Taking care of baby curry plants

Well i did distribute almost all of my plants and other than a few for myself i am not left with any more.

The reason for this post is that no matter who i gave the plants too they all asked, "how do i take care of it". It was as if it was a precious gift and no one wanted to make a mistake. I felt the same when i had got mine so i totally identify with the feeling. Most people that get these tend to lose them when they are little so the post to share my experience.

There are my 3 golden rules with respect to Karepak plants.


1. Don't over water. This plant will be OK even if the soil gets to be dry on the surface. The plant should be watered only after the top soil feels dry. Which to me means that it is no longer moist to touch on top and feels lighter. The cup should feel significantly lighter before watering and after watering should feel heavier. In a pot, the plant can hold water longer so when in doubt hold off.

2. Don't Panic if you think your plant is drooping. If you look at the plant in the afternoon sun it will appear to be droopy, you might think there is less water and rush to water it. Don't do that. Wait till the sun sets and after an hour or so check the leaves they would perk up. If the leaves don't perk up by around dusk then there is a problem, otherwise the plant is OK.

3. Watch the Weather. Anything below 55 degrees Fahrenheit at night, bring the plant indoors. Unless you want to take care of a leafless stick for the winter and hope that it springs for the summer. Here in Arizona, though we have mild winters a cold spell can do significant damage to this plant.

If in California, this can be considered a full sun plant, however in Arizona, this plant does well with a few hours of sunlight in a patio or under light shade like that of a mesquite. This has a tendency to put out shoots and is considered invasive,but in the last 3 years i have not seen shoots. So for those that have HOA regulations, please grow these in containers only and use good quality potting soil.

Currently the baby plants that i have need not be transplanted till roots appear at the bottom. Now you know why i bought transparent cups. So, while they are still growing happily in little soil, i am planning which pots i will plant the ones i am left with.


This plant is a happy camper, will do good. It at least needs 2 winters or be about one and a half feet tall before planted in the ground. I do not have experience with it in the ground and care of it in the ground in winter however will blog about that when i can based on what information i have gathered from friends that do.

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all of you and your family.



The above plack i had created a few months ago, took just a few hours to get done but served the purpose of having something simple to hang on the top of my door. Cost me about 2 dollars in materials, the rest was available at home to make and turned out pretty good as you can see. On the occasion of ganesh chaturthi i wanted to share creating this with you.


This is how i made it.


Materials

1 orange sculpey clay- can get in Michales for about a dollar

1 plack ( i liked the circle) this too from Michaels for a dollar

Some toothpicks

acrylic colors - green red and yellow - from another project that i will blog about later.

wax paper/plastic paper( reuse from a Ziploc or any other0 should be a bit thick)

a pencil

school glue

nail

hammer

thread/ribbon


How to make it.

First i took the clay and conditioned it. That is spent a good 15 minutes mixing it up like aata or dough. Once well conditioned it felt softer to the touch like from a dough for a puri to that of that to make chapati. Then i took about a third of the dough. The rest is put in a zip lock for use for some other project.

I put it between two sheets of wax paper cut to the size of the plack and rolled it out to about 1/8" thickness. I then took a tracing of Lord Ganesh and drew it on top of the the paper. This led to a slight impression on the dough. I now removed the paper and deepened the lines by tooth pick and pulled out the sections. Since the dough is pliable they will not come out in the same shape but what it will provide is the right proportion of clay to get things looking right. I now put it on the design and sort of pushed it into shape within the lines. With the toothpick i also made the impressions i need to make on the dough, like eyes, line on the nose, the hand the fingers in the leg, the ears etc.

Once the pieces were on the picture completely i put it in the oven and baked it as per the instructions for about 20 minutes, then removed and cooled it. This need not be painted as it is already in the final color needed.

While this was getting done in the oven i tool the plack and colored the top and the sides green. I also mixed a yellow and red to get a shade close to that of the clay. I painted the outline on the plack and lines on the sides to make it look good. Once dry i hammered a nail on the top and attached a green thread to hang it by.

I then removed the pieces of clay that is cooled from the wax paper and stuck them on the plack. making sure my picture was aligned and let the glue set. Once this was done i hung it on the wall.

It was simple and very satisfying to make. The picture i selected seemed a bit complicated but i wanted to incorporate all the parts that need to be in there. One can select an easier picture that you can handle one and choose colors of their own choice. Since orange is auspicious i selected that color.

Again, have a happy Ganesh Chaturthi

Growing curry leaf plants.

Most of my friends, that cook Indian look for these leaves, want to have a plant ans most often do not know how to get it. There are many that have had success in propagating and do sell them. I had bought one earlier too. So this time I decided to experiment, just to understand how easy or difficult it is. Owning a plant i had done a bit of research in taking care of one. However for propagating, it took me a while to get all the info i need and use it in my experiment. The plant i have is in a pot over 3 years old and this summer is the first time it flowered. I decided that i would try and see how far i can go, after all there were a lot of ifs and buts. If the flowers give seeds, if they ripen and if they germinate. I was skeptical as to how many seeds the flowers would yield but almost all got pollinated and i got quite a few as you can see.

So while i waited all summer from April to Aug for the berries to mature and turn purple, looks like my plant had set out just to test my patience and one fine day i did not water the plant and with the temps over a 110 deg i almost lost my plant, the leaves dried and curled and that time the berries were a sun kissed yellow-pale-green and the stems almost dried. The plant is still a twig today recovering. Well, i rescued my plant by watering but since the berries are to be sown wet i had to remove them from the plant before they dried up as their stalks were browned by the heat. Being disappointed, i did not take any pictures.

I took the harvested berries and carefully peeled each one of them by hand. This took a long time. While i could not do all of them at one time, i put them in a moist paper towel and completed the task later the same day. The insides of the berries were still a bright green like the leaves. The seeds were very fragile so if you do this handle with care. There is a thin film that you can remove if you chose to, it does not really matter.i planted some with the thin paper like skin over the seed and below the covering. Also while peeling your finger tips may feel like sap got on them. The same feeling like when you work with a jackfruit.

I then planted 3-4 each in each cup that i had poked holes below for drainage in the hope that at least one would germinate. I was very sceptical that it would sprout due to the fact that they were half ripe.I put all of these cups next to a window sill that gets about 4 hours of sunlight. The temps were over a 110 here in phoenix so they enjoyed the sunlight indoors instead of being cooked outdoors. That was the first day. Aug 5th

This is what i saw on the third day, Aug 8th sign of roots springing up in only 3 days, there was hope!.

The 5th day was more developed and by the 10th day most of them had popped. As days went by the shoots came up, since this is a dicot i was expecting the first leaves to come up to be different like they are for beans but i really got true leaves almost in the very beginning.Very Surprising. I also observed that one seed could get you as many as 3 plants with the joined 5 cotyledons.
Well, now i had more than i needed with almost a 100% germination. My germination experiment a success, now i had more than i needed. Since we have Indians all over these are usually in high demand I'm sure i can distribute them to enough colleagues at the office and friends. The plants now over about 18 days old and growing rapidly as you can see below. I either had to thin it or transplant them to a bigger space, i decided to transplant.

So i got transparent from 8oz disposable cups this time to the 16 oz ones. The reason, first i can see the roots so that i know when they need to move and if i give to someone they can take it home in the cup holders in the car, instead of it tipping soil dropping and staining the upholstery. So i poked holes in them by a hot nail, filled it with soil and watered it and let it sit overnight. Why? the reason being that Potting soil does not wet consistently. Now for a transplant 101 - I now watered the glasses that had the multiple plants, then held the soil at the base of the plants turned it upside down, gave a little push and out the soil came just like a cupcake. I then separated it carefully and planted each in their own cup.

A couple of days later too the plants seem well adjusted.

Now its day 18 and time to harden them as they have a 3-4 true leaves. The challenge, how to i harden them as i go to work and increasing an hour or two of sunlight is not an option. So after work i put them out, overnight and before i go for work put them back in. Overnight temps are a good 88 to 86 degrees so no worries there.
The weather cooperated and i kept them in the the corner of my patio taking the cool 99 degrees and cloudy skies for today and they did good.

Another week and i think these babies are ready to go to their new homes. More on my updates as they develop. ........


PS: These pictures are taken on my mobile so the picture quality is not that excellent

My First Post

Welcome

While i have been lurking and reading blogs mostly in the world of cooking and gardening with occasional comments here and there there are some things id love to share and what other better place than here.

I had created this space with the intent ages ago and wanted to blog about my interests in several activites be it gardening, cooking embroidery or crafts. Many projects have started and ended but did not get to the point of really getting the pictures so i did not want to post a dry one....

However the sucesss of my current project is what has prompted me to blog about it. And that is growing curry leaves plants.

More on my current work the details with pictures in my next blog.

As i learn this world i hope to make my page better and more presentable.