April 27, 2006

Zahrah Nasir guides her readers on how to grow healthy plants in basements and on cultivating mango trees successfully

Q We live in a basement in Islamabad and are thinking of buying some plants which need little or no light and yet look beautiful inside. Can you please suggest what would be best?

A Basement gardening can be quite a tricky prospect but, if you succeed, and you may have to experiment with a variety of plants in the process, then it is an extremely worthwhile pastime which will add a touch of nature to your home environment.

I suggest that you try the following, initially moving the pots from place to place until you find the perfect spot for each plant to thrive and grow: aeonium, asparagus fern, chamaedorea elegans (parlour palm), chlorophytum (spider plant), diffenbachia (dumb cane), monstera (Swiss cheese plant), sanseveria (mother-in-law’s tongue), aglaonema (Chinese evergreen), alocasis (elephant ear), aspidistra, cissus (grape ivy), rhapis (lady palm), various ferns, crassula (jade plant), epipremnum (devil’s ivy), fittonia (nerve plant) and even the popular money plant is worth a try. Good luck!

Q In December I bought three climbing rose plants in eighteen- inch pots. By the middle of February they were over eight feet high and were located in a sunny spot. While my other rose bushes are flowering there aren’t any flowers on the climbers. What should I do?

A What an astronomical rate of growth! Actually, I feel that such rapid growth is the base of your problem. You must really love your plants, given them first class soil/compost and fed them to death for the climbing roses to have shot up like this. They have responded to excellent growing conditions in the only way they know how….by happily shooting up without having to even think of forming flowers, followed by fruit, followed by seed, in order to perpetuate their existence. Lucky roses indeed.

You need to give them a shock by pruning them back, this should have been done immediately after purchasing them by the way, and cut back on feeding them next season if you want them to bloom for you, which you obviously do. In some cases less is better.

Q About six years ago I planted two grafted lemons in my compound in Karachi. The one in a sunny spot started fruiting three years later and until now had healthy looking lemons. Of late though the lemons seem to have a split in the skin. I am wondering if this is some sort of a disease and if so what can be done about it? The second one was planted in a shady area and has not been doing so well.

A Lemons, other fruits too, usually suffer from split skin whenever the soil around the roots of the tree has been allowed to totally dry out and then treated to a sudden large amount of water. This causes the developing fruits to have a sudden up-surge in water content which splits the outer skin as it cannot cope with the influx. Keep your lemon trees watered on a regular basis, never letting the soil around them totally dry out, and the problem of split skin should solve itself in time for your next crop. Your second lemon tree needs to be transplanted, very carefully, into a sunnier location as lemons require as much sunshine as they can get.

Q I have two coconut trees. They used to give a healthy crop but for the last two years the coconuts dry up and wither or become blackish and fall off. I have tried advice from the Bengali coconut people, used salt, coconut fertilisers and fish meal. Nothing has helped. Please advise.

A Coconuts need approximately half a kilogram of salt per tree throughout the year and not all at once, unless they are planted in already saline soil. Fish manure, preferably made from nothing but fish and fish bones, should be fed to the trees once a year only and it can be best to avoid the so-called ‘coconut fertilisers’ as some of them contain chemicals which coconut trees do not actually like.

In fact, coconut trees do not like any form of unnatural substance or interference at all. I suggest that you review the watering and feeding programme of your trees with the above information in mind. Sorry that I cannot be more helpful in this particular instance.

Q Over a decade ago I fell in love with the mosses in my garden and with the passing of time this love has grown in to a romantic and very satisfying affair. Instead of making huge moss gardens like the Japanese masters, I decided to contain them in small aquariums where I can give them the controlled environment that they need. In these aquariums I use baked clay and carefully selected stones to create the impression of a complete scene. I would like to know if this form of moss gardening is to be found elsewhere.

A Congratulations on your innovative method of moss gardening. Similar methods of moss cultivation are to be found in various foreign countries but this is the first time I have heard of its practice here in Pakistan. Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us as I am sure lots of our readers will be tempted to give this a try.

Q We have two mango trees in our garden in Malir Cantt. One is a sindhry and the other is a langra variety. The trees are about nine years old and give plenty of fruit but the major portion of this falls down while it is still raw, at least half of the remaining fruit develops a yellowish pulp at the core next to the seed during the process of ripening. What remedy would you suggest?

A I think that you need to pay some attention to soil and water conditions around your trees. The climate of Malir is very suitable for growing mangoes but the quality of water, therefore soil, has degenerated rapidly over the last few years and air pollution has increased likewise. Sadly, Malir is no longer the healthy agricultural locality that it once was.

I do hope that you are able to save your precious mango trees from further distress by giving them lots or completely organic attention to help them in their ever growing fight against the poisonous pollution which you and they now have to live with.

Q I am interested in learning about gardening but have no idea where to go. Can you help me please?

A It is always good to know that people want to learn about growing things and I for one, really appreciate this. You need to get in touch with your local Horticultural Society and ask them about classes and the other events that they organise. If you can’t find a contact number for them then try enquiring at a reasonably good plant nursery and they may be able to point you in the right direction.

(Many readers have enquired about growing Bonsai and, if those interested live in Karachi, they may like to get in touch with the Pakistan Bonsai Society Tel:5689823-5, 5685070 and ask for Ovais.)

Send your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com . Selected answers will appear in a future issue of’ ‘The Review’.

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