The secret of my lush green curry plant and its health benefits

My lush green and healthy curry plants on my balcony, motivated me to write about it. Curry plant is ubiquitous in Indian homes. It is the most precious plant in any Indian kitchen garden. Everyone tries to take proper care of the curry plant to grow faster, bushier, and greener and, some succeed in making it healthy others may not.

In this blog, I will focus on how to take care of the curry plant and its benefits.

How to plant Curry plant in pot or soil?

Make a potting mix with 60% potting soil and 40% compost, so your plant gets enough nutrients. Transfer the plant mainly in the evenings only, which you bought from a nursery, into this pot and water it lightly.

Keep this plant in direct sunlight. Two to three hours of sun is enough for the curry plant to flourish. My curry plant gets only 2 to 3 hours of daylight, yet it is lush green. My balcony is east-facing.

If you want to plant the curry plant on the ground, the temperature should not go less than 0 degrees Celsius in any season.

You can grow curry plants from seeds, saplings, or cuttings from a larger plant. For cutting, you have to push the stem two to three inches deep inside the potting mix.

Water the plant only when it needs, overwatering and underwatering can kill the plant.

Prune your plant yearly when planted outside in the soil and twice a year if it is in the pot, which helps it keep at a reasonable size and promotes healthy growth.

Move the plant to a new pot every year or twice a year, depending upon its growth.

Please don’t use too huge a pot right away since it will put most of its energy into growing the roots.

Home-made fertilizers

Never through the water; you wash the rice and pulses and vegetables, albeit put this water in your plants to enhance growth.

I also put onion peels water, which I make by soaking the peels of onions in water for 24 hours in a bottle. It is very nutritional. I also put crushed eggshells in the pot. Sometimes I put buttermilk also.

Once a month, I put vermicompost and cow dung to give all nutrients required for the healthy growth of the plant.

Pesticides control

To protect the plant from various attacks by scales, Aphids, and ants, spray neem oil. Dilute 5ml neem oil in one-liter water and spray on the leaves.

If you cannot buy neem oil due to lockdown, no worries, you can boil neem leaves in water for ten minutes, let it cool, spray the leaves, and put the remaining solution in the pot.

Once a month, you can spray a mixture of baking soda, turmeric, and any vegetable oil, all equal quantities mixed with water on the leaves.

Since we use curry leaves in our dishes so avoid using any chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

If you follow the methods mentioned above, your curry plant will indeed become healthy.

Now, I will discuss the benefits of curry leaves:

Nutritional value of curry leaves:

One hundred grams of curry leaves provide around 108 calories of energy. They are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, fiber, calcium, phosphorous, iron, and other minerals. It also contains Vitamin A, B, C, and E.

Health Benefits of Curry Leaves

• Powerful antioxidants

Curry leaves are powerful antioxidants that protect us from oxidative damage, preventing diseases of the nervous system, cardiovascular system, kidney, etc.

• May reduce the risk of cancer

Curry leaves have anti-mutagenic potential, so it protects us from various cancers.

Flavonoids in Curry leaves act as an anti-cancer agent. They are effective in inhibiting the growth of breast cancer cells.

Curry leaves also protect the body from colon and cervical cancers.

• Reduces the risk of heart diseases

Consumption of Curry leaves decreases cholesterol levels and also reduces triglycerides.

• Helps in managing diabetes

Curry leaves are rich in fiber, slowing down digestion, thus preventing sudden spikes in blood sugar levels.

• Analgesic

Curry leaves help relieve pain and are used traditionally as an analgesic.

• Neuroprotective

It is helpful in Alzheimer’s disease by protecting the neurons from oxidative damage. It is also beneficial in amnesia.

• Kills bacteria

Curry leaves are antibacterial and effective in preventing bacterial infections by E.coli and Staphylococcus.

• Hepatoprotective effects

Curry leaves, due to their antioxidants properties, protect our liver from damage caused due to oxidative stress. It is also effective in treating liver cirrhosis.

• Excellent for our hair

Curry leaves, when boiled with coconut oil, make an excellent hair tonic that prevents greying and stimulates hair growth. It also helps in treating dandruff.

• Treatment of anemia

Curry leaves are rich in iron and folic acid, which helps treat anemia.

• Good for our eyes

Curry leaves are rich in vitamin A and are beneficial for the eyes, and prevent cataracts.

The ideal dosages of curry leaves:

• 8 to 10 fresh curry leaves per day
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Curry leaf powder per day
• 1 to 2 curry leaves capsules per day

In Tamilnadu, a number of manufacturers are making curry-leaf powder e.g Shine Impex, Coimbatore, Aasam Foods, Tiruchirappalli.

I hope you will enjoy this blog, and from now onwards, you will take care of your Curry plant, and in few weeks, your plant will also become lush green and healthy like mine. Any feedback and suggestions are always welcome. Don’t forget to like and share this blog.