sepsis

for the benefit of those who haven't yet had the misfortune of visiting me at home, we have had a rather prolific indian [yes i know] mango tree in our backyard. under the beating of the recent rainy season, it lost an unusual quantity of leaves [all of them], effectively ending its life.

for a time i'd hypothesized that the tree's roots had worked their way into our nearby septic tank, causing it to die of a fertilizer overdose, but my mother later explained that she'd instructed the gardener to strip away a large ring of bark from the tree's main trunk a few years back.

this process destroys a crucial section of the tree's phloem layer, right under the bark. as a result, the nutrient flow to the tree's upper extremities is cut off, causing the tree to slowly starve to death. although rather barbaric in nature, a similar but less destructive technique is regularly done to fruit-bearing trees, in order to encourage a good harvest.

although this means that we will cease to enjoy a a biannual flood of mangoes, i am somewhat relieved to see it finally chopped down, on account of my not having to sweep up its leaves every saturday [the past month was hell].

it just goes to show that sometimes, winter comes early.

sige ingat.ü 
posted by stani at 4:13 PM