Power Plants? Plants‘ Power.

There are different ways to keep our blue planet more greener. One is for sure to maintain the existing resources from Southern landscapes to tropical rain forests to Northern needle woods regarding climate change, expansion of monoculture and genetic engeneering. But that‘s a major problem to be solved together with politics and industry (and may require many common petitions to be forced ..) What the individual can do without consulting his representative is to grow for himself or others for example the seeds daily confronted with consuming worldwide different types of fruit and vegetables.

A fresh apple, orange or lemon carries around half a dozen seeds inside; cherries, apricots, plums etc exactly one pit which disappears together with the other seeds-for-free nowadays mainly in the bio trashbin. Really a waste of a ressource because kept a time half-covered with water the pits will crack up one day presenting a shoot ready to become planted in earth et voilà: a new tree grows. Maybe wandering later in a garden to become a big exemplar spending new fruits or vegetables, maybe spending his life as a room plant or on a balcony.

Apple or pear seed doesn‘t need to germinate if token out of the fruit and can be sticked into the fresh earth. Resistant enough to survive on a balcony during the winter they can become able to carry a handful of fruits after some years. Citrus fruits are a bit more difficult but on a constantly warm and shiny place and direct sunlight during the summer chances on successful results are getting higher.

I tried it out several times this year with avocado pits. The first one was the most exiting: not knowing if my grow experiment will become a success - I was told by a former work colleague who‘s wife had grown a lot of them how to handle the the brown wooden marbles before they can germinate. Like above explained after peeling the pit‘s skin off. In other web publications several variants are recommended to achieve the demanded result up to high professional sounding proposals. Sometimes it takes less than a week, sometimes up to a month until the thin white shoot came out of the cracked-up core. The result are a dozen trees with big green leaves which wont carry fruits due to the local climate but are making my personal environment greener and are a perfect giveaway for other plant friends.

The amazing experience I made watching my first avocado tree growing was definitely that I witnessed new life grow out of a fruit I‘ve eaten before. Not to compare with seed I‘d paid money for or even found it. The green finger or green thumb is willingly mentioned and with it in some cases the excuse that it doesn‘t make even sence to start it but I believe many of us can grow plants, bushes, trees without knowing it. Growing is both contemplative and compensating if someone has a stressful profession, job or occupation. My advice: try it out. Take a pit of a stone fruit or the seeds of other tree fruits, wait what happens, don't hesitate after the first failure, continue to search and one day discover your own personal plant which grows perfectly under your care. Little avocado trees around a one year old exemplar.

The advanced among plants lovers do not only grow new seeds but also save plants. How? Simple. Watching carefully the whole environment they discover an exemplar outside near the dustbin; one which optical claims doesn‘t fit its previous owner any longer or one which hasn‘t survived the last office move. In certain cases it takes patience but with good care the former death candidate recovers becoming stronger than before or flourishing the first time ever. This cactus had five arms when discovered. Existed before in a basement full of chemicals. Blossemed since then several times wonderful huge blooms.

 

 Even a poinsettia whose destiny it originally was to flourish one winter in deep red has become a chance to live further. The first two years she had to learn that he‘s now located in the Northern hemisphere but now he becomes red in the summer and stays mainly green during the winter. The leaves are smaller as usual but he‘s now in the forth year perfectly acclimatized.

 

Finally mentioned species of agaves. Aloe plants prefer bright places and kitchens. If they produce shoots this sometimes remember on ,101 Dalmatians‘. The wider the pot the more shoots may occur. After becoming big enough they can be placed seperately or paired in new pots and will reach one day the same size as their mother plant. About their medical effect on human health can be discussed but one relieving experience I know for sure - almost every summer again. After spending too much time in the sun the glibbery clear juice of one fresh cut aloe leaf helps diminuishing the pain to tight burned skin.

Only a few examples to present the possibilities given. The variety of our fauna is - still - countless and it‘s up to us to keep and preserve it. Most of the industry has only interest in short-term profit promising types ignoring the endangered species‘ variety. And the individual has the chance to maintain the traditional basic knowledge of cultivating becoming with a little bit luck one day self independent from major corporations‘ fruit or vegetable deliveries .. back to the basics, back to the decentralized trade, back to .. (e)quality and fairness?