Saturday 15th october.
Sujatha from Ankur Team picked up Mr Sheshadri, who is an expert on trees, and showed him the roads on which we plan to plant some trees to increase the green cover. This young enthusiast has an offset printing business as a career, but is passionate about trees, forests etc. How much he knows about this is evident once he begins rattling off names of trees, shrubs, bushes etc. He just knows them like the back of his hand. Our conversation with him was interspersed with trivia and facts about several trees and bushes along with some really useful information about how we can go about increasing the green cover in our area.
Mr Sheshadri told us about how we can go about having a natural fencing for our lake by planting trees like glyceridia ( I hope I got the spelling right!), "agasemara" etc. The agasemara as it is called in Kannada, is a plant with edible leaves that are supposed to dissolve kidney stones! He also recommended short trees for narrow roads like ours so that they do not interfere with the overhead BESCOM wires. he suggested trees like the yellow silk cotton tree. However, saplings like these are not available in nurseries and have to be procured from those who make such saplings. Mr Sheshadri spoke about how they replicate patches of forests using the local variety of trees available in that area, in and around Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka. A very interesting project indeed. They grow all the saplings and plant them in a patch of land that is not so green and lo and behold, after a while you have a denser forest there.
He also has offerred to give out seeds of climbers and shrubs like beans which can be grown in bags and then planted. These cool the air in the surrounding, protect the house from dust entering in and also give tasty beans that can be eaten. Such saplings can be given to independent houses. They can look after the saplings to avail all the advantages mentioned above and we can get a greener surrounding.
For growing saplings, the seeds can be grown in 4*6 inch sized poly bags. A mixture of red soil, compost and sand in the ratio 1:1:1 can be used for the same. once the sapling grows, it can be transferred to a bigger 6*9 bag and then to a 10*16 sized bag before it can be planted on the roads. Good to let the sapling grow to a 5 ft height before it can be planted on roads so that it is protected from cows. Also eucalyptus poles can be used to support the saplings. These can be tied up to the sapling with a jute thread with an 8 knot and can be secured in the soil by digging it deep and by creating a trench around it to store some water in it for some time.. The eucalyptus poles do not attract borer. To protect tree guards (which also can be made using eucalyptus), they can be painted with tar dissolved in keroscene or with old engine oil. This will ensure noone touches it, leave along taking it away. Shrubs like mehendi are not eaten by cows and hence can be used. Flowering shrubs also can be looked at so that people do not cut it in order to have a continuous supply of poja flowers.
Mr Sheshadri will be giving us the information about kind of trees to be grown in urban spaces. He will also give us seeds of beans which we can first grow in saroj, kalpataru and sarovar and then donate to independent houses. He will also suggest good reading material on trees. As per his idea, we need to first plan what kind of trees we want and then accordingly grow saplings in our own nurseries. We need to think of how sapling can be watered so that they sustain. He can provide consultancy and asks for min compensation of conveyance. He charges only for major projects. He has suggested us to get a road map to identify where exactly we can go for plantation. Also the whole project can be broken into phases so that we can move step by step. According to him, we need to have a walkway, a tree lane and a service lane on the roads. The sewage pipes and water pipes underneath need ot be sealed properly or else, roots will get in and damage.
Roots of plants need to be aerated from time to time. Can be done manually of we can see that red ants, earthworms etc are there to aerate the roots.
Some info given by him:
Date palms are fire proof. We can use a mix of neem oil and soap and spray it to reduce the infestation of white bugs on trees. Canopies of trees need to be merged so that the squirrels, caterpillars etc can move from one tree to other. The roots of the tree melingtoria or akashmallige can be cut and planted to grow a new sapling. It has two flowering seasons and is a nice fragrant flowering tree. Pongamia is a fast growing tree which sheds lot of leaves and seeds are oil seeds. White lenoxylon or bililakki can be used as in insecticide or even to wash hair.
Sujatha, the leader of the Ankur team is dreaming of having a green naighbourhood here and also dreams of writing a book about urban forestation!. Keep it us Sujatha. We need ideators like you. And of course we also have other members who can play the devil's advocates to see that our dreams are practical and feasible.
Sujatha from Ankur Team picked up Mr Sheshadri, who is an expert on trees, and showed him the roads on which we plan to plant some trees to increase the green cover. This young enthusiast has an offset printing business as a career, but is passionate about trees, forests etc. How much he knows about this is evident once he begins rattling off names of trees, shrubs, bushes etc. He just knows them like the back of his hand. Our conversation with him was interspersed with trivia and facts about several trees and bushes along with some really useful information about how we can go about increasing the green cover in our area.
Mr Sheshadri told us about how we can go about having a natural fencing for our lake by planting trees like glyceridia ( I hope I got the spelling right!), "agasemara" etc. The agasemara as it is called in Kannada, is a plant with edible leaves that are supposed to dissolve kidney stones! He also recommended short trees for narrow roads like ours so that they do not interfere with the overhead BESCOM wires. he suggested trees like the yellow silk cotton tree. However, saplings like these are not available in nurseries and have to be procured from those who make such saplings. Mr Sheshadri spoke about how they replicate patches of forests using the local variety of trees available in that area, in and around Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka. A very interesting project indeed. They grow all the saplings and plant them in a patch of land that is not so green and lo and behold, after a while you have a denser forest there.
He also has offerred to give out seeds of climbers and shrubs like beans which can be grown in bags and then planted. These cool the air in the surrounding, protect the house from dust entering in and also give tasty beans that can be eaten. Such saplings can be given to independent houses. They can look after the saplings to avail all the advantages mentioned above and we can get a greener surrounding.
For growing saplings, the seeds can be grown in 4*6 inch sized poly bags. A mixture of red soil, compost and sand in the ratio 1:1:1 can be used for the same. once the sapling grows, it can be transferred to a bigger 6*9 bag and then to a 10*16 sized bag before it can be planted on the roads. Good to let the sapling grow to a 5 ft height before it can be planted on roads so that it is protected from cows. Also eucalyptus poles can be used to support the saplings. These can be tied up to the sapling with a jute thread with an 8 knot and can be secured in the soil by digging it deep and by creating a trench around it to store some water in it for some time.. The eucalyptus poles do not attract borer. To protect tree guards (which also can be made using eucalyptus), they can be painted with tar dissolved in keroscene or with old engine oil. This will ensure noone touches it, leave along taking it away. Shrubs like mehendi are not eaten by cows and hence can be used. Flowering shrubs also can be looked at so that people do not cut it in order to have a continuous supply of poja flowers.
Mr Sheshadri will be giving us the information about kind of trees to be grown in urban spaces. He will also give us seeds of beans which we can first grow in saroj, kalpataru and sarovar and then donate to independent houses. He will also suggest good reading material on trees. As per his idea, we need to first plan what kind of trees we want and then accordingly grow saplings in our own nurseries. We need to think of how sapling can be watered so that they sustain. He can provide consultancy and asks for min compensation of conveyance. He charges only for major projects. He has suggested us to get a road map to identify where exactly we can go for plantation. Also the whole project can be broken into phases so that we can move step by step. According to him, we need to have a walkway, a tree lane and a service lane on the roads. The sewage pipes and water pipes underneath need ot be sealed properly or else, roots will get in and damage.
Roots of plants need to be aerated from time to time. Can be done manually of we can see that red ants, earthworms etc are there to aerate the roots.
Some info given by him:
Date palms are fire proof. We can use a mix of neem oil and soap and spray it to reduce the infestation of white bugs on trees. Canopies of trees need to be merged so that the squirrels, caterpillars etc can move from one tree to other. The roots of the tree melingtoria or akashmallige can be cut and planted to grow a new sapling. It has two flowering seasons and is a nice fragrant flowering tree. Pongamia is a fast growing tree which sheds lot of leaves and seeds are oil seeds. White lenoxylon or bililakki can be used as in insecticide or even to wash hair.
Sujatha, the leader of the Ankur team is dreaming of having a green naighbourhood here and also dreams of writing a book about urban forestation!. Keep it us Sujatha. We need ideators like you. And of course we also have other members who can play the devil's advocates to see that our dreams are practical and feasible.
He also gave the number of a snake catcher living v close by, his name is Lloyd and number: 8971320571.
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