Grow your own Cotton

Cotton flower

We all wear cotton clothes and we know about cotton fields, and there are even old songs that talk about picking a "bale of cotton," but what a lot of people don't realise is that the plant the fibre comes from has an attractive flower and leaves and makes a very unusual ornamental plant to grow as a houseplant or in your garden.

Cotton species
Species of the Cotton Plant grown and harvested commercially are Gossypium hirsutum (90% of world production), G. barbadense (8%), G. arboreum and G. herbaceum and they are all in the Mallow family or Malvaceae.

Cotton described

The Cotton Plant is a shrub or bush and can grow to as high as 3 metres, depending on the species and the growing conditions. Cotton species are subtropical or tropical plants but can be grown indoors as houseplants in colder climates.

Cotton comes originally from Africa, India and the Americas. The plants need a fairly good soil and plenty of water to grow well. Cotton plants start off with two fairly large seed-leaves and then start to develop the proper leaves, which are palmate in form. The plants can grow fast and will eventually produce pretty flowers in shades of yellow or pale orange and these are followed by the bolls, which contain hard seeds covered in the fluffy cotton fibre.

Parts of the Cotton plant

Pests

Cotton plants can be attacked by several insect pests including thrips, whiteflies and caterpillars. There is a species of moth caterpillar known as the "bollworm." Surely the best way of dealing with pests is the old-fashioned way or by using biological controls?

Monsanto

Genetically modified cotton has been produced by the bioengineering global company Monsanto. This form is known as BT Cotton and contains a pesticide from a gene in its artificially manipulated DNA.

It is successful in combating some insect pests but not all and in India has caused terrible problems for farmers there who bought the seeds from Monsanto. Faced with failed crops, a need for irrigation, herbicides, and buying new seed from the company, many farmers have found themselves unable to afford the costs and have actually committed suicide. This is yet another tragedy brought to the world by this powerful global company that has also given us Agent Orange, a dangerous defoliant used in the Vietnam War, and Aspartame, the toxic artificial sweetener that is found in a disturbing amount of food and drink products today.

Organic Cotton
There has also been a move towards growing organically-produced cotton and plenty of such products on sale. Many people prefer to have cotton clothes as a natural product as opposed to artificial fibres but they would also prefer a natural product free of pesticides and herbicide residues.

Cotton growing in a  flower border

Tenerife
I first came upon a Cotton Plant growing as a bush in a shrub border here on Tenerife. I picked a boll off the plant and found that the seeds it contained germinated very easily. I have also seen plants of cotton in a row on a shrub border in the village I live in where I assume they have been planted by a member of the local community.

Cotton bolls

If you have enough land and live in a warm enough part of the world you could grow your own field of cotton but I grow my Cotton Plants on the balcony. Cotton makes a very unusual and attractive plant to grow and I can certainly recommend it.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Tenerife News of the environment that doesn't get reported

Dried up pond in Erjos, March 2012. Photo by Steve Andrews

Tenerife News media are not reporting much about a number of environmental issues affecting the island. The worst problem is the ongoing drought that is drying up everything and killing vegetation that shrivels in the heat.  Ponds are dried up or in the process of drying up and reservoirs are very low. Unless the island has heavy rainfall soon this will mean disaster for farmers. In Erjos, where the ponds are a real haven for wildlife, most of the water has dried up leaving cracked and caking mud to bake in the heat. Water birds such as Coots and Moorhens will have to fly away in search of a new home unless the rains fall soon.

Besides the drought problem, pine forests are losing trees killed by bark beetles and the island's Dragon Trees are under attack by a species of scale insect. There are dead and dying trees to be seen all around the island. This is a sign that all is not well at all, and yet so few people seem to notice or care and the local media is not reporting these matters.

Tenerife relies on tourists coming here and a main attraction that the island offers besides the sunshine and beaches is its incredible countryside. The forests are a big part of this but Canary Pines are under attack and many are dead. Bark beetles are killing them and others were severely damaged by approaching hurricane force winds that battered Tenerife back in the winter of 2010.

Tenerife News of the environment that doesn't get reported

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Teide Violet and other endangered wild flowers found on Mt Teide

Tajinaste Rojo (Echium wildpretii) Photo by Steve Andrews

Tenerife's Mt Teide is the highest mountain in the Canary Islands, and the highest mountain in all of Spain. Its very great height and volcanic nature have created unique environments in which some very rare plant species grow.

The Tenerife highlands are a real paradise for botanists who can hunt for rarities on the slopes of the mountain and the rocky scrub-land that is exposed to extremes in temperature and sunlight. Mt Teide usually has snow on its peak in winter, though none has fallen this year so far in the ongoing drought. Extremes of heat and cold and the very barren volcanic terrain offers a very unique habitat for the flora and fauna that live high on the mountain ranges. It can be freezing by night and baking hot by day and yet there are mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and many wild flowers and shrubs that live on Mt Teide's highlands.

Some plants such as the Teide Violet (Viola cheiranthifolia) and the Red Viper's Bugloss (Echium wildpretii) or Tajinaste Rojo are not found growing in the wild anywhere else in the world. These are two of the endemic rarities that can be found on Mt Teide. The Teide Violet is found very high on the mountain where no other plants are growing. The Red Viper’s Bugloss grows at lower levels near the Tourist Centre and hotel as well as by where the cable-car leaves from. This unusual flower, with its tall flowering spikes of red is often photographed and is the subject of paintings of Mt Teide.

Teide Violet and other endangered wild flowers found on Mt Teide

Death on Mt Teide

Dead and dying vegetation on Mt Teide 11 January 2012

A dramatic title to grab your attention but I mean death to plants and probably animals too in the ongoing drought Tenerife is suffering! The higher reaches of Mt Teide, the highest mountain in Spain are normally covered in snow at this time of year and the island has usually had heavy rain from November onwards but not this time. Mt Teide did not receive is normal coating of white glistening snow that can be usually counted on for the winter and spring months. Something has gone very wrong!

The unique scrub-land vegetation that grows on Mt Teide is adapted to heat and cold and drought in summer but expects to get plenty of moisture in the autumn and winter. This year it has had very little and is dying or dead. It is brown and tinder dry and crumbles to dust. In turn insects that depend on the vegetation and lizards and birds that feed on them are deprived of a vital link in the food chain. There are usually many Canary Blue butterflies and honeybees that feed on the nectar from the wild flowers and flowering shrubs up on Mt Teide but if there are no such flowers they will have no food and will probably die.

Lower down the mountain there is usually a sea of clouds that bring much needed moisture to the pines, laurels and other trees and plants but even the sea of clouds has gone.

This could spell disaster for farmers. Most of the water for the island falls as snow and rain on the mountains. We need heavy rains and fast to save the ecosystem of Tenerife.

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

How does Global Warming affect Tenerife?

Wilting Prickly Pear cactus

Global Warming or Climate Change, as it is now often called, though I prefer the former term, is making its presence felt here in Tenerife where clear skies and hot sunshine are drying up the land and causing plants as tough as Prickly Pear cacti to shrivel and wilt.

Wilted and curled up House-leek (Aeonium urbicum) 

Succulent House-leeks (Aeonium species) which should be at their best now and getting ready to flower or already doing so are suffering the same problem. Many House-leeks are curling up their leaves in an effort to conserve moisture. They should be fleshy and green not reddened and dried up with curling leaves.
Usually by January we have had plenty of torrential rainfall in November and December that falls as snow high up on Mt Teide. Often the mountain's peak is covered in glistening white over the Christmas period and for the months afterwards but not this winter.
Usually in late autumn and winter the countryside springs to live and brown and barren semi-desert land and volcanic mountainsides get covered in green vegetation but not so this season. Ponds, of which there is a great shortage on Tenerife, are drying up not filling up. Those in the village of Erjos that normally fill in winter with enough to last them through until the following autumn's rains are looking more like they do at the end of summer.
So what does all this mean? Well, for tourists the hot sunshine is what they come here for so they will not be complaining but for farmers and for wildlife it is an ecological disaster. Rainfall in autumn and winter is essential for the success of crops and in recent years many farmers have lost their grape crops despite winter rains. Drought in summer is far more to be expected than drought in January!
Tenerife really needs some thunderstorms and as much torrential rain as possible over the rest of this month and February or I dread to think how the island will get through this. Some people still don't believe Global Warming is really happening but I think the state of the countryside in Tenerife shows that it most certainly is!

Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Las Galletas means the biscuits

One of the Las Galletas beaches

Las Galletas may well mean “The Biscuits” when translated from the Spanish but I am thinking of a charming fishing village turned resort town in Tenerife South that bears the same name. Las Galletas is not far from Los Cristianos and the Reina Sofia Airport as well.

Las Galletas has become a really popular seaside town with a good range of varied shopping, plenty of bars and restaurants and an attractive seafront promenade. It also has its own harbour and new marina where cruises operate from. It is possible to go diving from Las Galletas which has a dive centre as well.

Las Galletas is the neighbour of Costa del Silencio with its many housing complexes and large community of British ex-pats and other visitors to the island. Part of Costa del Silencio is known as Ten-Bel, and this was one of the first specially built self-catering resort developments. There are many Tenerife apartments for rental in Costa del Silencio and Las Galletas itself, and this is why so many people end up staying there after they have discovered these places when looking for Tenerife accommodation.

Because Las Galletas is in the extreme south of Tenerife it usually has excellent weather and plenty of sunshine. This makes it just the sort of place holiday-makers are looking for. Its proximity to the resorts of Los Cristianos and Las Americas goes in its favour too, as does the fact that it is very near to the Reina Sofia Airport for Tenerife South.

Las Galletas has two long beaches and one of these is very popular with sun-bathers and swimmers even though it has a lot of pebbles on it and it is right in front of the road. Its sunshine, calm waters and view over the marina with the many boats there more than make up for any disadvantages! 

Why Tenerife South is the holiday-maker's first choice?

Tenerife South Airport

Tenerife’s Reina Sofia Airport is situated in the south of the island and that makes it the point of arrival for most tourists who are taking their holidays there. Tenerife South is the first choice of very many holiday-makers, and with good reason.

The south of the island is very different to the cooler and cloudier north. Tenerife’s south gets the best of the weather all year around, so if it is sunshine you want then this is where you are likely to find it.

This has led to the main tourist resorts being created in the south of Tenerife. Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas are neighbours on the coast of Tenerife South with other resort developments and seaside towns further along the coastline.

Of course all tourists visiting the island will need to find suitable Tenerife accommodation. Although there are hotels in the resorts, many holiday-makers prefer to book self-catering holidays in Tenerife apartments. There are countless such apartments available for rent in the south of Tenerife, and all are within easy reach of the beach.

Tenerife’s south has plenty of long sandy beaches, as well as loads of bars and restaurants. Everything the typical holiday-maker can want is found in this part of the island. There are theme parks too such as Siam Park and Aqualand.

El Medano is on the southern coast of Tenerife and this is where all the wind-surfing enthusiasts gather. This seaside town has one of the best beaches on the island and is also very near the airport. Los Abrigos, famous for its restaurants where you can get some of the best fish dishes on the island, is next to El Medano and both places are very near Golf del Sur where golfers can enjoy their sport whilst on a holiday in the sun.


Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Los Cristianos is one of the most popular resorts in Tenerife

Los Cristianos harbour photo by David Parkes

Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife is one of the most well known and popular tourist resorts on the island. In fact for many people it is the only part of Tenerife they really know. Los Cristianos is where countless holiday-makers go and find it has all they are looking for.

Los Cristianos has the sandy beaches, the warm subtropical sunshine, the bars and restaurants and an excellent range of shops and local businesses. It is also within easy reach of the Tenerife South Airport.

There are hotels in Los Cristianos but many visitors to the island who are looking for Tenerife accommodation chose self-catering holidays in rented apartments. There are plenty of short-term lets as well as long-term rentals available for Tenerife apartments.

Apartment blocks and community complexes usually have their own swimming pools for residents and are not far from shops and bars. It is easy to get to the beach too in Los Cristianos, which is where most holiday-makers like to spend a lot of their time.

There are two large sandy beaches and a smaller one. The main beaches are Playa de los Cristianos, which is near the resort’s harbour, and Playa de las Vistas, which has been awarded a Blue Flag of excellence. The beaches provide long expanses of golden sand and are ideal for sunbathers. Sun-beds are readily available and WC and shower facilities are provided.

Los Cristianos runs right into and merges with the resort of Las Americas, and it is easy to walk along the seafront that joins the two.

Los Cristianos harbour is a focal point of the seaside town and also where ferries travel to the neighbouring island of La Gomera from.

Los Cristianos has an excellent regular bus service that enables travellers to get to many parts of the island from or for shorter journeys in the south.

Los Cristianos started life as a fishing village but in the late 1960s it began to develop fast into the thriving tourist town it has become today.


Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.

Popular Tenerife Resorts

Las Americas at sunset

Tenerife in the Canary Islands is a very popular destination for holiday-makers with many British people, as well as Germans and other nationalities choosing it as the ideal place to spend their holidays. Of course this is understandable with its subtropical climate, sandy beaches and modern tourist resorts.

It is also easy to book flights to Tenerife, especially to Reina Sofia Tenerife South Airport, which is within convenient travelling distance from the main resorts in that part of the island. Visitors to the island have plenty to choose from when it comes to a selection of affordable Tenerife accommodation, and there are short-term lets for Tenerife Apartments as well as long-term rentals available.

There are plenty of apartment blocks, apartment-hotels and more conventional hotels on offer in Tenerife but many visitors like to choose a self-catering holiday to suit their pockets.

The most popular and well known resorts in the south of Tenerife are Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas but there are many other coastal villages that fit into the resort category as well.

The resorts offer everything a holiday-maker could want. Besides the wonderful beaches and plentiful sunshine there are loads of bars and restaurants, as well as large modern shopping centres. There are theme parks like Siam Park, as well as coach and minibus excursions all around the island.

The resorts are served by an excellent bus service too that makes it easy for visitors to the island to get about, although many are quite content to use the local beaches and facilities in the area they are holidaying in.

Tenerife North, which on the whole offers a cooler climate and more rain that allows luxuriant vegetation to grow, has resorts too with Puerto de la Cruz being the most popular and largest of these. This is where you can visit the world famous Loro Parque Parrot Park or relax on its black sand beach with its own gardens known as Playa Jardin.


Copyright © 2012 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.