What is hiding underneath the plastic sheet?

       

              They are my fig cuttings. Up to date i have about 175 cutting which cost me 3K. I’m collecting  fig cultivar. The self pollinating fig that are  already  rooting are Sal’s, Masui Dauphine, Madeleine, Dauphine, Black Madeira, White Genoa, Purple Jordan, Adriatic, Fig from Greece (? Cultivar) and Lattarula. 

                 There is few more cultivar which is not rooting yet which i’ll update later.

              I also have Turkish figs, 2 were brought by my Turkish friend (? Cultivar) while i bought therest. The cultivars that i possess are Goklop, Sarizeybak, White Patlican, Green Patlican, Green fig, Purple fig, Brown fig and Mininut fig. Goklop and Sarizeybek need to be pollinated by fig wasps, Patlican fig from Izmir is self pollinating while from other region are not. I’m not sure about the other fig since it doesn’t have specific name which i can check. (Reference from Turkish Agriculture University)

                 The other fig that needs fig wasp for pollination is calimyrna. However an Indonesian friend told me that he gets to eat 10% of calimyrna fig even without help of fig wasp. I bought the non self pollinating cultivar as part of my experiment.

                     

plastic cover to maintain humidity

 turkish fig

  

Nut crazy

It is known by so many names: Edelkastanie, Maroni, chestnut and berangan. Looking at its huge nut bring back a fond memory of late autumn/winter time in Europe whereby roasted chestnut was sold at the roadside. It is really nice to have something warm to eat while walking in a cold day. Anyway I’m crazy about some type of nut (hazelnut, pecan, pistachio, walnut, almond, cashew and macadamia), tolerate it (ground nut) and absolutely hate it (pine nut).


A few months ago i bought fresh chestnut from China in Mydin. (It is different from European and locally grown chestnut). I save 5 seeds in the fridge and after a few days it show sign of germination. I sow that seeds in  perlite, it germinates very fast, and one was partially eaten by ants and demise after a few days. The ones that make it grow very fast. I have to pinch the shoot to encourage the lateral growth and prevent it from getting too tall.

I gave 2 to my best friend because chestnut needs 2 trees for pollination to occur. I hope it will not require chilling hour before it can bloom and bear fruit.

A week old

Huge nut

2 months later

Orchid.... Again

This yellow vanda is new addition to my orchid collection.

Renanthera: fragrant

Vanda diana palmer :  fragrant

    

Male or Female?

The best asparagus to grow is all male asparagus. Since it doesn't waste energy to flower and producing seeds, all energy is directed towards the growing spear. There will be bigger and more spear in each clump.
How can you tell whether it is male or female asparagus? When asparagus reach the flowering stage, a growing spear will get taller but its fine leave will be sparse, soon after that many flowers will appear. I kept pinching the flower bud hoping to encourage the growth of the spear.

sparse needle like leaves and many flowerbuds

lush looking male asparagus in front & female at the back