Now that the fence is up, i’m super eager to get all the ailing tea plants out of the greenhouse and into the ground. But one more hurdle: the field had some guava trees on it (strawberry guava, waiawÄ«, Psidium cattleianum). These guava are a fast-growing invasive species; together with Eucalyptus robusta they make up an impenetrable two-tier forest that overpowers everything else in its path. Last year we chainsawed then ripped most of them out by tying a chain around the roots hooked up to the pickup truck… but there were 3 stumps left too big, nearly broke the hitch off the F-150 trying to pull them out.

I chopped them with loppers and shovel, trying to rip the roots out one by one, getting nowhere. Then i got neighbor (and coconut expert) Kai to tackle them. Went away for a few minutes and when i came back… Kai had gotten medieval on the guava with a pickaxe, and was ripping the stumps out of the ground with his bare hands.

In short order he had a second stump out, then we set about planting, replacing a few plants that didn’t make it, and starting a third row with the Darjeeling seedlings.