Every year hundreds of
seeds germinate to form saplings. We can see them on buildings, compound walls,
footpaths, gardens....particularly in the rainy season. The type of saplings
seen depends on the species of plants in that area as well as the bird and
animal activity causing dispersal. So in parle the commonest saplings are of
banyan, umber, peepal and ‘bor’, vilayati chinch, tamarind, jamun, mast tree,
‘bhendi’ and sonmohur. In fact, most of parle is populated by trees which grew
like this. Earlier one would also see mango saplings, but these have reduced
somehow. Nowadays due to the planted almond trees gaining maturity, one can
also see almond saplings growing like this. In future, I expect there will be a
lot more bakul and neem trees as the current trend is towards planting them. I
have also seen sometimes saplings of pomegranate, guava on the roadsides.
Majority of these
saplings perish. Main reason is the long dry season that follows the heavy
rain. Secondly, for some odd reason most saplings crowd around electric poles,
road signs and telephone wire boxes- naturally they have to be removed.
Thirdly, as soon as parlekars spot anything that is more than a few inches in
height, they begin to throw waste around it. The poor sapling gets smothered
and dies away. The loss of such large numbers of ready saplings of native
species from nature’s nursery is a real waste. So I decided to experiment: I
collected few saplings of banyan and peepal and took care of them at home for
couple of years. They have now been planted and are on the way to becoming
handsome members of Parle. I now came to know, there is a formal movement in
urban areas called ‘plant rescue’ which is precisely what I did. I recommend
Parlekars to rescue as many plants as possible and this will help to make Parle
green at very low cost.
Guidelines followed by
me are- I watch the sapling for many days. It should be healthy and have a stem
at least as thick as a finger. Very mature saplings are difficult to uproot. Saplings
embedded in concrete are difficult to extract without damaging roots, but one
must try very carefully. If each parlekar takes care of 1-2 saplings like this,
we will have a large bank of ready and strong saplings for plantation. This is
important because mature nursery plants cost hundreds of rupees and there is no
guarantee of their health. Besides nurseries usually have fashionable plants
rather than useful, hardy and local species.
Saplings are like
children, if they get good care in early years they become strong a long lived.
The saplings occupy very little space and can be grown for 2-3 years in an
ordinary container of 5 inches diameter and receiving average care. One must
however be careful about pruning it in such a way that the branching starts at
maximum height. Because when you plant this tree along a road, if the branches
are too low the tree will become an obstruction and also attraction for people
to use as storage space. Unfortunately the roots remain shallow and as the
sapling grows inside the container, it will need very strong support so that
the main stem becomes straight. This will help it to develop a straight trunk.
If the trunk is straight, the tree looks very good, does not obstruct and
remains stable- not prone to fall as it grows. The sapling should be maintained
at home till it forms a woody stem, at that stage it is ready to take on the
world.
An added benefit is the
oxygen we can get while this sapling is with us. So every year one can collect
one sapling and after 4 years begin to search spots for planting them.
