THIS HARD GUAVA SEASON

In St. Lucian parlance, the phrase “hard guava season” refers to a period of financial difficulty. Despite some guavas being sour, the taste of deliciously sweet guavas is not too hard to stomach. Quite by chance I discovered a source for my favorite variety of guavas- large, yellow on the outside and white on the inside. Part of the Taiwanese Technical Mission in St. Lucia includes the model farming of this guava variety and the propagation of the plants for sale. The guavas themselves although previously available for commercial sale, are no longer available on the market. However, having invested time and interest in visiting the model farm, you may be obliged a few.


The most interesting farming practice noted on the farm was the use of fruit covers made of a styrofoam material. These are slipped on the fruit while it is still growing on the tree to deter birds and insect pests. As an additional precaution, a clear plastic bag is placed over the styrofoam sleeve. Decidedly, this was a best practice for home gardening of tomatoes and sweet peppers where greenhouse cover is not applicable. The sleeves off the gifted fruits were recycled in my own backyard project. Calls to input to input suppliers to source this product yielded no results. I took the search to the internet. Availability was limited to wholesale quantities which is not cost effective for small-scale home gardening.

On a subsequent visit, I patronized the facility through the purchase of one plant. The sale price was ten dollars. Assisted by a very enthusiastic employee, I was sold a plant that had already two green fruit. I was informed that initially the size of the fruit will not match that I had seen on the model farm. They would gradually grow in size over the years. The only difficulty I foresee is patience in waiting the harvest of guavas the size of coconuts.