Flowers of Sri Lanka:

Vegetative propagation

Manoj DISSANAYEKE

THERE are many methods of plant propagation. The most popular technique is the vegetative propagation. This is the easiest way for plant population and is usually considered a cloning method but it also has its benefits and drawbacks.

There are several types of vegetative propagation. It is a process by which new plant varieties arise without production of seeds or spores. These are categorised as simple methods, which we can practise at home and more complicated methods practised at laboratories.

Plants can be obtained through branches, leaves, bulbs, tubers, layer, budding techniques and tissue cultivation. Thus vegetative propagation includes many more techniques to obtain plants then sexual propagation.

Plants like onion, hyacinth, narcissus and tulips are reproduced by forming bulbs. Other plants like potatoes and dahlia are reproduced by a similar method of producing tubers.

Gladioli and crocuses are reproduced by forming a bulb-like structure called a corm. Choose the best method of propagation according to the type of plant you wish to propagate.

Pros and cons of vegetative propagation

There are more benefits then shortcomings related to this type of propagation. It is easy to get branches from plants throughout the season as well as obtain new plants from the branches. This method does not require a large amount of money, equipment and facilities. You can use the branches thrown away after a plant has been pruned.

The biggest drawback of this method is that it is unable to propagate new verities of plants. The plant grown out of vegetative propagation will bear all the qualities of its mother plant. A hibiscus bearing red flowers will propagate another hibiscus plant, which bears red flowers if you had used a vegetative propagation.

Sometimes to get another tree you will have to chop off a few branches from the mother plant. This might not be a suitable action if the plant had not matured and is still near the stages of being a seedling.

Therefore you might have two disasters on your hands: damaging the mother plant as well as being unable to obtain a new plant from the branches.

A lot of people try to grow new plants out of branches. This method cannot be practised with every species.

Plants with two fold leaves are best cultivated through this method while plants like coconuts which do not possess branches cannot be cultivated using this technique.

Plants which possess a layer of tissue called “Cambium” will be suitable for this method but those which do not include Cambium (with the exception of a few like Agava and Drasina) do not suit this technique.

(The writer is the Agriculture Instructor of Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya)

Year of the Dolphin

Pictures and text by H. Fernando Negombo special corr.

The United Nations Environment programme and the Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of wild animals have marked 2007 as the “Year of the Dolphin”.

As part of the social work that is being done in Sri Lanka by TUI, one of the main in-bound travel agencies in Europe, a workshop was arranged for schoolchildren in the Negombo area to make the children aware of dolphins and their habitat.

This workshop was held at the Beach Hotel, Negombo where the opening address was made by Roger Zerter, Resident Manager TUI, Sri Lanka, while officials from NARA were also present. Rohan Ratnayake was the course organiser of the awareness programme.

Students and teachers handling environmental studies in schools were presented with booklets, magazines and charts depicting details about dolphins and their migratory movements.

Vegetable gardening tips

* Potatoes continue to grow as long as the tops are green. Dig only as many as you need for immediate use. The tubers will keep better in the ground than in a warm, dry home.

* Here is a quick-and-easy method for reducing your slug population, especially if you are squeamish about the little devils: put out squares of cardboard in your garden each night. In the morning, pick them up, and if there are any slugs clinging to the underside, discard the whole square in a trash bag.

The number and size of the squares depend on the size of your

garden and how heavy the infestation of slugs.

No need for the messy and tedious process of hand picking each one.

* Near the end of the growing season pick off all tomato blossoms that won’t have time to bear fruit, so plant nutrients go into existing tomatoes.

* The best activator for compost is old compost.

* Hot peppers will keep best if stored after they are dry. Pull the plants and hang them up, or pick the peppers and thread on a string. Store in any cool, dry place.

* Place a ripe apple in a closed container with green tomatoes to encourage the tomatoes to turn red.

Ripe apples give off ethylene gas that causes tomatoes to ripen.

Pet Clinic

With Dr. Asoka Dangolla, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Clinical Sciences. (B Vsc; Dip. Vet. Epid; Ph D.)

Q: I am rearing about 15 fowls in my garden. There is a cock too. It crows daily. Its daily crowing times are as follows:

Midnight - 12 a.m.

Morning - 2.05 a.m., 4.10 a.m., 5.15 a.m., 6.45 a.m., 9.00 a.m., 10.00 a.m.

Noon - 12.00 p.m., 2.00p.m., 3.45 p.m., 5.00 p.m., 6.00 p.m., 8.00 p.m., 10.00 p.m.

For a day it crows 14 times. It repeats it daily. Its crowing time tallies correctly with my wall clock time. Can you explain this? How did the cock know to crow at the exact time? Is it an innate quality?

A Daily News Reader

A: I do not think birds know the time, but certainly day time and night they understand since they have a “pineal gland” which works on the “day length”. It is also believed that extending the day length by providing artificial light is beneficial to increase production in layer birds.