Master Landscaping
http://www.masterlandscaping.net

Question: Each year my squash blooms prolifically but seldom produce any squash to eat. What am I doing wrong ?

Answer: Squash plants produce male and female blooms. For fruit to set, pollen must be transferred from the male to the female bloom. Pollinating insects, mostly bees, carry out this important job resulting in fresh squash for the kitchen. When treating the garden for insects and diseases, spray or dust in the late afternoon to avoid killing the bees.

Another possible cause of squash not bearing fruit is the possibility of nematode infestation. Check roots for galls of nematodes.

Question: What is the web-like substance on many trees on the edge of town ?

Answer: What you are seeing is tent caterpillars. These caterpillars form webs that cover the branches of the trees while eating the foliage. The damage is minimal but unsightly. If you find it necessary, spray with Orthene or Bacillus thuringiensis.

Question: Why do the annuals that I buy need water three times a day ? Answer: A plant growing naturally of its own accord produces top growth in direct proportion to its roots, but flowers grown in greenhouses are products of a totally unnatural situation. They get all the sunlight, humidity, water and fertilizer they ever want so they grow many more flowers, leaves and stems than their roots could support if they weren’t so pampered. When you plant these pampered plants in the ground, you soon discover you’ve taken home a pack of water junkies.

You can avoid this problem by doing two things: First, never buy annuals already in bloom. Buy healthy but less advanced plants. Second, if someone gives you water junkies, remove all the flowers and about half of the foliage. Then plant. Within two weeks, your plants will be back in balance. Plus, they will bloom much longer and fuller than coddled greenhouse plants.

Tip: For relief from a insect bite, cut a clove of garlic and press the cut side against the sting for instant relief, according to the Garlic Seed Foundation.

Send your gardening and landscaping questions and tips to Washington County Master Gardeners, 2536 N McConnell Ave., Fayetteville, AR 72704. You may also call 444-1755 for answers to your questions.

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Planning

Commission member

BK

Chaturvedi

speaks of

the state of India’s power sector reforms, capacity addition and investment

plans, fuel pricing and the like to

ET

.

The former Cabinet secretary, also a member of the 13th Finance Commission, says

for the state power utilities to cut losses, they need to invest in new

technology distribution systems. Excerpts:

With the

apparent renewal of potential private investors’ interest in power sector,

as is seen in the plans of Reliance Power and others like Sterlite, Videocon,

Alps and Jindals, does the target to add over 78,000MW to the generation

capacity during the 11th Plan now look like a realistic

goal?

During the last three

Plan periods, X, VIII and VII, we could add less than 20,000MW each to the

generation pool. Against this back-drop, the target for XI Plan might have

looked rather too ambitious.

But we are now confident that

the sceptics would prove themselves wrong this time. Orders (for purchase of

equipment) will be placed for 79,800MW by March-April 2008. In fact, this

(placement of orders) has already been done for some 60,000MW. So, we will have

the orders placed for the whole of the targeted capacity addition in the first

year of the Plan itself. In fact, a capacity of 6,000MW has already come

up.

As for three ultra mega

power projects (UMPPs), Sasan, Mudra and Krishnapatnam, the selection of

developers have been done and they are in the process of obtaining the necessary

clearances. The Planning Commission is keen to expedite the various approvals

needed for these projects. I recently discussed issues concerning these projects

with state governments, environmental ministry etc. to help the developers

overcome difficulties in obtaining various clearances.

Six more UMPPs are being

planned. The tenders for selecting the de-veloper of Jharkhand project will be

floated by March ‘08. Since other (UMPP) projects are facing problems of

land acquisition, the competitive bidding process might commence only next

fiscal.

Despite

the various funding mechanisms, internal accruals of central and state power

utilities, institutional (PFC and REC), multilateral and bilateral finding and

tapping domestic and foreign capital markets, isn’t equity finance still a

problem for the power sector? The public private partnership (PPP) model too has

yielded little. It seems we have got mixed results on this front.

Flow of equity capital into the

sector is gradually becoming strong. A number of private power plants, big and

small, are coming up. UMPPs are brining large amounts of finance capital. The

franchise model, which enables the private investor to team up with government

and earn extra income for efficiency of operations, is bearing fruit. For

example, the Bhiwandi project where Torrent Power got the distribution rights

from Maharashtra’s state distribution company, has been a big success.

In Bhiwandi circle, the

AT%26amp;C (aggregate technical and commercial) losses have come down from 45% to

30% since the franchise began operations. In Ahmedabad and Surat, the AT%26amp;C

losses are as low as 9%. So far, the PPP model has been more successful in

roads, ports and airports.

Even before, telecom sector

had reaped its benefits. Now the power sector is following suit. It may be noted

that given the projected energy elasticity of GDP growth, power generation

capacity should be around 8 lakh MW by 2031-32 as against the current 1.6 lakh

MW. Private sector role is therefore of great importance.

The

economic and commercial viability of the power sector is yet to be secured, the

immediate reason being the high AT%26amp;C losses. How able the state power

utilities have been in cutting losses in recent years, especially after the

Electricity Act 2003?

Tags: amp, bearing fruit, cement, developers, minis, planning commission, plants, pool, rta, tapp, target
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