Will There be a Mango Harvest on the Farm This Year?
As many of you know I live on a Mango Farm in Limpopo, South Africa - and normally by this time of the year we would start getting ready for the annual Mango harvest. However this year has been exceptionally dry, and with little to no rain y mango trees have not even started blooming yet, and I am left to wonder if we will even have a mango harvest this year.
The past two weeks we have tried to help keep the trees alive by draining whatever water we could from the reservoirs and watering over 300 trees by hand with 20 liter containers, and I do not need to tell you that this is not the easiest job for only two people, especially seeing that the mango trees are stretched out over 23 hectares of land.
But the Mango harvest is not the only thing that is threatened by the drought, the drought is also taking its toll on the livestock, with minimal food around the goats are rendered weak and sickness starts spreading more easily, we have been trying to source and/or buy in food as far as possible up until this point, but it is a costly affair and it is becoming more and more difficult - at this point the best we can do is pray for some rain!
Rain seems to be missing your area every time @breezin hope you get some soon.
#teamsouthafrica
Thank you so much Joan, yes little to no rain in the bushveld, but even less this year.
Much love to you and yours - I hope that all is well on your side!
That is terrible and pray for rain for you guys. I love my mangoes and look forward to the festive period as i know they are in season then.
Thank you so much, normally we do too, I have been seeing a few more trees starting to bloom over the past few days, hopefully we get rain so that the trees can sustain them - Thank you for the kind words!
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Have you considered propagating cactus to supplement harvests in time of drought? The wheat belt here in the states is dry, and I have seen three droughts in my lifetime, some for nearly a decade.
I have also heard reports that Elephant bush (Spekboom) does good in dry parts of Africa.
Hey there, I am really impressed that you know about this plant, I did an article on it a few months back and I have in recent weeks planted out over 50 trees, they are great for feeding animals but they don't really have a commercial value, I am currently looking into dragon fruit as a harvest option however given the state of land claims in south africa I am not sure if that would be a wise investment if the government does end up taking our land without compensation...
I have many spekboom planted in the landscape around the house for my family to snack on.
I went through two droughts in Oklahoma and one in Texas. This last one in Texas was severe, ant colonies were perishing. Even a few Mesquite trees didn't make it.
I have taken a liking to cactus pads and a column type cactus, and even if you decide to travel, those plants are easy to propagate. If you can farm/garden without much water, you have the skills to survive almost anywhere.
So very true, and the medicinal and nutritional value of the spekboom is quite amazing to say the least!
Ohhh, that is always stressful! 😕 With our little orchard, we haven’t had so much drought, but late frosts and sudden wind storms that blow all the blooms off the trees.
I’ll put you on my prayer list for rain. 💕
You are so awesome, thank you I really do appreciate that!
Howdy there breezin! oh man..I hate droughts and hate to see you guys going through this! What happens if it doesn't rain for this year's crop?
And how long has this drought lasted?
Well then I might loose my crop as well as some of my trees reducing any future crops :(
It has been a very dry year and the rain is a few months late as well
Sorry to hear that you are also experiencing the drought. I will also pray for rain and ask some of my prayer groups to pray with us!
https://web.facebook.com/groups/1024503904273404/
Thank you so much @hope!