Gain Benefits from Ornamental Plant Cultivation
VIVA – Gut Windarsih, one of the lecturers from the Biology Study Program, Faculty of Science UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten, invited his two students, Hendriyawan and Ubaidilah to do community service regarding the socialization of the use of house yards with ornamental plant cultivation
The activity was carried out last Friday (29/01). The socialization of the utilization of the ornamental plant took place in Sim Gap Village RT 10 RW 04 Tamiang Village, Gunungsari District, Serang Regency, Banten.
This community service is one form of the implementation of the Tridharma of Higher Education duties which must be carried out for every lecturer who teaches in Higher Education.
This is intended so that lecturers can increase their role in applying Science, Technology, and Arts in society, so that people can directly experience the benefits of science and technology created by higher education.
In this activity, socialization was carried out regarding the use of the house yard with the cultivation of ornamental plants to residents’ representatives. Since it is still in a pandemic situation, socialization is carried out by still paying attention to health protocols.
This activity was attended by the Head of PKK (Empowerment of Family Welfare) Elis Herawati, the head of the RT (Mahjumi), and 6 representatives of housewives and young women from the local village. This activity was not attended by too many participants to avoid the crowd.
At the beginning of the socialization, Gut explained about several types of plants that can be planted in the yard of the house. During this pandemic, instructions from the government to limit useless activities outside the home and the implementation of WFH (work from home) had an impact in various aspects, including the psychological aspects of society that created boredom activities at home.
Therefore, it is necessary to have additional, more productive activities to overcome burnout, including by utilizing the house yard with plant cultivation. Plants cultivated in the yard can be various, including fruit, vegetable, medicinal, or ornamental plants.
Community service activities in one of the residents’ houses in Sim Gap Village RT 10 RW 04 Tamiang Village, Kec. Gunungsari, Banten (Personal Doc)
Ornamental plants have a special attraction for some people. Apart from just being a hobby, cultivating ornamental plants in the yard has various benefits.
Besides being able to add to the beauty of the garden, cultivation of ornamental plants can also reduce stress so that it can help maintain the body’s immunity during a pandemic. However, not everyone has sufficient knowledge to cultivate ornamental plants.
Many people plant in moderation, without understanding proper nursery, planting and maintenance techniques. In addition, people also tend to follow trends and usually plant what plants are trending at that time. In fact, there are many different types of plants that are beautiful and potential to decorate a home garden.
This outreach activity was carried out by means of demonstration and discussion (problem-solving) methods regarding problems faced by the community in ornamental plant cultivation.
The socialization material consisted of 3 subtopics, namely the types of ornamental plants and their cultivation techniques, the use of used goods for planting ornamental plants, and the delivery of seeds for several types of ornamental plants.
At the end of the activity, a discussion was held to discuss the problems faced by the community while planting ornamental plants in the yard of the house.
In the first stage, it describes the types of ornamental plants that are often planted by the community and current trends. Incidentally, currently the community is having a fever in the cultivation of widow’s ornamental plants, so people are planting them in droves.
Apart from that, he also explained his cultivation techniques. Each plant generally has different cultivation techniques, starting from planting media, nursery techniques, planting, and maintenance.
In this activity, the technique of cultivating lavender and purslane was demonstrated. In this section, we explain how to provide plant seeds, one of which is through cuttings.
A demonstration of cutting lavender stems for cutting material and how to seed it. In addition, it also explains the types of media and their compositions that are commonly used for nurseries, such as husks, soil, and manure / compost.
After the cuttings have succeeded in producing roots, the cuttings are transferred to polybags containing the planting medium. The planting medium for each type of plant can vary in composition between husks, soil, and manure / compost. After the seeds grow to the desired size, the seeds are ready to be moved into a pot that matches the size of the plant.
For plant maintenance, among other things, it is explained about fertilization and pest control, including insects such as ants. For plants that are still in the vegetative phase (producing leaves), it can be sprayed with foliar fertilizers which are widely available in agricultural shops.
As for plants that are already in the flower-producing phase (generative phase), special fertilizers for the flowering phase can be given, for example NPK-16-16-16. The resource person also explained how to apply the fertilizer to plants, either spraying it or pouring it on the ground. As for pest control, among others, can be overcome herbs, such as the use of tobacco soaked water, or with both chemical and vegetable pesticides such as those available in agricultural shops.
In addition, examples of the use of used goods such as used mineral glasses as a substitute for polybags for plant nurseries are also presented. This is certainly very beneficial, because in addition to reducing environmental pollution due to mineral glass waste, it can also reduce costs for polybags.
In addition, it is also practiced using mineral bottles instead of flower pots that can be hung on walls.
At the end of the activity, several types of ornamental plant seeds were handed over to representatives of the local community. The ornamental plant seed assistance provided included 26 polybags of adam air (Rhoeo discolor), 73 types of lavender Angelonia angustifolia, 73 polybags of purslane / mossrose, Portulaca grandiflora types of flowers with pile crowns of 21 polybags, and purslane of the duna type Portulaca umbraticola. as many as 10 polybags.
In addition, there are also 96 lavender Angelonia angustifolia stem cuttings, 61 Portulaca grandiflora purslane stem cuttings, and 12 Portulaca umbraticola purslane stem cuttings. With this cutting material, it is hoped that the participants can practice planting ornamental plants on their own in their respective yards.
Ornamental plant seeds assistance to the community in Sim Gap Village RT 10 RW 04 Tamiang Village, Gunungsari District, Serang Regency, Banten (Personal Doc)
From this activity, it is hoped that the community will be more interested in utilizing the house yard for various ornamental plants, especially for housewives and young women.
The resource person also explained that this ornamental plant is not only to be enjoyed by its beauty in beautifying the garden, but also from its economic value.
When economic conditions are limited, people can sell ornamental plants to flower shops or online through social media or online marketplaces. At least, it can sustain the family economy, especially during this pandemic.
(Author: Gut Windarsih, M.Sc., Lecturer in the Biology Study Program, Faculty of Science UIN Sultan Maulana Hasanuddin Banten)
