[Assam] Bhat Kerela Tragedy

[Chan Mahanta]

 >We were successful for "Bhul" in Florida by tying many flowers to  
face each other.
>


*** There is a simpler way to do it: Take a small water-color painting  
brush, dab it over the pollen sacs ( anthers) of a male flower, then  
go spread it on the
tip of the STIGMA of the female flower ( with the baby fruit at its  
base). Many of these exotic fruits and vegetables are not familiar to  
the local pollinators
and thus may not get their attention. So a little help works wonders.  
Early in the season I have to do that to my jaati-lao ( gourd)  
flowers. These flowers open late in the evening. In the tropics they  
are obviously pollinated by some night flying insect. Here we don't  
have them and a little manual help ensures pollination and produces  
the fruit.

I have no problem with the 'bhwls' or Jikas, bugs do the pollination  
fine.














On Jun 16, 2010, at 8:53 AM, Ganesh Bora wrote:

> Dilip da,
>
> I think, it is a matter of pollination! The pollens can be tranfered  
> from another plant (cross pollination) or the same plant (self  
> pollination). As there are not many plants, so there is no cross  
> pollination through wind or insect. Now, somehow if you can induce  
> self pollination, it might work. The self pollination can be through  
> tying two or more flowers tilting towards each other! May be the  
> "Mekhela" can help to create self pollination!!!
>
> We were successful for "Bhul" in Florida by tying many flowers to  
> face each other.
>
> Ganesh
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>
> To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the  
> world <assam at assamnet.org>
> Sent: Tue, June 15, 2010 9:28:18 PM
> Subject: [Assam] Bhat Kerela Tragedy
>
> We got a Bhat Kerela Alu from Assam, planted it, saw beautiful deep  
> green creepers climbing on the oak trees, saw gazillions of flowers.
> But the flowers did not produce the Kerelas that we wanted. The  
> story repeated for about five years. The plant (now plants) comes  
> back every spring and I hack them off wherever I see them - I am  
> that mad at the unisexual behavior of the plant.
> Does anybody know a remedy? One of our friends from Assam (Tinsukia  
> to be precise) suggested I put a Mekhela on the plant. Does it work?
> And if so, why and how? My scientific mind tells me that the same  
> plant (now several) must produce male and female flowers to produce  
> fruits.
> Dilip, Houston, TX
>
>
>
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