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3THE HINDU SATURDAY, JULY 14, 2012HYDERABAD PROPERTYPLUS

They are here, there, everywhere.Tempering the grumpy black tarfrom the avenue margins, flowingover the unyielding high walls,

these effusive whites, pinks, yellows,magentas, purples, violets and reds oftensplash the earth beneath in ultrathinhues. If anything stops them from beingadmired by a common man, it is solelytheir abundance. Bougainvillea is trulythe Cinderella of our backyard! Yet, onewould be surprised to know that theplant is not the native of India. Bougain-villea, though originating from SouthAmerica, is a popular ornamental plantgrown in warm climates throughout theworld.

The Genus Bougainvillea, from thetaxonomic family Nyctaginaceae, hasabout 14 species, among which three areimportant in terms of horticulture - Bou-gainvillea spectabilis, Bougainvillea gla-bra, and Bougainvillea peruviana.Crosses among the various species haveproduced new hybrids making availablenumerous cultivars with a striking arrayof colours. Single and double flowerforms too are available.

CharacteristicsBougainvillea is a fast growing, woody,

evergreen, thorny, multi-stemmed, ev-er-blooming climbing shrub. It climbsby sending out slender arching shootsarmed with stiff thorns. Bougainvillea isdeciduous when grown in areas with along dry season.

Leaves are simple and alternate. Theyare mid green to deep green, thoughsome cultivars have variegated foliage.

Actual flower of the plant is small,tubular, commonly white or yellow, buteach cluster of three flowers is sur-rounded by three or six papery bracts(hence the name paper flower!) in brightcolours. The bracts of many cultivarschange their colour from emergence tomaturity. They retain their colour forseveral months after the flowers havefinished, fading away gradually.

Bougainvillea grows best in full sun.Low light and shady areas are not suit-able, and make the plants drop theirbracts. The plant does best at elevationsfrom sea level to 2,500 feet, and grows

well in rich, well-drained soils. Thisdrought tolerant plant does not thrive insoil that is constantly wet.

GardeningBougainvillea’s growth habit and

beautiful showy bracts make it a popularplant for gardens. It is used in massplantings, as shrubs or bushes. For large,difficult-to-maintain areas, bougainvil-lea is an excellent ground cover. It cancover a whole hillside and will controlweed growth. It can be trained into vari-ous shapes and makes good Bonsai.

Bougainvillea can be trained as a“standard,” a small tree with a singletrunk, or over arbours, onto walls, or tocascade down a slope. It is also used ashedge or barrier plant, as a specimenplant, in hanging baskets and in contain-ers. Generally Bougainvillea is planted alittle away from the walkways to preventanyone being scratched by the thorns.

MaintenanceFor profuse flowering in Bougainvil-

lea, one must avoid overwatering, totalshade, heavy fertilising with nitrogenand frequent pruning.

Bougainvillea tolerates drying, and ir-rigation should be adjusted accordingly.Yet, they should not be allowed to drycompletely. Avoid planting in the lawns.Don't put a bougainvillea next to a poolsince it would necessitate frequent

cleaning. Organic fertilizer amendmentsor controlled-release fertilizers shouldbe used to moderate nitrogen release. Atplanting, amend the soil with a fertilizerhigh in Phosphate. Excessive fertilizerwill promote vegetative growth and in-hibit blooming.

Trimming & PruningUnless planted to cover larger areas,

Bougainvillea will need periodic trim-ming. Caution should be exercised whilepruning as they have stiff thorns, hencedifficult to handle!

Bougainvillea responds well to prun-ing. If not pruned regularly, bougainvil-lea grows into a tangled mass. Flowersare borne on new growth, so pinchingand pruning is necessary to induce newgrowth.

Too frequent a pruning could also in-hibit flowering. Hence, it should be doneonce the flowering is finished, as thisencourages new growth on which thenext flush of flowers will occur. Suckersfrom the plant’s base should be prunedto encourage top growth. Dead woodshould be removed as it appears.

Timing of floweringBougainvillea will flower profusely in

high light intensities, moderate temper-atures, and longer nights. Shorter dayenhance flowering. Heavy shade inhibitsflowering. Drought stress can stimulate

flowering even under long day lengths.Allow plants to dry just to the point ofwilting to induce flowering.

Pot cultureContainer plants should be placed in

bright light or near a window. In low-light indoors, their need for good sun-light leads to leaf drop. The mediumneeds to be well drained.

Plants should be watered when themedium surface becomes dry. Profuse,but not-so-frequent watering is betterthan frequent, sparse watering.

Prune young plants to encourage aframework of strong shoots emergingfrom the base. Prune and shape plantsafter they flower, maintaining a height ofabout three feet.

PropagationBougainvillea can be easily propaga-

ted through stem cuttings. The cuttingsshould be thick and have at least three tofive nodes. Use a well drained rootingmedium. Insert cuttings 1–2 inches intothe medium and water thoroughly. Cut-tings may be rooted directly in pots. Tillrooting occurs, the pots may be kept insemi-shade so as not to let the plant wilt.

Rooting time is about one to twomonths, depending on the variety. Fun-gicide application at the time of plantingand again after transplanting helps pre-vent root rot. Bougainvillea can also bepropagated through leaf-bud cuttingsand grafting. Also one can have bloomsof many more colours in a single plant bygrafting lef-buds of different cultivars tothe same plant!

Pests and diseasesWith appropriate cultural practices,

Bougainvillea plants are pest free anddisease resistant. But very rarely theymay suffer from the insect pests likeaphids, caterpillars, scale insects, thripsand white flies. The common diseasesare leaf-spots and root-rot. These prob-lems can be overcome by application ofinsecticides or fungicides, in minordoses.

(The author is a forest officer and canbe contacted at‘nchandramohanreddy@gmail.com’)

Bougainvillea is a fast growing, woody, evergreen, thorny, multi-stemmed, ever-blooming climbing shrub, writes N. CHANDRAMOHAN REDDY

BREATHTAKING: Bougainvillea, though originating from South America,is a popular ornamental plant grown in warm climates throughout theworld. –PHOTOS: N. CHANDRAMOHAN REDDY

Dash of colour.. here.. there.. everywhere

Sand extraction hasbeen an issue of mul-

tifarious proportions inrecent times, both fromconstruction angle andenvironment/ecologyangle, let alone theworkers’ angle. Whatare the policies and ap-proaches covering sandextraction/use?

What are the alterna-tives to sand used inconstruction? Can wemanage the massiveconcrete constructionactivities without natu-ral sand?

In a concrete con-struction, sand is a crit-ical material. Sand beinga natural resource, thereis a need for its preser-vation for maintainingthe environmental bal-ance. As such, sand ex-traction activity needsto be controlled by theState.

Apart from the Cen-tral Government poli-cies, separate sandextraction policies havebeen enacted in mostStates. In some Stateswhere construction ac-tivities became ram-

pant, sand shortage leadto illegal sand extrac-tion. In Maharashtrasand extraction wasbanned which lead tomany conflicts betweenthe construction lobbyand the State Govern-ment. Karnataka has aseparate policy for theentire State exceptcoastal districts. For thelast one to one-and-a-half years there hasbeen persistent demand

for revising the policyespecially after the banon general extractionactivities due to variousillegalities in the imple-mentation of existingpolicies.

The sand policy of2011 was under legalscrutiny and the samewas implemented afterits clearance by the HighCourt in February 2011under which a permitsystem was introduced

for awarding contractsfor extractions.

The problem has beenacute in Kerala as mostof the river beds wereadversely affected bythe indiscriminate ex-traction of sand and apolicy was put into forcein 2006. The policyrules cover the follow-ing broad rules andprocedures:

District Collectorscall for applications for

stitute of Science, Ban-galore, which came upwith ‘manufacturedsand’. The State Gov-ernment recently re-leased an advertisementadvocating use of thisproduct. The ad claimsthat the new producthas been tested and cer-tified and it is even su-perior to natural sand.

AdvantagesSome of the plus

points of manufacturedsand are:

*Appropriate qualityof rock suitable for con-struction can be used

*There is no claycontent

*Ensures consistentquality throughout theconstruction cycle

*Scientifically gradedto comply with BISspecifications

With the above statedadvantages, coupledwith the ‘green con-struction’ approach, theday may not be far offwhen natural sand usein construction will beminimal.

K. SUKUMARAN

sand mining contracts/issue of passes for trans-porting etc. (now, on-line). Passes will have abarcode. Sand will be al-lotted on the basis ofavailability

Price of sand will befixed in advance every-season/year

Ceiling has beenplaced on allotment toconstruction of houses

Requirement ofhouse maintenance willbe considered based onthe latest property taxreceipt

Transportation has tobe completed on dailybasis and extension oftime by 2/3 days isgranted on merits

AlternativesResearchers have

been working on an ac-ceptable alternative tosand.

In recent times, rocksand use has becomecommon. The Karnata-ka Government had en-trusted the work ofresearch and develop-ment of an alternative‘sand’ to the Indian In-

VITAL: In a concrete construction sand is a critical material.

Need for a viable sand policy stressed

Amajor initiative to createone thousand certified

installers of Solar WaterHeating Systems across thecountry has been taken upby the International Cop-per Promotion Council(India) (ICPCI), a memberof Copper Alliance and theIndian arm of Internation-al Copper Association inassociation with Ministryof New and Renewable En-ergy (MNRE).

Main barrierThe shortage of trained

Installers has been consid-ered to be one of the mainbarriers for promotion andmarket transformation ofSolar Water Heating Sys-tems.

Realising that the Indus-trial Training Institutes(ITI) around the countrywere already engaged inimparting of varioustrades’ related education,the ICPCI approachedthem last year for this new

trade of installation of So-lar Water Heating Systems.

This cooperation result-ed in three pilot InstallersTraining Programs lastyear conducted for 71 stu-dents of plumber/fittertrade of Institutes at Pune,Bangalore and Gurgaon,according to a press releaseissued here.

InitiativeIn the present year, the

initiative has the strategyof training the instructorsof the Institutes in the firstphase and then training ofstudents by trained In-structors in the secondphase.

Already in the phase I,three training programs forinstructors at Bangalore,Pune and Delhi have beencompleted and fourth onehas been scheduled atKolkata.

Trained instructorsIn the later phase, the

trained instructors wereexpected to train 1,000from those institutesthereby creating employ-ment and self-employmentopportunities for theyouth.

ProgramsThe training programs

involve class room sessionsand visits to manufacturingpremises and installedsites. This initiative wouldend in September 2012.

Sanjeev Ranjan, CEO,ICPCI observed that thisjoint effort by ICPCI andMNRE would immenselyhelp the society at large inaccepting renewable ener-gy.

Sustainable market“In order to create a sus-

tainable market for solarwater heating systems, it isvery important to have arobust system of certifiedand trained installers,” heobserved.

Solar water heatingsystems: move to createcertified installers