Donning a cap, Satish Sharma looks baked in the 34-degree Celsius temperature on Monday. But the apple saplings he has brought here all the way from Himachal Pradesh to sell for ₹100 each, at the 11th grand nursery mela at People’s Plaza here, appear unscathed.
“They can withstand temperatures up to 45 degrees, bear fruits in the backyard or terrace in May/June, two months earlier than the regular apples grown in cold climates,” he says, adding that the Anna and the Dorsett Golden apple varieties bred in Israel were imported by the HP government for distribution in warmer districts.
He is also popularising the varieties in private farms at Moinabad where the apples are in budding stages now, he shows the pictures on his cellphone.
And there were indie startups, freshly branded and eager to explain to visitors their ideas. Coco husk planters, Internet of Things garden equipment, exclusive cactus and orchard stalls, and there were the rare plants stall selling Eka Bilvam and Maha Bilvam plants.
For Laxmi Preethi G, who gave her company a Sanskrit name which translates to ‘fresh’, farming without soil and manure in rows occupying just 10 sqft space is possible with her home kits. “Growing greens should become a daily routine like brushing teeth,” she says, adding that her idea of ‘gRow yOur Greens’ was born because she lived in apartments and also loved home-grown greens.
While the majority of the stalls sold ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants, its stimulator products and designer planters, resourceful stalls were also indigenous applications, herbal remedies, terrace gardening solutions, and plant healers.
For Mahitha and Srilatha, doctorates in agriculture, their startup focusses on ‘making living soil’. Backed by science, they assure healing plants in any condition with cow-based manure fortified with naturally available soil bacteria and other microbes.
“Like Lactobacillus culture, the good bacteria that turns milk to curd, several microbes such as Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhiza, potash releasing bacteria, nitrogen fixing bacteria etc. boost the immunity of plants by forming a symbiotic association with the root system and defeat the bad bacteria,” they explain.
According to Khaleed Ahmed, organiser of the five-day event, the present edition which saw about 45,000 visitors at 150 stalls, a big number in recent times, was special because it delivered more knowledge, displayed innovation and technology practices and brought all big and small ‘plant minds’ together.
