The substrata of a cactus pot is ideally composed of pieces of broken bricks at the bottom, charcoal above it, then coarse sand and pebbles above it. Leaf mould is the best manure.
Grafting of cacti is very simple. A very small piece of the cactus plant should be stuck with cellotape to the plant that needs grafting. The smaller the piece the easier it is to graft. To reproduce cacti, one has to simply cut off a piece of the cactus, allow it to dry for a few days and then just place it over the cacti substrate. It will automatically develop roots.
To differentiate between cacti and other plants that look like cacti is very easy. All cacti have fine hair at the base of each thorn. The so-called thorns are in fact highly modified leaves which prevent loss of water through transpiration. If one ever gets pricked by cacti thorns, one should take cellotape, place it over the area where the thorns have penetrated the skin and then peel it off. All the thorns will get stuck to the cellotape and will be removed.
Chapter 4: Learning about Mushrooms
Attending the Green Heritage plant festival in Siolim had one more advantage for me. It brought me into contact with Mr Miguel Braganza, an agricultural officer of the Goa Government. It was through him that I learnt of a two-day course on mushrooms to be conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) at Ela Farm, Old Goa in the last week of August.
This programme also marked the beginning of my experience in getting around on my own. For, although the course was conducted in Goa itself I had never been to Ela Farm nor did I know anyone at the programme.
Mr Braganza had informed me that participants would be offered free accommodation on the campus. However, it was not compulsory to stay there. I assumed that most people would avail of the accommodation facilities offered since late evening transport is not very good in Goa. At any rate I enjoy camping out and so I asked my parents if I could spend the night on the campus. They agreed. My assumption however proved wrong as I turned out to be the only residential participant!
Anyway, on the morning of 24th August, after taking directions from my dad, I left for the ICAR at Old Goa which is about 22 kms from my home. I arrived there without any difficulty. The ICAR is located within Ela farm. At the gate I had to fill in a gate pass. Down the right lane was the ICAR office. On either side of the road were coconut, guava and chickoo plantations. Further down was a small office which looked more like a lab with various specimens of preserved mushroom. I enquired about the course with the man in charge and was directed to the Farmers Training Centre.
Mr Miguel Braganza and Mr Oscar-the two persons conducting the course-were already there and so were some of the participants. We were first made to register our names for the course and immediately after and to my total surprise we were informed that each of us would receive a stipend of Rs.500 for attending the course. This appears to be a sort of bonus or incentive which is provided to the participants and is meant to cover expenses for transport, food, etc.
I noticed that all the other participants (there were thirty-three other students) were older than me. Most of them were farmers, so all the people who gave talks either spoke part English and part Konkani, or if the lecturers spoke only English then Oscar would translate into Konkani.