In Trouble

Mr.Mealy Bug from www.greenharvest.com

its been months since i last posted a word... its time i did some blogging..i think i'll just put up some pics. these days winter is reigning and my little group of greens is doing fine save that pests have taken too great a liberty with them...not to mention the birds (alas! I've compromised over that)

mealy bugs have attacked full-fledged .. i never knew how how dangerous they could be(they look so cute) until a week or so ago my 4 foot tall elephant-plant was reduced to merely two(comparatively better looking, then) 10-15 cm long pieces.. they are hopelessly struggling to stay alive..

www.greenharvest.com.au has suggested some ideas to get rid of these. check out to see if they work. other than this i got to know that the big ants also help to keep these bugs in control too..

Suggested Organic Strategies:

• Use horticultural glues around tree trunks to aid biological control of mealy bugs, as ants defend these pests from attack by their natural enemies to maintain their supply of honeydew;
• Spraying with chemical insecticides often encourages the mealy bugs as the sprays will kill off all their natural enemies;
• Natural enemies include wasp parasitoids and ladybeetles. 

 the second pest attack was on my tomato plant, i tried all i could- shifted places, exposed the plant to extreme sunlight, but to no avail. so just today i cut off more than half of the infested plant and threw it away. hope the new growths will see a better future.

sweet distractions

a heart-shaped stone

plant growing out of a sea shell

Why Did My Plant Die? ~ Geoffrey B. Charlesworth

You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it.

 You hoed it down. You weeded it.
You planted it the wrong way up.
You grew it in a yogurt cup
But you forgot to make a hole;
The soggy compost took its toll.
September storm. November drought.
It heaved in March, the roots popped out.
You watered it with herbicide.
You scattered bonemeal far and wide.
Attracting local omnivores,
Who ate your plant and stayed for more.
You left it baking in the sun
While you departed at a run
To find a spade, perhaps a trowel,
Meanwhile the plant threw in the towel.
You planted it with crown too high;
The soil washed off, that explains why.
Too high pH. It hated lime.
Alas it needs a gentler clime.
You left the root ball wrapped in plastic.
You broke the roots. They're not elastic.
You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it.
You splashed the plant with mower oil.
You should do something to your soil.
Too rich. Too poor. Such wretched tilth.
Your soil is clay. Your soil is filth.
Your plant was eaten by a slug.
The growing point contained a bug.
These aphids are controlled by ants,
Who milk the juice, it kills the plants.
In early spring your garden's mud.
You walked around! That's not much good.
With heat and light you hurried it.
You worried it. You buried it.
The poor plant missed the mountain air:
No heat, no summer muggs up there.
You overfed it 10-10-10.
Forgot to water it again.
You hit it sharply with the hose.
You used a can without a rose.
Perhaps you sprinkled from above.
You should have talked to it with love.
The nursery mailed it without roots.
You killed it with those gardening boots.
You walked too close. You trod on it.
You dropped a piece of sod on it. 

a poem that's simply beautiful along with being beautifully simple

Morning Delights

Morning Glory Morning Delights...

 opening up....

in full glory....

 the show is done for now- flowers closing up as the evening sets..

beautiful bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is one plant which delights me very much on account of the diversities it presents. The stems are so tough and thorny (one little spike is sure to give you a couple of days of a swollen finger) while it's flowers are paper thin and are just as delicate as they are beautiful. Bougainvillea comes in a wide variety of colors; pink, white, yellow, peach, orange, red etc. However the most common colors are pink and white.

The bougainvillea you can see in the pics is one of the cuttings of a huge creeper growing in a nearby park. I got these cuttings saved when the monthly pruning was done but unfortunately I was not successful with its propagation. Any how they kept my little garden cheery for a week or so.

Morning Glory Follow Up

I've transplanted the morning glory that i propagated, in a separate pot and its doing fine...

It has already sprouted two beautiful little leaves and a tendril..

Successful Experiments

I tried propagating morning glory and Tabernaemontana divaricata (which we call safeda or chandni tree here in local terms) from herbaceous stem cuttings, and had excellent results.

 attractive bottles ;)

Inspite of all the discouraging content on the internet which says that propagating things without rooting hormones is mostly a failure, i had success WITHOUT it. I just put the cuttings in water and they sprouted roots. However you should keep in consideration that the stems are semi-hardwood- neither too old nor very young. Just a week or so old. This is because the mature stems find it difficult to adapt to the new medium and the young ones are too undeveloped for it.  I also find it better to peel off a little surface of the stems.

Morning Glory-initial stage

first root growths

mature roots ready to transplant

Chandni- initial stage

first root growths

of slugs and bugs and other thugs

ENTER: the slug

very ambitious slug

disheartened by constant poking ;P

ENTER: the bug

cute little critter

ENTER: the snail (the thug)

goofy :)

drip, drip go the drops

 guess you must have got the notion by now... i'm using a drip for drip irrigation! pretty neat, ain't that? and economical too provided that you undergo a week or two of  diarrohea, GTIs or something equally bad ;)

 the scribblings you can see are the ingredients of rose fertilzer

i just supported the nozzle with a stick and it dripped away water. drip irrigation's good especially in warm/hot climates because it maintains the water level in the soil. during  fruiting period the chances of blossom end rot also lessen

Pretty in Pink- Portulaca Grandiflora (also called Moss Rose)

this plant comes in cuttings.. you just stick in the stems and wait for the magic to stir up.. it loves the sun and does well with little water

  

 bud

 

pollen close-up

red chillis

The joy of the harvest of one's very own home-grown things cannot be described in words. At present I am growing red chillis at home. Yesterday I harvested the first chilli. Here are some pics of the plants.

red chilli

chilli flower

  its so tiny.. see

the plant

the 'hi-fi' plant security technique ;p

The greatest annoyance from birds is their unsatisfiable taste for new seedlings. I don't mind birds 'messing' about the place but the aforesaid habit of theirs just drives me crazy. The other day I took a check on my sunflower seedlings and found that the healthiest one was wilting. It was only after a good lot of detection that I found out what had happened. The plant stalk was tied in three places to a stick and leaving the upper two supports, there was no sign of the stem beneath that. I guess the culprit couldn't pull out the entire plant and so had to be content with the little it got. The remaining stem lasted in water for two days.
After that I decided to give some sort of protection to other seedlings. Net held with sticks was no use since the wind could blow it down very easily. Metal net I couldn't get. Plain sticks stuck in the soil rotted away at the base. But then this brainwave came to me : Why Not Use A Laundry Bag? And so this is how the whole thing came about and now my little seedlings are as safe as in a bank vault. Laundry bags are easy to get(almost every household has them) , easy to store and best of all ready to use. So go ahead and try this!