Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - DimplesLee

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 20
1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mulching with grave rock?
« on: July 23, 2017, 06:49:36 AM »
It's hydroton or hydrocorn in gardening centres Oscar. I use the 2cm to 3cm diameter LECAs for hydroponic pots (so they don't fall off the pot holes) but the smaller rejects are cheaper - the broken ones or those that didn't expand too well they're like little beads around 5-15mm diameter all mixed in one bag - I put those in flood and drain grow beds instead. The LECAs that failed to properly expand (can't hold too much air inside the balls) don't usually float. You can rinse them in a bin of hot water and let it stand for half an hour or so and the ones that float get used for hydro growbeds but those that sink go into the pond :)


I've heard some tradies call it exclay (expanded clay) pellets and yes - they're pellet shaped instead of the normal round balls for garden use. It's primarily for insulation and comes in standard 25kg bags at our local Bunnings but haven't checked the price. Had some leftover and tested the pH - both exclay pellets and hydroton are in the neutral range.


IMHO since the clay is strip-mined in "poor" countries and shipped halfway across the globe - a bit pricier alternative would be growstones? From recycled glass.



2
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / feedback on seedman?
« on: June 25, 2017, 08:36:06 PM »
any positive/negative experiences with seedman.com? I am planning to buy nectar-heavy plants and trees from their catalogue but just want to make sure their seeds are good and that it's not an exercise in futility? Need more bee friendly perennials and trees

3
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Pond edible plants
« on: June 25, 2017, 08:34:11 PM »
I've never tried waterlily and lotus tubers- but it looks interesting thanks for the link! I have also tried Ipomea aquática and sadly a neighbour's geese flock found them very tasty. Every time I replant and they start forming a clump the geese return for another feeding. Never been one to deny foraging animals a source of food so fencing is not an option.




4
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Pond edible plants
« on: June 24, 2017, 08:18:38 PM »
Can you all suggest bog/pond plants that could survive extreme heat (in the 40C range) most days with occasional drought without dying off?


I already have the edible taro both green stem and red stem types growing slooooowly in a natural pond (more like a huge rainwater puddle actually) and would like to add more plants to take advantage of all that water and nice soil). TIA


Also have sweet myrtle but it seems to keep dying must be the heat.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Anybody heard from Don? From Queensland?
« on: June 18, 2017, 01:56:40 AM »
Just checking up on him and family.

6
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Ginger
« on: June 10, 2017, 09:46:17 AM »
Cover with leaf mulch as well - just rake up fallen leaves and stomp on them for awhile to break em up a bit, water well then use as mulch - the ginger family seems to have this interdependence thing going on with all bugs that like to live in rotting leaves.

7
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Ginger
« on: June 10, 2017, 09:43:12 AM »
Please mix in a lot of wood ash to the compost - also they like a thorough watering once in a while - when the leaves start wilting - otherwise as long as they are in deep shade (grow mine in containers under trees) they stay quite happy. if they rot or grow mushy they are probably getting too much water actually. People in the Philippines plant them in hillsides as intercrops in orchards and leave them alone for six to eight months (no supplemental irrigation or anything) and they do just fine.

8
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Edible tropical mushrooms?
« on: April 03, 2017, 09:57:42 PM »
I think the second method on this page sorta resembles what I am talking about. If you will be using a walkin or an old lean to greenhouse you can use old clothes drying racks to have a place to hang additional fruiting bags from if you run out of shelf space. I think you guys in the US have a more active free cycle community so you're probably going to have more luck finding free/cheap things to use for your DIY projects compared to my dumpster diving forays back when I was a poor student :)


http://freshcapmushrooms.com/learn/the-fruiting-environment-chosing-a-grow-room-design-for-home-cultivation/



9
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Edible tropical mushrooms?
« on: April 03, 2017, 09:51:06 PM »
http://www.pinoybisnes.com/agri-business/mushroom-production-guide


https://www.profitableplants.com/starting-a-mushroom-growing-business-in-6-easy-steps/


I tried the mushroom fruiting bags method using coir fibers and Lucerne hay and my darkroom slash humidity tent was an old walkin greenhouse the type that flies away at the slightest breeze :D it was okay, the most fussy part of the DIY process was setting up misters to keep the place humid.

10
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Edible tropical mushrooms?
« on: April 03, 2017, 09:36:34 PM »
Pardon admins and mods


http://www.jmpmushroom.com/


LivingParadise,
There is a list of commonly eaten and cultivated mushrooms on that website (it's a mushroom growing startup in a tropical country) so just ignore the selling products part. I posted that link for the information presented there not the merchandise.

11
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Turmeric (Curcuma longa)
« on: April 02, 2017, 08:33:53 PM »
For galangal, ginger, black turmeric, Krachai, sweetflag, lemongrass stubs, etc just soak some spaghnum moss, drain and put in a plastic pot (fill halfway with damp moss) pop the rhizome in there and cover with an inch of damp moss, cover with plastic wrap, put pot outside where it gets morning sun only or in a warm place but in shade (say under eaves against a wall) mist the surface of the moss daily and wait until it sprouts. Plant in a larger container or in the ground once it's about a foot tall - rhizome, moss and all. No need to remove the moss so you don't damage the roots. I've found this to be the most successful way to grow all those expensive fancy turmeric I buy from eBay. :) Turmeric both the yellow and fancy ones are the hardest to get going so be patient - I've had a mango turmeric take 7 darn weeks before it started to leaf out.

12
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Okinawan spinach
« on: April 01, 2017, 10:27:18 PM »
Actually find Okinawa spinach (Gynura bicolor) to be quite bland? Do you eat the mature leaves or the new growth? It tastes just the same as gynura procumbens (plain green gynura) except the green one holds a bit better during cooking - doesn't turn as mushy. If you're the type of vegan who eats at least soups with clear broth you can add both types of gynura to soups - just add them after you turn the heat off (say let them steep for 5-10 minutes) so they don't turn into mushy consistency like malabar spinach.


For me at least, I find it makes a nice addition to any asian dish that calls for moringa leaves or tatsoi.

13
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Galangal
« on: April 01, 2017, 10:17:49 PM »
In the Phils langkawas means lesser galangal - A officinarum. In the local pinoy supermarkets greater galangal is tagged as Thai galangal or Thai ginger and the lesser galangal plain langkawas or "local galangal". So Thai recipes probably means A galanga.  :)

14
Very popular Filipino dessert and/or cold drink - buko pandan.


Recipe for the dessert:
https://recipenijuan.com/buko-pandan-salad-recipe/


Cold drink:
http://www.kawalingpinoy.com/buko-pandan-drink/


You can also make a simple pandan syrup:
http://www.fromkarenskitchen.com/recipes/sauce_topping/syrup/pandan_simple_syrup.php


I make a bottle or two of the pandan syrup without sugar though - if you have a very lush pandan plant(s) just chop and boil about a kilo of fresh leaves with 1 gallon water, wait until the water boils and the kitchen smells heavenly and then strain and freeze the water (preferably in ice cube trays/muffin trays). You can use the pandan ice with fresh coconut juice, add some milk and honey (optional) and drink up! We also use the pandan infused water for a lot of glutinous rice desserts.

15
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: Sassafras root suckers
« on: March 27, 2017, 08:43:44 AM »
Yes I was told seeds are the best way but mine seems to germinate and then gets stunted and die off after putting out a pair of leaves or so. Can't seem to get things right no matter what potting mix I use and any adjustments environment-wise.

16
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: [ISO]Royal Purple mango tree ?
« on: March 27, 2017, 08:37:40 AM »
And is the taste of Royal Purple not something than can be improved by added magnesium and potassium twice yearly?


17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Absorbing the Vegetable Subforum
« on: March 24, 2017, 03:03:49 AM »
Having a horticulture only sub would prob be meh - well just my take on things as I generally don't fuss with plants I can't eat. Yep, flowers = pretty but only if my bees like them.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Absorbing the Vegetable Subforum
« on: March 24, 2017, 03:01:58 AM »
Just "other edibles" Sheehan - so that would be all inclusive of vege (Asian or otherwise) and herbs (for cooking), herbals (naturopathic medicine stuff), rootcrops and then a buy/sell/trade for all of them would be good.

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: worm castings
« on: March 19, 2017, 02:57:57 AM »
I've never used cardboard or newsprint for vermibeds. Farm waste mostly - corn stalks, banana trunks, sugarcane waste, sometimes spoiled hay. A shredder works just fine if you want things chopped up in smaller pieces. I have also occasionally used coarse wood chips (had a pile sitting around for use as mulch that I forgot to cover with a tarp and subsequently soaked up too much rainwater) it lasted for quite some time like it took ages to break down but I had a glut of worms during the time I used it for bedding.

20
Okay thanks! they're out of the stock at the moment but I can wait a bit.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: worm castings
« on: March 18, 2017, 10:08:32 PM »
As another member stated, sometimes it's easier to build a compost/mulch pile in rings around established trees/banana mounds and so on, water well then dump say 3 handfuls or so of vermi worms (a course sieve thru a vermi bed/plot works just fine for harvesting worms) then let them loose in the new compost pile and let the worms eat their way thru and poop out the castings in situ.

Use pure castings after fruit set as it's like high nitrogen fert - the new leafy growth will help protect the fruits from too much sun but if you apply castings during bloom time some veg and trees abort flowers and just grow new leaf flushes instead.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Star Apple drought stress?
« on: March 18, 2017, 10:17:06 AM »
Fruits from same tree that started bearing last year (green star apple) - last year's crop was milky (lots of latex) but this batch is just as dense as my RCF Morado? Is this from too little water?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B243PG1m4bJtOEJhY2RqX0tJNFk


https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B243PG1m4bJtZFRqZ2xfYmlsUFE



24
Preferably able to obtain a phytosanitary certificate from their local plant quarantine or agriculture office. I'd rather deal with Indian sellers for this one versus Thai sellers - no offence meant just need the authentic seeds. EU studies show it's good for epilepsy and other seizure / involuntary spasms (lewey bodies dementia  , Parkinson's etc) not as medicine itself but as a complementary supplement, pref taken as tea so will be needing to plant some.


PM please, thank you!

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Caimito Leaves looking curled
« on: March 15, 2017, 09:39:07 PM »
My mature trees' leaves always look like that? They only have normal flat leaves during flowering season.

Do you know what month is the flowering season? Especially in ca?


I don't know about CA but in my tiny corner of the Philippines where the trees are they start blooming November right until early March (whenever the dry cool season stops and summer takes over). November is usually when the monsoon rains stop but the weather remains cool for a few more months.

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 20