Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)
Mangaluru, Oct 14: Sneha Bhat, resident of Ullal in the city outskirts, is an assistant professor in a private college here. During spare time, she also serves as an announcer in Mangaluru Akashvani. She also has lot of interest in agriculture.
Because of shortage of space and also as she lives in city, she undertook terrace farming initially. She grew vegetables needed for household use on her terrace. The idea of growing lotuses struck her and she thought of raising a lotus garden at her home. Now, this thought has blossomed into a deep interest in raising variety of lotus plants.
Among lotuses, there are different varieties like water lily and bowl lotus. Each of these varieties are known for unique kinds of appearances, shapes, beauty etc. In water lilies, there are some night bloomers which bloom at night. These flowers again turn into buds in the morning. There are tropical lotus variety which bloom every other day and hardy species of plants which give flowers very rarely. Most of the plants grown by Sneha are those which bloom every day. Albert greenberg, bull’s eye, drop blood lotus, lizard tail, new star, pink night bloomer, purple joy, tropical sunlight, queen of hearts etc are the varieties of lotuses found in her garden. There are about 85 varieties of lotuses in her garden.
Sneha Bhat used to collect such plants whenever she came across them during visits to fields and ponds. She also contacted certain social media groups and got lotus plants from them. In the market, there are plants which cost between Rs 50 and Rs 50,000. In her collection, plants costing between Rs 50 and Rs 1,500 are grown. She also has bought plants from Odisha, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Sneha has used plastic tubs for growing lotuses. In some cases, she has kept small pots inside the tubs in which she has planted these plants. When planting, she mixes soil, slush, earth and dung. She follows organic method of plant care. As water standing in tubs can breed mosquitoes, she has released guppy fishes in each of the tubs as a result of which the water remains clean.
Speaking to a daily, she explained that the lotus plants do not need too much care as they rarely contract diseases. However, if the rain is heavy the plants might rot. Moreover, after the rainy season, blanket worms can affect the plants. There is no need to keep changing water. But if there is build-up of moss, it is better to change water, she feels. Sneha Bhat is engaged in lotus cultivation for her own satisfaction as she gets elated by looking at the beauty of the flowers. Her family including her daughter get happiness from the garden. She clicks photos of the flowers and uploads in WhatsApp. She says that there are some flower admirers who wait for her status upload.
Every part of the lotus plant including root, stem, bulbs, leaves etc have high value but Sneha does not sell them on commercial basis. The lotus flower blades are used for making hair conditioners and cosmetics. There are varieties in which new plants spring from bulbs, leaves, roots etc. If the mother plant rots, already a new plant rises from there. So there is no fear of losing the species of lotus.
People who have lost job due to covid19 and housewives can adopt this as a self-employment activity. Sale of plants and flowers can bring good income, Sneha says. Even if the space available is small, if the concerned is interested, they can bring up lotus garden, as she herself found from her experience. She has interest to make this into a large scale garden. Her interest in lotus garden is really appreciable.