Friday, October 3, 2014

Types of Grasses

Singapore has many types of grasses, with my garden itself being populated by around 4 different types of grasses.

Let me list down some of the types of grasses:

Carpet grass / Manila Grass - Zoysia matrella
(Image source

Manila Grass Seedhead (Image rights belong to photographer)

Yes. The seedhead is correct for carpet grass. Here is one which I have found on my own lawn.



Serangoon Grass / Blue Couch - Digitaria didactyla

(Image source)

Digitaria Seedhead (Image source)

Cow Grass / The common grass right outside our house - Axonopus compressus

(Image source)

Axonopus compressus Seedhead (Image source)




Pearl Grass (darker version of cow grass)- Axonopus compressus (dwarf)



Axonopus compressus (dwarf) seedhead should look exactly the same as cow grass'.



St Augustine Grass - Stenotaphrum secundatum

(Image source)

Stenotaphrum secundatum seedhead (Image source)


I obtained most of the scientific names from this website. Check out the 20th Sept 2011 post. Scientific name of pearl grass was obtained from NParks website (click the image source).


Interesting information for maintenance of various grass types in Singapore can be found here.







Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Hippeastrum Experiment: Begin!

Yesterday I've managed to buy 2 hippeastrum seedlings from a nice guy in Green Culture Singapore forums. Supposedly the seeds he had gotten were Apple Blossom hybrids, which is quite rare since Apple Blossom is known to be sterile most of the time.

Anyway, here are the two plants:

11/9/2014

I may repot the droopy, more buried bulb sometime later this week when I manage to get hold of sand and more perlite.

5/11/2014

What's this forming along the outer rim of the neck? Gasp! Is it...? Shhh cannot jinx it. I pray it isn't a leaf!


As of 2015, that flower scape has aborted, roots rotted beyond imagining, bulb shrunk, leaves all fell off, and the bulb has only just woken up on Monday, 23rd March 2015. DO NOT POT HIPPIES IN SINGAPORE WITH PEAT BASED SOIL. NO AMOUNTS OF PERLITE AS AMENDMENT WILL HELP SAVE IT FROM ROOT ROT! I suggest using the 6-in-1 organic soil mix, mixed with 80% perlite and 20% soil mix. Once roots have begun to grow sufficiently, cover the surface with compost.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Mas Ching Dynasty

Contrary to my initial belief, Mas Ching Dynasty still hasn't rooted. The large mature leaves have also turned limp. I've decided to cut off these leaves and place them in a small jam cup containing water and foliar fertilizer to try and grow some plants from leaf cuttings.

2nd Sept 2014

Wish me luck!


Update 4/9/2014:

Leaf petioles look slightly brown. But others who have rooted their cuttings also experienced similar discoloration, so I shouldn't worry too much. 




4/9/2014

Update: 9/9/2014:  one of the leaf's petiole (the leaf that is flat and rubbery) became jelly and I had to throw it away. I can safely assume that when a leaf looks weird like some rubber plastic thing, it will not be viable as a mother leaf.

Update: 11/9/2014
11/9/2014

In my desperate desire to salvage as many plants as possible, I've decided to play safe and stop adding hydrogen peroxide and fertiliser. I've also placed the two precious leaves in a tabao box to increase the humidity. It's been 9 days, but so far there's no rooting yet.

Update 15/9/2014:

Another leaf has turned jelly. Left with one leaf. Here's the dying leaf. It Kenna some water on the base of the leaf, and began rotting.

15:9/2014 jelly petiole

Update 29/9/2014:
All of my cuttings failed. Their petiole turned to jelly. Ok. Next time I should just avoid putting anything in the water and just use plain tap water.


Update: Gonna write down a guide on how to propagate leaf cuttings in water for own reference:

Step 1: Cut a fresh, mature leaf from the adult plant. (leave a longer stem for Step 2, or cut straight to 2 inches for step 3.

Step 2: If it is limp, mist it with warm water and leave it in a ziploc bag for a day or two to allow it to return to its crispy state.

Step 3: Trim the leaf stem to 2 inches from the leaf. Try to get a longer petiole from the start instead of trimming to get a longer stem. Trim the sides of the leaf to produce a longer 'stem' via this method: Make a 45 degree angle cut on the stem. Don't use your fingernail to dig the angle, coz I did that and my cuttings failed. Don't do the 45degree angle if you don't have a knife or a pair of scissors. 

Step 4: Place leaf stem into a small cup of water. Don't add anything into the water. Don't submerge the leaf part or else it will rot. Change the water when it becomes cloudy. 




Step 5: Leaf will generate a root system within 2 weeks to a month. Plantlets will appear between 6-8 weeks. Bag the cup when plantlets are seen. 

A user grew plantlets in barely one month, due to aircon during office hours 5days/week and 12 hours lighting daily

Step 6: Wait for plantlets to be 1-2 inches tall, and have grown some roots, before transferring to soil. Bag the pot for maybe a week to allow plantlet to mature.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Adenium Trimming

My Adenium at home is going bald, possibly due to overwatering and lack of fertilizer. After digging in the GCS Adenium forums, as well as seeing evidence from other gardeners (http://mysunnyhappygarden.blogspot.sg/2010/07/adenium-given-haircut.html?m=1)
I've decided to give my Adenium a brutal haircut.


Photo on Friday, 29 August 2014

Update: 15/9/2014:

It has finally begun to produce new stems! Look at the tiny red dot on the end of each trunk!

Photo on 15/9/2014

At first I was afraid I had killed it after repotting it twice!  
Hopefully the 3:3:1 perlite:peat:burned earth soil mix would fare better than the original soil containing burned
earth which had broken down over the years.


Update 23/9/2014:


Instead of 1 new shoot per branch as seen earlier, now each branch is producing like 4-5 shoots! Woohoo!!!

Update 29/9/2014:
Success!!



Update 16/1/2015:


It has finally begun flowering. 5 months from the hard pruning and soil change.


/future text (hard to publish posts via the iPhone app, what with no text wrap and all.)

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Loot from The Violet Barn!!

YESSSSSSSA MY PLANTS HAVE ARRIVED!

Bought 9 African violets from The Violet Barn in the US to be shipped to Singapore:
https://www.violetbarn.com/shop
This is the packing list.

The box that contains my treasure!


Lovingly packed by Rob

Plants safely cushioned in all the wool

My 9 gems

My timeframe. 

-Order made on 7 Aug 2014
-Phytosanitary prepared on 11 Aug 2014
-Shipped from the US on 19 Aug 2014
-Arrived at the sort facility at ISC NY on 20 Aug 2014 before MIAing until 23 Aug 2014
-Arrived Singapore on a Saturday morning 23 Aug 2014
-Finally transferred to customs on monday evening 25 Aug 2014 
-I called up AVA on Wednesday afternoon 12:26noon 27 Aug 2014 for collection.

Total took 20 days for ordering to collection. I have a good impression so far. If my plants do well, I might order from The Violet Barn again!

Update 8/9/2014:

My 'Bewitching Blue*' succumbed to crown rot and  Passed away today. I tried to save a leaf, but I trimmed too hard and there wasn't much left to save. Shit >.< Nvm, i'm gonna pick it back out from the bin and try.
8/9/2014: Single Bewitching Blue leaf in a modified styrofoam cup containing water and H2O2. Leaf was wiped  with H2O2 beforehand.

Top view:



Thankfully my 'Blue Dragon' has begun growing a root. So happy.

Update 12/9/2014:

My Wrangler's Jealous Jewels have grown 2 tiny roots, each 1mm or smaller. I hope they didn't die from my 5s viewing.


Update 29/9/2014:

I should not have opened the bags to kaypoh and check. Now those hard grown roots have rotted away.
AVs in plastic bags (I do not recommend plastic bags in the future. Use the tabao boxes instead.


I swapped to tabao boxes


Update 9/10/2014:

Not much change for the other plants, but Ma's Ching Dynasty's pot is giving off a faint rancid smell. And the leaves still look floppy.
I've decided to remove it from the plastic container and place it along the window.





Space for future posts

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

African Violet

My NOID African violet is about to bloom! 


27th August 2014

Update:
My NOID is putting forth flowers! And it's blooming its true colours now. Swee lah.

2nd Sept 2014

Update 15/9/2014:
Photo on 15/9/2014


Look at the flower spam!! So happy!


Sunday, August 24, 2014

NOID African violet and lavender living happily together under 4500K lights.