edenstrauss

Hi best wishes for your renovation!

Hi battle, U need to source for your own ceramic tiles that could match closely to your existing tiles becox ah cheong doesn't source & supply tiles under such circumstances. He does so only when clients are retiling the entire place or say toilets, kitchens. In our case, we source for the replacement tiles on our own as we only require about 6 tiles but we ended up only requiring 2 tiles... I can forward you ah cheong's contact number but I can only do so through your renotalk message box. I do not practice sending it through my personal email address. Please let me know if you still require ah cheong's contacts becox he will not take up the assignment if you select ala-carte services by working with different contractors of your own. If you agree to let him work on your assignment, he will be the main renovator supplying you with all your Reno requirements becox he does act as a main contractor with his own subcontractors working under him. I will also recommend that you engage a renovator that you feel comfortable with in dealing with your Reno unless you r willing to bear the risk & be fully accountable for all your contractors when things go wrong.

Hi please share briefly what u would like ah cheong to do becox he is selective with his assignments in view of tight work schedules.

Hi Jason, Thanks for keeping me informed. And he had responded to your request extremely fast!!! If u can get him to do it after cny, it's ideal becox he should be free as it is off peak period now. Best wishes!

Hi, please check your mailbox for contact # of ah cheong. Best wishes!

Hi please check ur mailbox for his contact number but kindly take note that his pricing isn't cheap becox of premium workmanship & services. Best wishes.

I think there isn't a perfect brand out there becox every brand for electronic products has its own strengths & weaknesses. Not unlike what you have been doing now, I had tried very hard to gather as much reliable info & objective feedback about fujioh's cooker hood. However, this didn't materialize as I didn't hear from most users who had supposedly bought one of fujioh's most popular cooker hood. After reviewing fujioh's video clips on you-tube, speaking to their staff & researching through other channels as a consumer, I wasn't convinced that it'll be our preferred choice. I would say that it's a personal choice to purchase another brand. As such, I had decided to move on & selected Electrolux which I had been hearing so much about. And since their after sales service is reputed to be good according to people from our social circle, & is an ISO accredited entity, I believe that we wouldn't do badly by them. The cooker hood I bought from Electrolux has an airflow of 1400mAh. It's pending installation until sometime next week becox our preferred installer's schedule is already fully booked when the hood was delivered to us jux 2-3 days before chinese new year.

This is another type of organic fertiliser from IJO which I had been using on & off to promote new growth & healthy green leaves. Since the nursery's owner whom I've consulted on IJO's organic fertiliser had suggested that I stepped up dosage becox he claimed that the percentage of fertiliser in the gray pellets were extremely low & wouldn't do plants harm in burning them off, I had taken the risk & was surprised that it had done my plants alot of good. However, I need to highlight one of our woes of having a fast growing plant: the need for space & repotting can drain us physically & mentally.

[photo of ginger plants & flowers pending]

[photo of ginger plants & flowers pending]

Oops overwatered my ginger plants but with worm tea as there is very little sunlight & there's plenty of showers for the past 2 weeks...

I read through the web & got in touch with IJO Corporation's representative, Powan. Both sources had suggested that the key for prevention of such infestations & diseases is to build up a healthy plant. Powan of IJO had introduced the idea of worm tea derived from worm castings when I touched base with her earlier on in view of IJO Organic fertiliser in the form of gray coloured granules. However, I wasn't keen on the idea back then becox I didn't fancy using the faeces/ stools of worms for my plants when they seemed to be doing fine prior to over-fertilising! Now that I had been driven to desperation, I had decided to throw in my lot with IJO worm castings. The photograph below shows my newly acquired bottle of IJO worm castings & a well-oxygenated dispenser of worm tea derived from the product: For those of you who are interested to learn more about IJO worm castings & how worm tea could be derived from it for watering plants, kindly visit the following new thread which had been created by myself under the title that says Organic Worm Tea Anyone? IJO Organic Worm Castings for plants : http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=46591&st=0&p=691285&fromsearch=1entry691285

Lately, I've been battling against insects such as ants who a sweet tooth, making its way up the stems of my plants to reach out for the nectar produced by my Ginger plants. At the spur of the moment, I was seized by a horrible thought that it was a sign of aphids as there were sooty-like "dust" which were found at the joints between the leaves & the stems. The undersides of the leaves were spared as well although the condition wasn't serious. I sized that my kindness towards my plants was bring down their resistance & killing them off. It suddenly daunted upon me that the adverse effects of overfertilisation had been kicking in finally. And out of desperation, I marched into the nurseries & got hold of white oil from quite an established brand here in our local market but it didn't work. Finally, I had no choice but to use Bayer's Fungus Fighter which I had bought more that a year ago from Far East Flora when one of their branches was still located at Kovan (in Hougang). Well, it seemed to work really fast. However, since I'm last to last few drops of it in the bottle, I'm wondering what sort of drastic measures I would resort to when the relapse took place. Far East had imported the product direct from USA but I supposed that the item wasn't selling fast enough here in Singapore for them to justify another shipment. As such, I had been told that they wouldn't be bringing in the product in the near future.

The Story Of My "tree" Musketeers Gardening outside HDB flatsThere was quite a shower yesterday & not as much sunlight as desired for photosynthesis. As such, I halved the quantity of worm tea & fed it to my plants through the soil. Let's take a look at the progression of my plants which are affectionately known as my 3 musketeers in another separate thread at the following link with the title The Story Of My "tree" Musketeers Gardening outside HDB flats: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44590&st=40&gopid=691338entry691338 (been lazy to upload these photographs individually as there are just too many of them so have decided to consolidate all these photos into 1 single photograph... hope the reader doesn't see stars )

I would always take note of how the soil takes in fluids e.g. worm tea, water, liquid fertiliser, etc. When the fluid used for watering sinks in really fast, I think the soil is probably dehydrated as the texture is far from being sandy. But if the fluid sinks down into the soil really fast & leaks out straight away from the bottom, it's a bad issue too. There are high chances that the soil cannot retain nutrients since fluids are flushed out directly after watering the plants! If fluids which is worm tea in this case, gets absorbed gradually, then it suggests good drainage. In my plants' case, the worm team sinks in gradually. However, what was alarming is that it seems like my ginger plants are outgrowing their new pots again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I need not re-pot them all over again becox I've just re-potted quite recently...

Once the required amount of worn tea had been collected in the bottle, close the opening with its plastic cap. Prior to pouring the worm tea into the soil, shake it up so that the residue doesn't get collected at the bottom of the bottle while watering the plants. Once the worm tea had been well shaken in the bottle, you are ready to water the plants now. I would pour the worm tea directly onto the soil of my potted plants.

After "dunking" the soup bag of worm castings in the dispenser, drop it back in and start dispensing worm tea into a watering can. In my case, I chose to use an empty mineral water bottle to collect the worm tea. However please make sure that it is clean for use. I would usually fill it with a little water from the tap & shake it before discarding the water.

Applying worm tea to plants: I would usually water my plants in the morning before I start of my day at work in the office. Firstly, I would lift up the lid of the dispenser & start "dunking" the soup bag of worn castings in the worm tea. I had preferred doing so becox "dunking" would ensure that the residue collected at the bottom of the dispenser would be stirred up & a consistency of the contents of which the worm tea is made up of, has been achieved throughout the entire dispenser. My plants wouldn't be missing out in any stuff that's yummy for it to thrive.

For the very first time of preparing the worm tea, the dispenser should be almost filled, not to the brim of course. Reason being that the air-pump would create lot's of bubbles & you wouldn't want the worm tea to spill out from the cover of the dispenser! As I've been dispencing worm tea from the dispenser pretty consistently every day, the water level had gone down as shown in the photograph: I'll be topping it up with tap water only after we're almost done in using up the worm tea in the dispenser.

An air-stone had been inserted through the other end of the plastic tube: A generous supply of oxygen had been given to the worm tea in the dispenser as shown in the photograph below:

Introducing oxygen into the dispenser of worm tea: A slim plastic tube had been connected to the air pump (meant for fish tanks) and inserted through the cover of the dispenser: A hole has been created through drilling through the cover of the dispenser as you can see from the photograph below:

The soup bag of worm castings is then placed into the dispenser as shown in the photograph below: Tap water is then added into the dispenser : After the dispenser is filled with water, "dunking" is encouraged to promote aeration to the worm tea in the absence of an air pump. Please allow me to explain that "dunking" is a process of plunging in the bag of worm castings into the water (inside the dispenser) & pulling it out; and repeating this cycle all over again. This is to promote a supply of oxygen to the bacteria which is essential for promoting nutrients to healthy plants through the soil. As such, an air pump would be ideal As an everyday user of the worm tea for my plants, I would also think that "dunking" is essential to ensure that the residues that had permeated the soup bag into the worm tea would be mixed well before the tea is dispensed for watering the plants. Please take note that after preparing worm tea for the FIRST TIME, it is only ready for use AFTER 24 hours. Thereafter, all u need to do is to simply top up whenever u perceive the need to do so & dispense the worm tea for use at any point in time.

A fabric soup bag in the form of a thin, gauzy material is used for containing the worm castings : Using a clean & disposable spoon, the worm castings is being scooped & placed into the soup bag as shown in the photograph below: After the soup bag is filled up with worm castings, the draw-string is being pulled to shut the opening of the soup bag & being knotted twice. This is to ensure that the contents (worm castings) in the soup bag are secured within before being placed into the dispenser.

Here's the procedure for making organic worm tea using IJO Organic Worm Castings. But before we walk through these photographs, I would like to thank Powan for time & effort in demonstrating the procedures & setting up the dispenser for me. And what lovely, beautiful hands she has in these photographs! Firstly, we started off with a water dispenser which I am told could be bought from selective hardware stores & Giant: IMPORTANT! Prior to using the dispenser, please take note that users are to check that the rubber washers shaped in the form of discs with a hole in the centre are in correct position. The washers are to be in place to prevent water leakages from the dispenser. And users are to ensure that the tightening nut located inside the dispenser is tightened & secured. I would also recommend that users do a test for leaking before using the dispenser for making worm tea. Fill it with a little water such that the water level goes above the dispensing tap & wait to see if any water leaks out from the external rubber washer located directly behind the tap. If it doesn't, then it is ready for containing worm tea.