Carrying your
plants carefully
By Satish Narula
THIS must have happened to you if
you visit a far-off place. You see an attractive plant
and want it to be a part of your prized collection. You
also know you would not get another opportunity to come
across such a specimen.
The usual problem is how
is one going to carry this bulk? Do not get disheartened.
The next time that you face any such situation, get rid
of the bulk the soil, and adopt certain tips.
Depending upon the season
and the kind of the plant you intend to carry there are
different ways of doing it. In winters, the deciduous
plants, (the ones that shed their leaves, and go dormant)
could be carried without the earth-ball. Such plants are
peach, plum, pear, mulberry, anar, almond, fig and
grapes. Remember, such plants are planted only once a
year, at a time when they are dormant.
Do not venture to carry
these plants at any other time of the year. You will lose
both money and enthusiasm. When dormant, you could carry
even a hundred plants in a small bundle.
In winter you can also
plant certain evergreen fruits such as ber, and
citrus species (amla etc) bare-rooted. The
horticulturists of the PAU, Ludhiana, advocate carrying
such plants by defoliation and pruning their roots and
shoots to maintain a proper ratio.
Roots are protected by
wrapping them in some moist media. In the case of roses,
most plants are brought from distant places. The ones you
get in local nurseries are mostly procured from Uttar
Pradesh or Calcutta and support a heavy soil.
Such plants support
reveals the treatment their roots get at the hands of
such nurserymen. Almost all the feeders are cut or
damaged, thus shortening the life of the plants.
In case you visit some nursery at
the source where such plants are prepared, insist upon
extracting the plants with all the roots. Remove the
earth-ball by striking the roots on the ground. Cover the
bare roots with wet straw or sphagnum moss (moss grass)
and wrap it in a small piece of gunny bag and then
plastic. You could even completely cover or wrap the
plant. Prune the shoots as you do at the time of pruning
the plant.
You can carry a number of
plants this way for any distance. Do not forget to cover
the wounds with blitox slurry.
In case of indoor plants
too the principle is the same protecting the
plants against drying. But there are some other
considerations too. Indoor plants are valued for their
foliage.
Any damage to the foliage
affects the appeal of the plant.In certain cases where
the plants have rhizomatus or tuberous roots, you can
reduce the foliage considerably. It will reappear from
the base after you do the replanting.
The soil in such cases
could also be left behind. Many such plants could be
wrapped together as explained before. In case of other
specimens where it is not possible to remove the twigs en
masse, remove only those that are unnecessary.
This, you can easily do if
you can anticipate the future growth pattern or the shape
the plant will take after clipping. Do not forget to
carry small cuttings that you removed from your plant in
a small bundle. You can, by propagation use them
multiplying your plant.
The indoor plants carried
in this fashion, need special handling as they are
delicate. Check for any dried portion and remove at once
with a little healthy portion of the twig on arrival.
Dip the whole plant in
bavistin solution for about half-an-hour, prepared by
dissolving it in one gram to a litre of water. Then do
repotting. Keep the pot at some place for the first few
days. Do not water it over much.
When you intend to bring
the plant from a distant place, mark it in the nursery
during your stay. Get them extracted and packed only on
the day of your departure. In case of the deciduous fruit
plants make sure there are no tumours on the roots.
Reject such plants as they are either diseased or
nemtode-affected.
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