How to grow Rose plant from cut stem

 In this post, I want to share how we can nurture the rose stem and grow it into a plant. The most important one that we need is patience because it will take 2-3 weeks at least to see the result. The real fun is on seeing how the soil and the necessary environment is giving nutrients to the cut stem and makes into a plant and we could see it growing day-by-day. 

The technique that I experimented is the greenhouse gardening technique where we will cover the whole pot inside a plastic cover so it can allow the visible light into the pot but will not allow the heat outside and keep the environment warmer.

Interesting read about the Greenhouse 

https://www.proflowers.com/blog/greenhouse-gardening-guide/
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/grnhse.html

Also since the stem do not contain the roots, we can help the stem to get root faster by using some rooting hormones. Few of the natural rooting hormones are natural honey, alovera plant gel, tulsi water etc, basically any natural product which has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties can be used. We can also use artificial rooting hormones as well but natural one does pretty well. The function of the rooting hormone is to protect the stem from bacteria, diseases etc. 

Interesting read about rooting harmones

https://www.urbangardengal.com/honey-rooting-hormone-cuttings/

Next is the selection of stem, we should select a healthy stem so the success rate will be high. The healthy rose stem are the one that are dark green in color without any black spots, no fungus etc. 

Lets see the process in sequence of steps

Step 1: Identify the healthy stem from the parent plant 

Step 2: Keep all the necessary tools and materials ready like the pot, scissor, knife, rooting harmone, cover etc

Step 3: Cut the stem into multiple small pieces, desirable not more than an 5-6 inches. And cut it at a 45 degree angle

Step 4: Clean the side of stem which we will insert in the soil

Step 5: Dip the side with the rooting harmone

Step 6: Keep the pot ready with right mix of soil and water. Most important info is we should not water the plant after inserting the stem, so add necessary water before inserting the stem. The reason is that if we pour water then the root harmone will disolve and get mixed into the soil.

Step 7: Insert the cut stem into the pot with some distance between them

Step 8: Cover the pot with a plastic cover and keep it in a low sunlight shade. When it is in greenhouse effect we don't have to water them everyday. The moisture will circulate within the closed area and will keep the soil wet.

Step 9: After a week we can open and check its health and cover it again

Step 10: After 2 weeks, once we see the leaves, we can make a small hole in the cover to allow leaves to get some fresh air to breath

Step 11: After 3 weeks, we can remove the greenhouse effect and either repot it or grow in the same pot

Happy Gardening!!

Pilot for a day in Bangalore

Ever thought of being a co-pilot without any prior training or experience. Jupiter aviation service in Jakkur, Bangalore is providing these kinds of experience to aviation enthusiasts. 

For more information on this, go to below link
http://www.bangaloreaerosports.com/Info.html

Actually the Bangalore Aero Sports is conducting aviation classes for hobby flyers and also organize a 20 mins flying experience for people to enjoy flying. This is happening in Jakkur Aerodrome in Bangalore International Airport Road.

Jupiter Aviation Service hangar in Jakkur Aerodrome

The flight which I tried was a Microlight X-air flight which is a 2 seater lightweight air craft and the pilot who accompanied me was Retired Fighter Pilot Ashok Mehta. He told he has more than 40 years of experience in flying and most inspiring was his service to Indian Air Force and his ambition after his retirement; I came to know more about his from below link

http://silvertalkies.com/flying-high/

 

Microlight flight which I tried

Total flight experience was 20 mins including taxi, take-off, flying and landing. The pilot first briefed about the flight for a while and contacted the control room for take off, once everything was fine, we started the flight. During take-off and landing, he would be having the full control. We can try flying only when it is is air; from the air, we could experience a spectacular view of the Bangalore city. Maximum altitude we reached was 800 ft above sea level. Once the flight was in air, he taught a little about changing the direction of flight and taking the flight up/down.

The best time for experiencing is early in the morning when the weather is cool with clean sky. After landing, we spent sometime taking snaps with the microlight flight.

Few snaps in front of microlight flights

Thanks to my wife for giving such a surprise and a wonderful experience on my birthday <3.

DIY : Pizza Dosa

Dosa is a staple food in southern region of India. The first step of dosa preparation is its batter; the batter is prepared from urad dal (white lentils) and rice. Once the batter is ready, it will be poured on a hot pan. 

As it is boredom to have same dosa everyday, people came up with onion dosa, masala dosa, podi dosa and much more varieties like that. One such variety that recently started up among younger generation is 'Pizza Dosa'; this after the mania on Pizza.

I use to make this pizza dosa on a relaxed Saturday afternoon for a delicious & drooling lunch. The main ingredients is a set of favorite vegetables. One of my friend told me the secrete of cooking is on how we cut vegetables; for each dish the type of cutting differs and it plays important role is taste & easiness in eating.

Main ingredients are as follows

1. Dosa batter
2. Set of vegetables
3. Cheese
4. Ghee
5. Chili flakes 
6. Oregano flakes
7. Dry fruits (Optional)

Cut Vegetables

 As I mentioned earlier; the shape of cut matters for best taste of vegetables and easiness in eating. I sliced the onion, did round cut the tomato & horizontal cut for capsicum.

TIP: Watch Youtube videos on cutting different vegetables if very new to cooking.

While making pizza dosa, keep the flame low, this is because it need more time bake the upper part of dosa. In hot pan, pour one or two ladle of batter (depending on the size of pizza we want), spread the cut vegetables on top of it, Lay cheese on top it and pour ghee on the sides. Sprinkle oregano & chili flakes and close it with lid. Open it after couple of minutes, we can feel the smell of oregano. 

Ready to eat Pizza Dosa

Closer look

Now the vegetables would have cooked properly and it will cut easily when we bite. Enjoy & indulge into the taste of freshly prepared Pizza Dosa. 

DIY : Delicious and simple dessert

I prepared this very simple yet delicious dessert. It wont take more than 5 mins to prepare. I first ate this dessert in VV Puram food streets in Bangalore. When you are going to VV Puram, try it out. It is available in the corner shop which is diagonally opposite to Nandini milk parlor.

Ingredients:

1. Banana
2. Gulqand/Gulkand (Rose petals jam)
3. Almonds
4. Cashew
5. Ghee
6. Honey
7. Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Slice the banana into equal pieces and arrange it properly in serving plate, spread 3 spoons of Gulkand above the sliced bananas. Put broken cashew and almonds above it, now pour one spoon of ghee and honey. Optionally we can add a scope of vanilla ice cream before pouring ghee and honey.

Must try dessert

Now its ready and time to get mesmerized by the mixed taste of gulqand and banana. Enjoy !!! :)

DIY: Indoor water fountain

All of us might have seen many different varieties of indoor water fountain in all stores and in all ranges.

After seeing the beauty and hearing its soothing sound, I wanted to make one by myself :) While thinking for the kind of material, first my thought went towards molding with white cement but that need lots of effort and precision in making the mold and then filling it with white cement. This seems to be imperfect and too messy.

Few days later when I went for a casual shopping, I saw a good deal put on plastic garden pots. Suddenly a thought stricken me 'why I should not use it for my fountain?'. So I started taking pots of different sizes and stacked it in different order. I was taking the pots of all sizes and playing with it. One guy in the store came close to me after seeing my actions and asked do I need any help? :D I told 'No, No'. Finally purchased few sets of pots, plates, hanging pots as per my design idea in my mind.

Next main thing to buy was the electrical water pump; for this I went to SP Road in Bangalore with my friend. We inquired in many shops and finally found one which sells it. The shop keeper showed us pump of different qualities, I chose one which costed 350 INR. In the same shop, I purchased tube, connector and water flow controller. When the seller asked me the reason for buying, I told college project :D. College days are the days which we can cherish till our last breath.

Apart from this I purchased few pebbles in different colors from a  nearby aquarium shop.

Now all set, ready for the day to fit all things together. In the process of fitting, my father helped me a lot in fine tuning the alignment and controlling the water flow. We may use m-seal adhesive to seal the parts permanently.

Three Tier fountain

One more snap

Closer look with the pebbles