Into the Thick of It! Weeding Out the Site

Whats one thing that a tropical environment does best? Grow and grow quickly! We were surprised to see the amount of weeds that have grown in such a short time at our site. One of the weekly tasks here at the research site is weeding. If we don't keep up with it then the vines and grasses quickly start taking over our equipment (Figure 1)! Its not the most exciting job, but its got to be done in order to make sure the site and equipment are all kept in good condition!

Figure 1: A perpetrator vine tries to swallow up one of our flags! These vines are the first to go!

Figure 2: The aftermath from 2 weeks without weeding (left) on the compared to the clear site when the site was first clear cut (right). Needless to say some of us are not looking forward to all the weeds that are waiting for us.

Figure 3: Its all fun and games until you pull out a vine for the 3000th time.

Figure 4: Its not all bad! Steven found an avocado seedling at the perimeter of the site. I guess we can let this little guy stay for now!

Figure 5: Getting up close and personal with the soil here at Lyon. Who thought you could get this covered in dirt while weeding?!