Tamil Nadu: Growing rare desert roses with zero fertilizer

DW (English)

A farmer is turning a tidy profit growing beautiful desert roses with just sunlight and minimal water — showing eco-friendly farming can be a thriving business.

Transcript

00:00Adenium arabicum, a plant also known as desert rose. Easy to grow but worth

00:08crores of rupees. What makes it special? Jalinder Reddy walks us through his

00:14garden of Adeniums in Uthukottay, Thiruvallur. Adenium is one of the

00:21easiest plants to grow. Even if you're away from home for a month without

00:25watering your Adeniums won't die. Even if you remove a plant from the soil and

00:31leave it aside for six months it won't die. The moment you plant it back it will

00:43start growing again. Tamil Nadu often suffers from drought. Adeniums though can

00:49thrive in such dry conditions. Their thick stems store water helping them

00:54survive the harsh climate. Since the 1990s Jalinder has been growing only Adenium

01:00plants and after a 25 year wait he is ready to find new owners for his plants.

01:05The cost of an Adenium plant depends on the size of its caudex. The

01:13further the caudex the higher the cost. This one is 2 to 2.5 years old. This is 4 years old. This is

01:266 years old. This is 8 years old. Now the plant you're seeing is 35 to 40 years old. It costs around

01:3510 to 12 lakhs. Jalinder's journey into Adenium gardening started with a failed flower nursery due

01:43to the lack of money. When he returned after 2 months to his dead garden something was waiting for him.

01:49In that I noticed one flower. A pink color flower. That time I didn't even know it was called Adenium.

01:58Within 6 months all the other plants turned into manure but this one plant was still blooming.

02:06So that was a big motivation for me to start only Adenium.

02:13In search of answers he flew to Vietnam and Thailand to understand cultivation techniques.

02:18Crafting is one such technique to achieve a multi-color flower since Adeniums are usually pink.

02:24Once grafting is done you'll see flowers like these in 6 months. While grafting is not a time-specific

02:32technique Adeniums need repotting once every 4 years. After removing it from the soil expose the

02:38roots to sunlight for a few days before replanting. There's no need for any kind of fertilizers to help

02:47it grow. Jalinder believes that buying an Adenium is different. He says you're not just buying a plant,

02:54you're buying years of time, growth, care and hard work. You may wonder why should I pay 12 lakh to

03:02buy a plant. Is Adenium a rich man's plant? No that's wrong because I'm giving it to you for 150 rupees.

03:09Everyone loves to have a plant at home so it's definitely not just for the rich.

03:13Jalinder's 15 acre garden grows more than 400 variety of Adenium arabicum. Given its appeal as a

03:22favorable indoor plant due to its low maintenance Adenium arabicum is gaining popularity among urban

03:29gardeners. Not just in Tamil Nadu but globally too.

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