Sunday, February 22, 2009

Mango Tree at Lorong Napiri road - Part 3 (Flowering season)



The relatively quiet and peaceful road around this area. Nothing has change much since last year before the "big" recession. The grasses along the roadside are mostly missing due to hot weather and months of low rainfall.



Visitors still comes to visit those in the hospital, and people still continue to do their morning running (puffing and huffing), up and down this stretch of the road.




There are a few matured mango trees on the right side of the road inside the fenced compound.

Around this Chinese Lunar New Year, I noticed the mango trees near my home started to grow flowers. It was insignificant then and did not attract much attentions.




A few buds of flowers here and there. Attracts very little attention from the passerby compared to the full blooming trees later on.



Now, about three weeks later, most of the trees which I passed by bloomed, and across the whole tree. Almost every new branch that has new shoot pop out a bunch of flower. All the flowers consists of healthy “stigmas“ and “pollen grains“.



Those trees are located at the front part of Lorong Napiri road, off the Yio Chu Kang main road. Most of the mango trees are located inside the "Grace Haven", the home for abandoned children.



All trees, young and old, that are sufficiently exposed to sunlight have hundreds of flowers each.



By the time the photographs were taken, some of the bunches of flowers have deteriorated. They have turned from healthy yellow to pale brown.



This is a sign that the "Pollen Grains" have fallen off and may have landed at the stigma of another tree. The wind, Bees and other insects are responsible for this pollination process. Its own pollen grains may not be effective for fertilization. The recent rains and showers also destroyed some of them.



Some small mangoes have already emerged. Its a matter of time when the trees starts to bear more fruits.



These small mangoes may takes about half a year to become ripe.



If every bunch has half a dozen mangoes, we can expect a few hundreds of mangoes for each tree. However it is not wise to "count the chicken before it hatches".



There are many factors that can inhibit the grow of the fruits.



More than 50% of the fruits cannot make it to maturity unless there is professional care. Many mammals, insects and birds will claim them before long.



This part of Lorong Napiri also lead to my home. Further up at the bend and turning right goes to the HDB block which I live. On the right and not in the picture is the Bowen Secondary school where my nephew is currently studying secondary three.

There is not much sunshine at the time of the photographing. The environments appears gloomy just like the economy now.

Hopefully everything will brighten up and starts shining soon.



Reference
Not included.