Protected: (Updates) Mints: a comparison

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(Updates) Various updates

Semi-hydroponics lettuce – Day 23

This batch of lettuces (local, butterhead, buttercrunch and iceberg) all get the full morning sun, and my bright table light at night.

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Melaleuca alternifolia seedlings

They are taking a VERY long time to grow fast!

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Chocolate mint

And, from the kindness of Rummi’s heart, she gave me some free cuttings from the choc mint bunch I sold her (I need to wait for my basil mint to grow out and then root for her!). They are now doing really well in the semi-hydroponics setup with full morning sun and nighttime lamp.

The carnivorous plants in my life right now

Drosera burmanii

After giving away two thumbpots of burmanii to Vi and Karen about nine months ago, I bought one from YK and he gave me another pot.

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Pitcher plant from Green Baron during the gathering

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Butterwort from Carl

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Two drosera intermedias. One was from Carl

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Drosera paradoxa

(Fruiting) Vitex trifolia

My vitex trifolia plant has produced fruits after the flowers, and all in all, I’m increasingly falling in love with this plant – the purple flowers are really pretty; the fruits are really adorable; and most of all, I can use both the leaves and the fruits for good ends.

Note to self

I need:

1. Tref potting mix 20L
2. One packet of Horti (peat) moss
3. Vermiculite (maybe)

High Brix gardening observation #1

I went to check on one small pot of mint which I’d added the sugar to.

I noticed potential red spider mites coming back to infect some other mints. But this particular one is still clean.

However, one can smell a very slight pungent smell from the soil, if I hold the pot close to my nose. I suspect it’s the sugar feeding the bacteria which is producing some stuff. It’s a very slight smell, and I’m not bothered about it.

Now, to observe some more…

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Edited to say:

I went to check on my sawtooth coriander, since the leaves are large enough for thorough examination (I’ve decided to use this for a more proper test), and it’s placed away from my mints so that I can check on my area for mites as well.

Despite having had sugar placed in its soil a few days ago, I’ve observed no good effects on the plant, since I saw today that it got re-infected with A LOT of spider mites.

I have two guesses:
1. The sugar got washed away from my daily top-watering;
2. The sugar has no effect.

Suspecting #1, I’ve filled the pot with four spoonfuls of sugar again. We’ll see.

Various updates

Red spider mites

I finally went Petunia’s method and spent over two hours soaping all my mints down and then rinsing them off. They’re a bit limp now, but will perk up soon.

Gonna repeat this over the weekend.

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High Brix Farming

After reading Kelmund’s thread on high brix farming, I went to put about two tablespoonfuls of raw sugar into six pots of mints and into my sawtooth coriander.

The mints are all placed together. I’m going to see if when the RSMs next attack, will the mints with the sugar in the soil be affected or not.

This was how much sugar I put in the pot of my sawtooth coriander.

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Green mint – mentha verdis

Growing well after three months. Leaves are getting bigger. They seem happy.

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Tea tree seedlings

Some have grown true leaves already. They are still really tiny though. Less than 4mm tall.

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Semi-hydroponics lettuces

Not bad going.

What is your natural remedy for common physical irritation/illnesses?

Disclaimer first: This  is not supposed to be stand in for the advice of a professional doctor.

Quite a few readers of my blog grow edible plants; anyone must have edibles at home to survive.

My question is: what home remedy do you use for things like rashes, hives, or cough, cold, sore throat etc.?

Best is if you can use the plant/s you grow as well. =)

Rooting – Kalanchoe tomentosa

With the recent squalls going on, the panda plant I bought for my dad toppled off the railing and into his fish pond. As a result, a lot of leaves rotted (it’s a succulent) and my dad tried drying them off and propagating the plant through leaf cuttings.

I’d long told him that using burnt earth for that is one of the worst choices, since the normal burnt earth (especially without prior sieving) tends to retain A LOT of water, and compact like crazy over time.

So, dad tried and tried and tried and all three to four times, his panda leaves rotted like crazy.

Then he charged me to do it. And since I’d bought the plant as a gift for him, I figured I might as well. So I went to cut the plant bald, did up my own mixture of potting soil with vermiculite, stuck the leaves in, placed the pot in a place with bright shade, and watered really sporadically – mostly once every four days or so, with little little drips of water in the soil area. I spray them occasionally with diluted seaweed extract which promotes growth.

I checked on them yesterday after about a month or so, loosening the soil around them gently. I thought they’d have rotted or something, but I saw roots! Tiny little white roots about 5mm long.

XD

Dad=0; Casey=1.

Just for fun, a Googled picture of the plant:

(Harvesting | Sowing) Pak choy | Lettuces

Pak choy experiment

So the results are as such:

1. Pure hydro solution – only one pak choy turned out good. The other was stunted;
2. Semi-hydro – both pak choys turned out the best
3. Water reservoir – not good for veggies.

Maybe because the sun is shifting positions or something, but that’s not really the case – the semi-hydro veggies turned out very healthy and strong.

The two semi-hydro in the foreground.

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Semi-hydroponics: lettuces

I started a plastic container of semi-hydroponics lettuce yesterday. Filled four thumbpots with soil, stuck cords of twine through them to induce capillary action, and placed two lettuce seeds into each pot:
1. Butterhead lettuce – Oh Chin Huat
2. Buttercrunch lettuce – Ebay
3. Iceberg lettuce – Ebay (more for experiment’s sake, since icebergs don’t do well in the tropics)
4. Local lettuce – Ban Lee Huat.

I didn’t label the pots: would rather be surprised and amused. Placed the container in a brightly-lit area and seeds in two pots have already sprouted today. =)

Small little sprout in the middle of the picture.