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CLICK TO RETURN TO PAGE 2 OF LIST OF PAPERS CLICK TO RETURN TO PAGE 1 OF LIST OF PAPERS CLICK TO RETURN TO PAGE 3 OF LIST OF PAPERS 66 . KRULIK, GERALD, Ask Jerry: Conundrums Clarified for the Courteous Chlorophyllophile (Gardener) Part 12, CRAZY ANNIE PART FOUR OF FIVE, PUP TALK (Saddleback Valley Bromeliad Society), 16(10), p. 7, October, 2009. Dear Jerry, It’s me again, Annie the Cross-Pollinating Cloner. I am now well on my way to be the Luther Burbank (anyone still remember him?) or maybe the Janie Appleseed, of the new era. While I am waiting for the many clones and crosses to bear fruit (so to speak), I have been thinking of new projects to keep busy. The world does not live on pineapples alone. These new plants should provide many tropical peoples a way to increase their real income, but that is many years away. I saw a long TV program about how the world is running out of water. Poor countries, mostly in the tropics, are really starting to suffer as rainfall patterns change. I immediately thought of tank bromeliads, of course. What could be more useful than self- regenerating, growing, water storage tanks? I think that I can easily increase the size of existing tanks, by judicious and forced, if necessary, hybridization between Puya raimondii, the biggest bromeliad of all, and selected huge tank bromeliads from the genera Glomeropitcairnia, Tillandsia, Alcantarea, and Vriesea. I think I can make tanks with 1000, or even 10000, liters capacity. I plan to insert coconut shell genes in them too, so the biggest lowest leaves will not just dry up and rot. These leaves should lignify, becoming hard and waterproof. I will use a Nepenthes insect eating plant gene to grow lids over the tops, and use the genes for mangrove stilt roots to prop them up. Now any time it rains, the plants will automatically hold as much water as the local people can use. Maybe they can even stock the tanks with frogs and fish, and become self-sufficient in protein at the same time. Who is laughing at me now? Signed Annie the visionary ************ Dear Craziest Annie, I am not sure if your latest idea holds water. It is a noble idea, of course, but perhaps there are still a few drawbacks. Haven’t you ever been splashed with the water from bromeliad tanks? Nothing is funnier to me, than a nature program that states that thirsty explorers can just drink bromeliad tank water. I am not even sure if I would use it to flush toilet bowls. You drink the water first Jerry the selective gourmet |
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