Weslaco

Today, Elizabeth & I took a little vacation and went with Travis down to Weslaco. That's what I like to call almost-Mexico. It's been a few months since my last trip down there and so much has changed! I did go down there to do a little work, too.

Here's Elizabeth in front of the Jatropha cuttings that are just 4 months old. They are already taller than she is!

This picture doesn't look like much, but these trees were direct seeded (not planted from transplants). A few of the trees are much bigger than the rest. Those are the seeds that germinated right away after planting. The smaller trees decided to wait for a rain before they came up. What a difference a few weeks will make in growth!

These trees are less than 1 year old and are already 7-8 feet tall. In February, they were only 2 feet tall.

Hanging out in the shade. These large Jatropha plants gave plenty of shade, which we needed since it was over 100 degrees there today.

These trees are the oldest and are just 13 months old. Most of these trees had been pruned back to 1 meter tall and are now anywhere from 7-10 feet tall. Elizabeth looks so tiny standing next to them!

She liked playing a little hide-and-seek in some of the thicker planted trees. I had to be sure and keep an eye on her. It would have been so easy for her to get lost!

These trees are massive compared to Elizabeth & me!

I'll leave you with a picture of this Jatropha plant that's probably 5 feet across and 8 feet tall. I know that this may not seem like exciting cutting-edge stuff, but the characteristics and growth habits of this plant are truly amazing to me. We are doing research that has never been done in the US before! How neat is that?!