Woman Grows Mangoes & Oranges on Rooftop, Shares Recipe

Bangaru Jhansi proved you don't need farmland to harvest fresh mangoes and oranges. She turned her rooftop in Visakhapatnam into a productive fruit garden, and her techniques work for any city dweller with a terrace.

Her secret starts with the right potting mix. Jhansi combines 30 percent vermicompost, 30 percent soil, 30 percent cocopeat, and 10 percent neem cake to create a lightweight blend that won't strain rooftop structures.

She plants grafted trees instead of growing from seeds. This single choice cuts waiting time dramatically: grafted plants produce fruit within a year, while seedlings take five to seven years to bear their first harvest.

Three months after planting, Jhansi adds homemade biofertilizer to boost growth. She mixes 100 kg of cow dung with 10 kg of neem powder and 2 kg of trichoderma viride, sprinkles water over it, and covers the mixture with cloth. After seven days, beneficial white bacteria forms and the fertilizer is ready to mix into the soil.

Her liquid fertilizer recipe sounds unusual but works wonders. Jhansi combines 1 kg of sea fish with 1 kg of jaggery in a container, stirring it clockwise twice daily for 15 days. She dilutes 10 ml of the finished fish amino acid in five liters of water and sprays it on leaves and roots.

The gardener even feeds her fruit trees citrus juices before flowering season, comparing it to pregnancy cravings. This natural approach keeps plants healthy and productive without chemical additives.

For pest control, she sprays neem oil weekly to prevent mealybugs. If insects still appear, she applies a mixture of chili and garlic paste blended with rice water as a natural pesticide.

Sunny's Take

What makes Jhansi's story special isn't just the juicy mangoes or sweet oranges growing stories above the street. It's her generous spirit in sharing every detail so others can experience the joy of harvesting fruit they grew themselves. She's proof that with patience and the right techniques, anyone can turn empty rooftop space into an abundant food source.

Urban farming transforms more than terraces: it reconnects people to their food and builds resilience in concrete jungles, one mango at a time.