Unless trees are looked after properly, with attention paid to the treatment of wounds which have been made by nature or by man, they may become infected with one of a few dozen fungus diseases and become a risk to life and limb.
This is especially true in a tropical climate such as Guyana’s. It is occasionally true that they become infected without anyone knowing a thing about it, but that is uncommon. Normally it is the result of careless use of the cutlass (a favourite pruning implement in Guyana) or of the chainsaw, and in nearly all cases a failure to treat wounds of any kind and of any size with a tar based paint or any kind of paint.
Cuttings
Most plants are not too difficult to propagate until you start to think about it. A newcomer might well ask what grafting is, or budding, or layering. What are softwood, semi-hardwood and hardwood cuttings? What is a sucker, or a saddle graft? It’s all a bit like a foreign
