Planting Guaba in Pucará

In December, we returned to Finca la Fe in Pucará. Sylvia and I (with a little help from other members of the family) spent one morning planting Guaba seeds. We planted 200 in total, many of which will be planted on the farm, the rest sold to a nursery or other interested individuals. Luckily for us, there were plenty of soil filled plastic bags already made. They had been sitting around for a while so we had to remove the weeds that had started to grow, loosen the soil, move each to a new, shaded location under an adult Guaba tree and then plant the seeds. 

Sylvia weeding the soil bags.

Sylvia straightens the bags to make it easier to water and so that the plants grow straight up out of them.

Last step: watering.

Why Guabas?
Why plant so many Guaba seeds you might ask. Well, there are a number of reasons. Guaba trees are a great choice when attempting to restore deforested land. They like full sun, can grow in very poor soil, can withstand heavy rains, flooding and severe drought, are great soil stabilizers and grow quickly. In addition, they are nitrogen fixers and their leaf litter contains natural weed controlling chemicals, so they need less attention than some other species.

These trees are also often used to shade coffee and cacao two plants that are dear to my heart. At Finca la Fe, some of these seedlings will be planted to protect, the young coffee bushes that were just planted.

Yummy

Cacoa fruit, seeds and the chocolate made from it.

When we returned to the farm in January, many of the seeds had started to sprout. Sylvia was ecstatic. I wonder if she questioned the ability of a smooth black seed to turn into a tree?

Interesting Evolutionary Tidbit
Producing a seed pod as large as the Guaba takes a lot of time and energy. In addition, the seed pod is hard and difficult for most animals to get into. Why would a tree, dependent on animals for seed dispersal expend so much energy to create something that very few living species can consume? The answer is that it didn't. These seedpods, coevolved with the large mammals that existed in the Americas until about 13000 years ago. Animals like the giant ground sloth that weighed in at about 5 tons and mastodons had no trouble breaking apart this tough seed pod for the sweet fruit within.