Plant Watching
I have decided that I will not write anything on Politics and Cricket (Ceylonese Cricket) and mind you even cricket is politics in Ceylon. If those topics are excluded how I am going to write over 300 odd pieces of writing one piece a day or one piece a week as requested by the wordpress.
But real reason is for me to get an extension of the post of equation developer for Apaya (Hell) as per Apaya Web Master (AWM) General’s demand.
Mind you Apaya does not have trees like on this planet earth.
It
is now highly developed into a computer farm like Google’s and no
different from Dubai and is very hot indeed. There are lot of ex-Google
employers working there full time now.
Those who passed away before
the Google Chrome, Androids and Cloud Computing came into existence.
I
thought of reminding them how beautiful is the earth without humans
especially ex-Microsoft workers and I found a good alibi.That is the plants, the species vanishing by the day.
Before I could talk about rare plants I should talk about few unknown facts about known plants.
The plant or the fruit toady is pineapples or the annasee.
The leaves of the pineapple can be used to weave a fine thread that is used in a fine fabric better than silk.
What I did not know is when the fruit is removed what happens to the plant afterward.
I
asked a few biology students but they were not helpful. They gave
various answers and interpretations to the extent that I became more
confused. Look at few books no mention of what happens to the old stem.
What usually happens in commercial practice is one takes the top comb
and plant it and remove the old plant stem.
Nobody
bothered to think about it except me. So what I did was to water it
daily (in a pot ) so that it won’t dry up. After about two months I saw
a side shot coming up. It was very slow to grow having consumed all
the rich soil underneath. I was expecting it to come lower down near
the roots but it did come higher up and that was my observation.
Now
after about 6 months I am waiting to see whether it will flower and
bear a fruit. This one took over one year to bear fruit.
So the
experiment continues.
Interestingly
the stem after plucking off the ripe fruit is shriveled up now and the
leaves below it integrated into a nice whorl around the new shot.
Nothing was wasted in its reorganization.
Mind you pineapple has a beautiful flower and that is the flower seen in one of my web pages.
Story of My Pineapple Plant
After about two years the stem of the original plant is flowering now.
It almost died due to competition of a robust weed.
I took the weed with diffuse roots away and the stem of the pineapple plant was rotten due to competition for nutrition.
I thought it might die and just placed it between other plants and put plenty of water.
Below is things I did not know but discovered during the last two years.
1. Even though I knew that the crown of the fruit can be used to grow it, I did not know what happens to the mother plant when the fruit is separated.
2. I did not know it leaves can be used to make a fine silk like thread (it is in fact finer than the silk thread) and prepare fabrics.
3. It grows very slow and one can have only one fruit for year.
4. It has a very beautiful flower.
5. Its roots do not go deep.
6. I did not know from which part of the tropics it originated. Now I know it is from south America.
7. Mother plant produce shoots called suckers once the fruit is removed. They can be used to grow new plants.
8. I do not know how many shoots / suckers it make certainly more than one.
9. I did not know other plants with diffuse root system compete with its growth and lot of chemical are used in commercial growing.
10. I did not know it is rich in manganese.
11. Given the opportunity it can live up to 100 years!
Ten or more things I did not know about the Pineapple Plant.
Story of My Pineapple Plant
After about two years the stem of the original plant is flowering now.
It almost died due to competition of a robust weed.
I took the weed with diffuse roots away and the stem of the pineapple plant was rotten due to competition for nutrition.
I thought it might die and just placed it between other plants and put plenty of water.
Below is things I did not know but discovered during the last two years.
1. Even though I knew that the crown of the fruit can be used to grow it, I did not know what happens to the mother plant when the fruit is separated.
2. I did not know it leaves can be used to make a fine silk like thread (it is in fact finer than the silk thread) and prepare fabrics.
3. It grows very slow and one can have only one fruit for year.
4. It has a very beautiful flower.
5. Its roots do not go deep.
6. I did not know from which part of the tropics it originated. Now I know it is from south America.
7. Mother plant produce shoots called suckers once the fruit is removed. They can be used to grow new plants.
8. I do not know how many shoots / suckers it make certainly more than one.
9. I did not know other plants with diffuse root system compete with its growth and lot of chemical are used in commercial growing.
10. I did not know it is rich in manganese.
11. Given the opportunity it can live up to 100 years!
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