Guardians’ bao babies 2021
December in the southern hemisphere, Limpopo and it is time to measure the Baobab guardians’ trees again. Did they grow fatter and higher and more handsome than before?
Tshiflaro Evah Ndou a fiercely protective and happy Baobab guardian.
Sarah and Prince headed out on the 14th December to measure up the Guardians’ baobab babies. It’s the beginning of the growing season, the trees had not put on a lot of growth yet, but the summer rains have just started and all trees have lovely fresh green growth on the tips of their branches.
An interesting observation was that two of the baobab trees had sadly died of root rot. The cause is probably from over-watering during the winter season. Baobabs go dormant in the winter and don’t like to get watered.
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- This tree unfortunately died of root rot.
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- Root rot is probably caused by too much water in winter or too clayey soil.
This sort of root rot has also been seen in seedlings that have been planted in soil that is too clayey. Baobab trees thrive best in deep sandy well drained soils and rocky outcrops where heavy summer downpours drain away quickly.
Malakia Matshavha, happy with all the lush green shoots
A huge thanks to our generous sponsors of this special conservation program: Unrooted Drinks, Lather Skincare, Skoon Skincare, Tri-K Industries, BaoMed, Amka and many individual sponsors who have made the Baobab Guardians project such a success.
