Laman Lily

English/ Malay I have tried to grow fig cuttings three times: the first one was a hundred percent success (2/2 cuttings) whereas the second and the third times were less than fifty percent success, and now currently on the fourth attempt. During the second and third attempts, I varied with the water levels and noticed that roots that developed on the cuttings were clustered near the water surface. The blue line indicates water level. Note that the roots developed near the water surface. A study by Zimmerman (1930) showed similar observation, relating the importance of oxygen for root development in cuttings, albeit certain species requires more oxygen than others. Oxygen is needed for plant respiration, to convert food storage in the cuttings into energy needed for root development whereas deprived of oxygen led to cell decayed. Oxygen is deprived when the water is too deep. For this reason, it is recommended to change water everyday to maximize oxygen availabilit...

English/ Malay Regrowing new plant from cutting is one way of plant propagation; one advantage is that this method allows faster fruit development when compare to plant propagation from seed. Regrowing new plant from cutting is an acquire skill; some cuttings are easy to regrow while some require tender loving care. The techniques I'm writing are based from the tips I've learnt, read and practiced. I hope you'll find this writing to be useful as these techniques have been my guidance.

English/ Malay A good quality gardening tools are an asset to a gardener, especially when the tools is cared very well. I just cleaned my tools and I feel the difference between using a rusty secateur in comparison with a not-so-rusty secateur.

Malay /English " Garlic spray, chili spray and neem oil spray are suitable to be used as preventive measure whereas tomato leaf spray, baking soda spray, oil spray, soap spray neem oil spray  are suitable to address infestation " Homemade insecticides and fungicide are getting more and more popular. I first heard about homemade  insecticides and fungicide in 2016 and have been using them since then.  My homemade insecticides. Before that, just a few reminders; Reminder #1 : Before using any of the sprays, test it by spraying a little bit on a leaf and observe for 1-2 days; if there is no change on the leaf, that means the spray is safe to be used. However, if there's damage on the leaf, most probably the spray was too concentrated thus  it is better to dilute it so as not to harm the plant. Reminder #2 : Avoid spraying on a sunny day as the interaction with oil causing leaves to display signs of leaf burn. Now that you've read ...

Malay /English Imagine, there's this plant you want to grow. You've got the seeds; you soak them, plant them and tend to them daily. You watch them every single day yet you see no changes. Sounds familiar? I'm pretty sure you are not alone in that situation, unless you are one of the lucky few who can grow anything. I've also had my shares of failure to germinate seeds but to quote Edison; From these failures, I've learnt how to germinate seed better (and had better success rate).

Have you ever seen these labels on a seed package and wonder what do they mean? GMO seeds? F1 hybrid? What is Hybrid seed? However, before that,...