New-age gardening if there’s lack of space

KOTA: If you do not have adequate agricultural land or space and also the soil of the land is not fertile enough for developing orchids, here is a solution: ‘Moving Orchids’, developed by the horticulture department’s Centre of Excellence for Citrus Fruits for citrus fruits in Nanta area near Kota city.

Fruit bearing plants of oranges and lemons can be seen cultivated in big plastic drums at the centre. The project has been developed under an Indo-israel programme.

Deputy director, horticulture department, Kota, Rashid Khan said these ‘Moving Orchids’ are portable and can be shifted from one place to place as per requirement. “These moving orchids are nothing but plants of orange and lemon planted in big plastic drums,” he said.

Such moving orchids are beneficial for those farmers or persons who do not have sufficient space for developing.these drums can be kept on the rooftop or limited available land, he said.

Also these moving orchids are particularly beneficial for those places where the soil is not fertile or is undulated, he added.

The 200-litre drums contains cocopit (extracts of coconut shells), vermicompost (a product of the composting process using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms) and soil (infertile or fertile), he said.

“A total of 100 plastic drums of 200 litre capacity have been used for plantation of nine varieties of orange (loose skin), eight varieties of orange (tight skin) and nine varieties of lemon at the COE for citrus fruits,” he said.

Other fuits can also be grown in the drums.