree with the little green fruit is a ciruela (plum -- I can't remember the scientific name off hand, but will check). They lose their leaves in the dry season, but bloom around February -- very very tiny red flowers that come right off the "dead" looking branches. Then the plums form. They'll turn reddish eventually, but many people enjoy eating them green. Then the leaves come out. These trees also will start from hard-wood cuttings -- just stick them in dirt, even fairly large branches.

mcm said...

Ha -- found it: the scientific name is Spondias purpurea -- also known as purple or red mombin, hog plum, and many other names.
You can "read all about it" in Wikipedia...