Family: Tiliaceae
Genus: Grewia, (only edible fruit in this genus)
False or Phalsa is large, scraggly (4 m or more) plant, with long, slender, drooping branches. Fresh leaves can be used as fodder. Falsa produces round fruits, branched clusters. Fruit skin turns from green to purplish-red and finally dark-purple to black with pleasantly acidic flavor. Falsa can toulrate light frosts which cause only shedding of leaves. Falsa can be grown in most any soil-sand, clay or limestone, but rich sandy loam soil is preferred for better production. Falsa is a drought tolerant plant but irrigation in fruiting season (summer) and dry pediod can give much better results.
Leaf-cutting caterpillars attack the foliage. A blackish caterpillar attack the shoots and causes galls. Termites also attack the roots.
Falsa / Phalsa Severe Pruning is an annual chore that must be severe to renew fruiting branches. Severe annual pruning of Falsa controls vine growth and prevent them from becoming tangled masses of unproductive shoots that decline in yield's quality and quality. Pruning is recommended in the late winter when vines are dormant. Here are some pictures of Severe Pruning of Falsa plants, from Pakistan (Dera Ismail Khan).
I loved this one of your post. great job. keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteI have 4 phalsa shrubs in my backyard. I used to get good yeild and used to take care of my familys abundant needs.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Last year, I did some severe pruningin early december 2009. I lost all 4 plants - did not get any new shoots but the stems slowly dried up. No fruit yeilded in the summer of 2010. I read somewhere that i shud put kerosene in the stems where they were pruned to kill the pests. It did not help.
After the monsoons, I got new shoots on all the plants and now they are healthy but all are with very tall stems (about 8-10) on each plant and about 10 ft high.
Please advise me how i should proceed to get a good yeild this coming summer and keep my plants healthy.
There is a lot of deemak in the area where I live.
Ranbir Singh,
Gurgaon, India.
singh.ranbir@gmail.com
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI have Falsa in my backyard here in Israel. I had to go to a special Nursery which has many exotic fruits. I bought a young Falsa and did a poor job planting it (first tree I ever planted actually). I now have many more. It pretty much died within a few weeks (not just leaves fall off, I scratched the skin and it was dead, except for the very very bottom had sign of life) anyway it came back the next summer!! Now this summer it is finally growing again nicely, my only concern is the new leaves appear more yellow and not really green. Can't wait till I get to eat it's fruit! I call my garden International Peace garden. I want to put flags of all the countries that the trees come from. I'm not sure if the Falsa should get an Indian or Pakistani flag? Shalom from Israel :)
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