edenstrauss

Isn't this spotless yellow ladybird cute-looking? It looks "kawaii"... And here's another "kawaii" shot of our guest. The yellow wings looked so polished & glossy. Doesn't the ladybird remind us of a yellow Volkswagen Beetle? Isn't it just adorable? hahahaha However, I did wonder if such a breed of ladybird is supposed to be beneficial to plants or are they leaf eaters as some of the breeds are? Anyways, I will have to be on a look out to see if my plants had been attacked. But meanwhile, please enjoy photographs of these cuuuuuuuuuuute ladybird

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! I've mentioned in my preceding posts in this thread that I had chased away a yellow spotless ladybird, not realising that it was supposed to be good for my plants as ladybirds were said to eat up pests such as aphids & mealy bugs. After leaving our guests on a flowering shrub that was 2 blocks away from our flat during weekends, we were surprised by the presence of yet another yellow spotless ladybird. I had no idea if it was the same chap that we removed over weekends but anyway, I have decided to leave it untouched & let this ladybird be our guest since we've plenty of room here with our "Ginger" plants. I had also taken the valuable opportunity to take a few photographs of our guest... becox it looked so loveable & cute! Don't you agree?

Hi Thanks for your generous compliments. It is most encouraging becox the traffic under this section of the forum isn't high... I was almost going to give up on the plants & animals section soon!

Photographs that were taken on 10th February 2012:

Photographs of my "Ginger" plants that were taken on 9th February 2012:

Check out this stem-bound new plant that grew out from the "neck" of an old matured red "corn" in this photograph. A white pouch-like sac found concealed within the dried "scales" of the matured red "corn", resembling money bags.

Contd: 7th February 2012 (Photographs)

Even after I stopped watering the plants with worm tea, I did notice that the plants were blooming again with just watering them with tap water. I had a sneaky suspicion that becox the N-component (Nitrogen) has been higher in percentage than the P-content (Phosporous, which is essential to promote flowering), the plants were growing vigorously with green leaves & new baby shoots at the expense of blooming. After I stopped watering the plants with worm tea for the time being, my "Ginger" plants had been blooming consecutively for days when they had been exposted to an abundance of strong morning sun. The following photographs were taken on 7th February 2012:

I was concerned about the building up of salt contents with an everyday watering of plants using the worm tea. Moreover, I noticed that the NPK was highest @ the N-component of the scale. Meaning that the worm castings had a relatively higher Nitrogen content. As a result, it would promote many lush, green leaves & new growth for plants as you could see from the photographs in the earlier posts as above. On the other hand, I did notice that my Ginger plants had halted in blooming after prolonged usage of about 10 days. I had then decided to lay off the worm tea for a while. And blooming had kicked in again after I applied water on them for about a week.

After watering my Ginger plants with worm tea derived from ijo's organic worm castings, I did notice that there were many new baby shoots making their way out from the surface of the soil. And the newbies are growing pretty fast even when I water them with tap water.

Towards this early evening, I was surprised to see a yellow bug which clung onto one of my red "corns". I took it off carefully & was told by my hubby that it was a lady bug which was said to be beneficial to all plants. Lady bugs were beneficial insects who helped in getting rid of pests such as aphids. By eating them of course. However, out of ignorance, I brought the lady bug down to the ground floor & left it onto a flowering shrub as I didn't believe that it was a lady bug since it was yellow & not red with black pokka dots as typically depicted in cartoons or photographs. I almost kicked myself when the search engines on the internet has confirmed that it was indeed a precious yellow lady bug! I've just sent off a good insect that would benefit my plants! Ain't I stupid? Right now, I could only be hopeful that my plants would be a future resting place for more lady bugs in the near future. And the worse part was, I didn't even take a photograph of the yellow lady bug. This was how my yellow lady bug looked like... I think I must be crazy to chase away such a precious insect whose doing good to my ginger plants. *sob* Let's just hope that other lady bugs would find their way to my plants.

[photographs of cny plants & flowers]

[photographs of chinese new year plants]

Towards this early evening, I was surprised to see a yellow bug which clung onto one of my red "corns". I took it off carefully & was told by my hubby that it was a lady bug which was said to be beneficial to all plants. Lady bugs were beneficial insects who helped in getting rid of pests such as aphids. By eating them of course. However, out of ignorance, I brought the lady bug down to the ground floor & left it onto a flowering shrub as I didn't believe that it was a lady bug since it was yellow & not red with black pokka dots as typically depicted in cartoons or photographs. I almost kicked myself when the search engines on the internet has confirmed that it was indeed a precious yellow lady bug! I've just sent off a good insect that would benefit my plants! Ain't I stupid? Right now, I could only be hopeful that my plants would be a future resting place for more lady bugs in the near future. And the worse part was, I didn't even take a photograph of the yellow lady bug. This was how my yellow lady bug looked like...

I do not understand what u meant by "walls flush with the beams". If you are referring to why both walls are constructed such that they were not aligned in a straight row with the HDB structural pillar, we are simply restoring the layout to its original condition. All the flats at our neighbourhood were fabricated as such by HDB.

Hi Please check your renotalk mailbox becox I jux pm u his contact number. U might wish to take note that his pricing are higher than the contractors becox of his skills, workmanship & good service. However I m of the opinion that it's worth the $$. U don't require an id as there is no designing involved in your case. Moreover, if u go thru id firms, it'll cost u a huge bomb becox the id firm will mark up in addition to what their contractors had billed them.

The neem oil seems to be more effective as compared to the white oil that I had used earlier on when my plants had sooty traces on the undersides of leaves & the joints between leaves & stems; coupled by an incessant community of ants - likely to be a sign of pests infestations. When the usual pesticide that I used didn't work, I turned to white oil which didn't work becox the sooty stuff, ants & some insects kept returning. As such, I had discontinued white oil & turned to neem oil when ijo introduced it to me. After using the organic neem oil, it seems that it is working well becox I realized that the undersides of the leaves had been coated with the oil, giving it a waxy sensation when felt as long as 1 week after the application. For now, I discovered that there weren't any ants crawling onto the plants. However, I m keeping my fingers crossed while I monitor my plants further.

I had followed the instructions at the back of the bottle & diluted the required amount in a pressure sprayer filled with tap water. (photo of back of bottle) The mixture had to be given a shake in the pressure sprayer while in use. Otherwise, the neem oil will be floating on top of the water & the insecticide wouldn't be effective on plants. The mixture is then sprayed onto the undersides of the leaves & I do give the "red corns" a sprinkle too. However, it's preferable that the application takes place in the evening or after a shower. Not unlike any other insecticides, it isn't a good idea to use it on plants under the hot sun. It'll burn off the plants. For any leftovers, I would sprinkle them on the surface of the soil. As a deterrent, I would apply IJO's organic neem oil on my plants once a week.

Organic insecticide: (organic) Neem oil by IJO (ijo) (photo of neem oil) I was really keen on neem oil after I read about thr wonders of the neem tree. The full anatomy of the neem tree had been useful. From its branches to leaves, I was surprised that IJO's neem oil had been derived from the seeds of the neem tree. Although raw neem leaves weren't new to me as I had been using them for facial purposes, I was quite convinced that IJO's neem oil was genuine. The reason being that when it had been diluted for use, it gave off a pungent garlicic smell which was characteristic of the neem leaves I had been using. The neem leaves I bought would usually have a type of smell resembling those of onions.

Hi folks, sorry for the delay in updating you guys on the progression of our newly created walls by Ah Cheong as shown in this thread. We've painted one of the bedrooms (MBR) recently before the Chinese New Year & this is how it looked like with its new image. Due to the poor lighting in the evening, the room looks dimmed out. The photograph below has marked out the locations of the 2 newly created walls:

The outcome of using the organic worm tea for several days in a row is shown in the photographs below:

Hi folks, I would like to share here in this thread that my latest acquisition is ijo's organic worm castings which had been made into worm tea for the purpose of watering my plants.

There are so many reptitive photographs of the ginger plants so I would like to introduce other species of flowers in this thread. The most recent "collection" I have had were festive related flowers that we had acquired during the recent Chinese New Year (for 2012). One of my favourites is Narcissus in the white version & is known as the "Bridal Crown". And yes, its appearance is suggestive of bridal floral decorations. The fragrance is indeed alluring & it does fill my balcony with a very nice-smelling perfume. [photographs]

Hi folks, In view of time constraints, I've decided to consolidate many of these photographs into a single version & uploading it here. After a single dose of ijo's worm tea for several (consecutive) days, this is the outcome of my plants:

It's an industrial colour code for the material. For your information, such materials aren't made to be scratch-proof & they do age overtime. The new panels came with scratches that are inherent to the material in the process of giving it a smooth glossy surface during manufacturing; that's what I had been told. You could ask your ID to show you the samples becox most IDs should have the samples of these colorful PVC in their showrooms.