So this post is totally not related to balcony flowers, gardening or the such, but still…

Get the Puzzle Messages Facebook app to create your own!

Looks like this past year has been filled with many trips away from my beloved plants. And this coming year doesn’t look very different either. I’m in Melbourne at the moment and will be going to Silicon Valley soon too.

My gardenias still aren’t looking very good, but at least the frangipanis are looking good. The cutting has got a tonne of leaves and probably grew at least 10 cm of stalk along with it. The seedlings are now leafing like mad too. I have to start thinking about giving them as much sunlight as my balcony allows. I’ll start them over winter, when I’m back in Perth and when the sun isn’t so harsh.

I killed off the momoko tomatoes and hollyhock because I just don’t have the time to give them proper care. I think I may have mentioned this before.

In the mean time, I thought I’d try out this new fangled puzzle of one of my plant photos.

Create your own puzzles at PuzzleBee.com!

Some days I wonder if I should be gardening at all. Things on the balcony are a mix between good and bad.

2 more gardenia plants look like they’ve given up the ghost. All the leaves went brown before drying up and now they look like sticks. The remaining 2 gardenia plants that actually have leaves on them look like they’re struggling. New growth looks small, and the leaves further down the stem have dropped. I did manage to get it to give me one little sickly looking flower though, which made my week!

I thought it could be too alkaline, so I started giving it a handful of coffee every couple of weeks and watering it with water mix with a splash of apple cider vinegar. I only started doing this recently, so it’s going to take a while before I see if it’s helping.

The calla lilies never bloomed for me. At least not yet. They’re probably not too happy about being eaten by fungus gnats. Which I think are still around, but in less quantity.

I burned the leaves of the orchids. They were also suffering from not enough water, so I switched orchid potting mix to one that had finer bark pieces that looked like they would hold more water. I think that did the trick because I haven’t seen any new burns on the leaves. A few also looked like they were shooting up new bulbs.

The frangipani I bought is leafing like crazy. The fungus problem it had in the soil looks like it’s under control. I watered it with an acidic solution and it looks to have done the trick. No flowers or inflo yet, but I still have hope.

The frangipani seedlings are doing well too. They’re all leafing nicely and growing happily in their green house.

The red asiatic lilies are dying down now. I think they’re new bulbs so I’m going to dig them up and split them if required.

I’ve decided to do as much re-potting as possible when the time comes. I’m thinking that the potting mix I bought from this one particular store wasn’t pasteurised and that’s where the gnats came from. So I’m going to try to change as much of them over as possible.

I’m still spraying with pyrethrum regularly to keep populations down, but I don’t really want to do that forever.

All in all, I don’t think I’m doing too badly, but the gardenia thing is really getting me down. They were my pride and joy and I love them too much to give up just yet!

Things have been hectic with work lately, hence the lack of updates. I was also discouraged with the fungus gnat invasion. I don’t even know if anything is under control at the moment since I only got back a couple of days ago from yet another trip to America.

My dad was kind enough to take care of my plants again. Bless him.

So… from what I can tell, the gardenias are not doing well. Four of the six plants are leafless and it’s summer! I blame the painters for throwing over those heavy canvas blankets over them and depriving them of sun completely for who knows how long. It could also be over fertilising, I may have been giving too much “love” to my beloved gardenias. Now they look sick.

I got a couple of surprises when I walked out onto my balcony. Firstly, it was a mess! That’s what happens when it gets neglected for a month. Seriously though, a big surprise was the frangipani giving me new leaves! I was seriously worried it wasn’t going to sprout because I somehow neglected it or something, but it’s looking very nice.

Another surprise is one of my succulents giving me some kinda flowers! The firesticks are certainly looking very fire-stickish!

There is a third surprise, but I’m not sure if this is a good one or not! On the soil surface of the frangipani and the moses in a cradle (which is now looking very awesome and thriving! Pics to come…) is some strange yellow growth. I’m guessing is fungus growth of some sort.

Not sure what to do with it. It doesn’t look like it’s hurting the plants, but it’s creeping me out at the same time. I read that fungus doesn’t like a sudden change in pH and that mixing in some coffee grounds into the top layer of soil may get rid of it.

My new nemesis seems to be fungus gnats. It’s not a new problem, but a recurring one that’s driving me nuts.

You wouldn’t believe the damage these little suckers have done. They ate 4 of my 5 Queen of the night tulips bulbs, so it looks like I won’t be having tulips this spring… boohoo. The left the empty shells of the tulip bulbs for me to find.

I only found out because I was wondering why they hadn’t sprouted yet. Only one of the bulbs showed some greenery peeking through the soil line, but when I disturbed the soil where the other tulips should have been, there was nothing. In my curiosity, I dug down to the level of the bulbs and uncovered just the empty shells. I could see a few wriggling larvae so I knew it was fungus gnats.

They also left holes in my calla lily leaves! Gah! The only thing they haven’t attacked yet are the liliums.

I’ve been out on the balcony every day armed with my spray bottle of pyrethrum. I spray the soil and leaves on a daily basis hoping to kill the adults before they lay more eggs in the soil. I think I’m seeing an improvement in numbers, but it’s an ongoing process. I wish I had something to knock out both adults and larvae at once.

There are organic predatory nematodes, mites and bacteria, but they’re not easy to get a hold of. The bacteria isn’t approved for use in Australia and the mites and nematodes would require shipping from another part of Australia.

I read another remedy that could work is to drench the soil and spray the foliage with hydrogen peroxide. The peroxide should kill the larvae and eggs by oxidation and give plants an added boost of oxygen around the roots. It’s meant to be a good fungicide too, something I should use on the frangipani since it’s not growing any new leaves and it’s spring.

Speaking of frangipani, I did squeeze the branch and it’s not soggy, so I’m not even sure if there’s a fungal infestation. I did dig up some of the soil and found it to be clumpy even though the soil was pretty dry. There were some white stringy bits that looks like webbing holding the soil together. I’m not sure if this is fungus in the soil or fine roots of the frangipani. Either way, it could do with a hydrogen peroxide drenching.

There’s some debate on what strength to use. Bill Munro, an advocate for the use of hydrogen peroxide on everything including himself, says 8% for gardening, some other web sites are saying say 3%. But either way, I need to find some large quantities of hydrogen peroxide to begin with!

I’ve finished bidding on the cymbidium orchids on ebay.com.au. I won the 4 I had set my eyes on and now I’m very eager to get my hands on them.

They’re being sent bare rooted and so my research began on how to pot them up. I figured they’ll be a little dry when I receive them and if they’re anything like bare rooted roses, I’ll have to soak them overnight before I planted them.

Based on a good article on how to pot up bare rooted orchids from Vivi’s orchid corner, my plan of action will be:

1. Prepare some soaking solution by adding a few added drops of rooting hormone and dilute orchid fertiliser to water.
2. Soak the orchids roots in the soaking solution for a few minutes, then dunk the leaves in it too.
3. Wet some sphagnum moss with the wetting solution and place in a plastic zip lock bag and put one of the orchids in them. Repeat this step for each bare rooted orchid.
4. Sit the zip lock bag upright in a position with bright light with protection from wind (the greenhouse).
5. Once new growth appears, pot up in orchid potting mix (which I’ll have to buy).

I’ve read that one can soak in a soaking solution of sugar and fertiliser, but I’m not so convinced of this, I would think the incidence of fungus would be greatly increased.

Here’s what the greenhouse looks like. It’s not in its final position but it’s already looking good. The frangipani, okra, tomato and hollyhock seedlings are inside and there’s plenty of room to add more.

Speaking of okra, tomato and hollyhock seeds, I really need to pot them up very soon. Their roots, especially the tomato seedlings, are showing through the jiffy pellet.

I don’t think I mentioned this before, but I re-potted the succulents again. They’re in a plastic black bowl all grouped together and looking nice. I’ll show a before and after:

Before…

After…

Finally got myself a mini greenhouse and assembled it last night. I took it out this morning and put all the frangipani seedlings in it and it’s got so much more room left.

Don’t know why I didn’t get one sooner, it really saves space on the balcony. I’m thinking of getting a shelf display of some sort for the plants on the south wall of the balcony to neaten things up as well. It would certainly same some space!

Next item for the balcony is the shed. There’s a corner of the balcony that’s just getting messy and full of gardening crap I’d rather hide away than leave out for display.

Can’t wait til the rain stops, then I can sweep the balcony again and get ready for spring entertaining.

One a side note, the hollyhock, tomato and okra seedlings are coming along nicely. Only 2 of 5 okra seeds germinated, but that’s ok, I’m not sure I need anymore! I planted those seeds in jiffy blocks and the roots are starting to show through. I’m going to need a lot more little pots to transplant them into!

The short version today:

Finally re-potted the Calathea and Cordyline from home. Will be bringing them to the office tomorrow to add to the office collection of plants… which is growing… rapidly… oh dear!

I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve gone mad for Cymbidium orchids too. Bought one from Bunnings earlier this week and have bid on 3 others on ebay.com.au! Ah! Where to put these things?! But they’re so pretty… how could I resist?

I have a white Cym right now and the ones I bid on are green, yellow and pink. I want to add a brown to the collection, then I should stop. Not that I want to stop, I just should! The only down side is that it’s going to take a couple of years before I see flowers and that’s only if I give them the right conditions.

Here’s a sample photo of the colours of the Cymbidiums I want in my collection:

I hate being sick, everything goes out of whack and my routines go down the drain and it takes a while for everything to settle back into a good rhythm.

Anyway, so I neglected the tomato plants a little and now they’re all on their way out. I harvested the tomatoes that I could and this weekend will be tomato dumping time. I’m nibbling on the ripe tomatoes and mmm… mmm… mmm… it’s so tasty. Next time I know to plant only one tomato plant per pot, the plants are very pot-bound at the moment, which I’m sure contributed to their dismay.

Once the plants make it to the trash, the old tomato pots are going to be cleaned sealed (they were terracotta) and something new will be planted in them, not sure what yet, maybe the hollyhock?

Speaking of hollyhock, out of 8 seeds 5 germinated and I already killed 2 from lack of water. I moved the hollyhock and frangipani seedlings outside and kinda forgot about them. The frangipani seedlings are still alive, but 2 of the hollyhock seedlings died. I stuck 5 more seeds in the jiffy pots and gave them all a good water.

I started new seeds this morning. I soaked 10 jiffy pellets, 5 for okra seeds and 5 for tomato seeds. I’m really thinking of getting a mini greenhouse so I can keep the seedlings outside. It’s ridiculous having so many seedlings indoors, it messes up the house.

Which reminds me, I need more charcoal coloured plastic pots! The two house plants I have at home are going to be moved to the office and me, being the somewhat anal retentive type, wants all the pots to match. I still have to re-pot the peace lily and the mother’s in law tongue as it is, now I can add the calathea and cordyline to the list.