The Story Of My "tree" Musketeers

[edenstrauss 3]

Hi folks,

I've taken some new photographs of my "Ginger" plants & I noticed that there are new flower blooms almost every day without the use of fertiliser.

Thus, it is true that a good compost soil is extremely important for optimum growth of plants.

Here comes some of the photographs - I've got more which I would upload later on as I couldn't resist taking photographs of the plants as they were blooming so prettily that they have become a heart-stopper for any nature lovers.

This batch of photographs were taken in the late morning when there was a slight dizzle:

Edited January 12, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Photographs of new additions to the "Ginger" family:

(The grayish blackish spot that you see on the baby shoot is dirt; the wind is extremely strong. As such, there's alot of dust & dirt on the plants.)

Edited January 12, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

new shoots (continued) :

The new shoot growing out from the stem of the mother plant has already been harvested & repotted in the neighbourhood nursery.

In fact, we were surprised that the new shoot grew out from the stem of the main plant even though the red "corn" has still been blooming actively!

In the past, when we "harvest" the stem-bound newly grown "babies", the mother plant was already ready to be cut away from the flower pot as it had already withered or is already withering.

However, these recent ocassions fascinated us as the mother plant was still thriving & blooming healthy with flowers.

Edited January 12, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

The latest news about our regular visitor, the olive-backed sunbird, is that it has gone mute as it came without chirping at all.

Initially, when I spotted these holes on all my flower buds, I thought that the plants were infested with worms. And there was further confusion as my plant was also concurrently undergoing the after-effects of over-fertilising.

However, before I barge into the nursery to consult the Aunty who coached me in gardening, I caught the olive-backed sunbird red-handed.

Well, it didn't commit the "crimes" with any hands since they weren't part of its anatomy.

We discovered that instead of sticking its long, pin-like beak into the opening at the top of flower buds, it was a really lazy bird. Our friend use its pin-like beak to prick the flower buds & finally drilled a huge hole into the buds mid-way to suck out the flower nectar.

As such, there were many pin--like holes & 1 huge gaping hole on all the flowers buds.

If you asked me if it looked awful, yes it does affect the appearance of the poor plants.

Edited January 12, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

After we made such a discovery by the naughty bird, we no longer based its presence on its chirping since it's been quiet nowadays.

Instead, the freshly bloomed buds which were marked with such holes were a very clear indication that the silly bird has already visited & drank its fill of flower nectar.

Edited January 12, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

Did you see the flower (which had already been "attacked" by the bird) being flanked by 2 other flower buds which are going to bloom at any point in time.

Edited January 12, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

I thought that this was really cute as the flower bud had been pushed out right at the top of the red "corn".

It's quite a pity that the red "corn" was burnt off earlier in view of overfertilising & also, over watering. Before the flower buds were being pushed out of the red "scales", it had already started rotting. After the unbloomed buds rot & die off, they would simply turn brown & dry up like how it's featured in the above photograph.

[edenstrauss 3]

More photographs of buds being pushed out of the red "scales" & in the process of blooming soon.

Edited January 13, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

More photographs of the buds bursting open when they are fully bloomed on 11 January 2012 :

[edenstrauss 3]

Photographs taken in the late afternoon, towards evening when the sun has already set about a couple of hours ago :

[edenstrauss 3]

I managed to take a snap shot of the plants during the late evening on 11th January 2012.

Edited January 13, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

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.

[edenstrauss 3]

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

Edited January 28, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

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:

Edited February 7, 2012 by edenstrauss

[edenstrauss 3]

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]

Edited February 7, 2012 by edenstrauss