Inside Monkey cup's cup

1 March 2011

3 April 2011

27 April 2011

Can you see the ants??

The content inside one monkey cup's cup. Confirm they're big eater!! 

15 July 2011

soil vs sphagnum

If you're given some seeds, what will you do? I think most people will just toss them on soil and wait for them to germinate.

You might not do so anymore after reading this. :)

These are the Carissa carandas seeds germinated in pot with soil.  

Whereas these are the germinated C. carandas seeds in plastic pot stuffed with sphagnum.

The results are very obvious isn't it? 

Fyi, this test was carried out accidentally and total unplanned. ^^ 

I got too much of the seeds so i put the extra seeds in the plastic pot with sphagnum instead of soil as I don't have any pot with soil left. They were all germinated on the same day (23 June 2011) and these pictures were taken after 11 days.

When they grow bigger i still need to transfer them into soil. Can't wait to see them growing and produce hot pink fruits.  *(^.^)*

Pinky the Caladium

My new 'family' member--> Pink & white polka dot Caladium!

Monkey cup

Linnaeus named monkey cup as Nepenthes.  This carnivorous plant is commonly being known as monkey cup because it was said that monkeys in the wild will drink the fluid in the cups which developed at the tip of the leaves. This statement was later proven to be true by Paul A. Zahl (senior scientist) in his article published in May 1964 issue of National Geographic. FYI, Nat geo magazine is the magazine with the famous yellow border which resemble a frame :) 

"The carriers called them "monkey cups," a name I had heard elsewhere in reference to Nepenthes, but the implication that monkeys drink the pitcher fluid seemed farfetched. I later proved it true. In Sarawak I found an orangutan that had been raised as a pet and later freed. As I approached it gingerly in the forest, I offered it a half-full pitcher. To my surprise, the ape accepted it and, with the finesse of a lady at tea, executed a delicate bottoms-up."

I successfully acclimatized monkey cup from in vitro culture. This is the plant in in vitro before acclimatization.

Mini monkey cup in culture vessel

Initially they were not looking good after i transferred them into pot. All the leaves are drying and dying, so i trimmed them off in the hope that will stimulate them to grow new leaves. I'm surprised and happy that they did! Yeah  ^^v

Ta dah~~~ They're growing bigger, greener and shinier after a few weeks or months (i lost count >_< ) transferred from the in vitro culture. As you can see, there are pitcher forming at the tip of every leaf too.

The lid on top of the cup is still unopen. Can't wait for them to become mature and open it! 

Pitchers with various sizes, from right to left : Large, medium and small. hehehe ^^

❦ My garden ❦ part II

My sunflowers are flowering.  ^o^V  

The growth of Sundew ☼

Sundew is a carnivorous plant. They eat insects! This plant is unique due to their tectacles topped with sticky secretions on their leaves. The function of the sticky mucilage is exactly like the glue traps we used to capture kill house flies, cockroaches, lizards, rats, etc. However, they're better than glue traps because this plant will secrete enzymes that will digest/dissolve their prey and absorb the nutrients.

Three's a crowd! Therefore i separate them.

 Not only it grew stem, but a baby sundew too! ^^ (bottom left of mama sundew)

Flower of Sundew. A tiny purple flower. 

I'm very surprised that the flower stalks will grew so high! As you can see, there was another stalk formed.

 And it produced tiny purple flower too.

Flower on second flower stalk.

(Taken from Wikipedia)

I would like to see my sundew in action like the above one day!

Avocado

I tried growing avocado after watching the movie "Red". Bruce Willis spends his day watching the avocado plant while talking on the phone to a girl who is working as pensions advisor in the movie. Both of them enjoy talking to each other including the growth of the avocado plant. I still remember vividly Bruce Willis mentioned to her about his avocado plant has two leaves alraedy. This was where close-up of the avocado plant appeared. The avocado seed was poked with 3 sticks which hold the seed half in water and half above it. It was my first time seeing this method. I thought that was some kind of Hollywood trick in movie, until my friend went online to verified this and found out this is the way to grow an avocado tree! :)

The satay sticks were holding half of the seed submersed in the water and half in the air. A few days or weeks (which i lost count), the seed started rooting first before sprouting. The rate of root growth is more rapid if compared to shoot growth. At one point, the root and leaves growth vigorously and became like this.

The root keep growing, growing and growing! I asked around the see anyone would like to 'adopt' it, but seemed like nobody is interested in avocado. If its an orchid or tongkat ali, i think everybody would fight for it.hahah.. Obviously, avocado plant is not so popular in Malaysia.

I looked up on the internet to see am I supposed to plant it in soil or let it keep growing in water. Not much help from the internet, so i decided to transfer it to soil. At least more space for them to growth comparing to the mineral water bottle. =P

Three more new leaves after 4 days! That's amazing!

I hope it's still growing and surviving until i find a bigger 'home' for them.

I also want to know how many people started growing avocado tree after watching the movie "Red". ^^

❦ My garden ❦

 I love gardening. I think i got this genes from my dad. (*^^) He has green fingers.

Green bean  （＾ｖ＾）

Sunflower (*^▽^*)

 Alocasia (-_^)

Plant famous for its usage in love potion. Tongkat Ali (*･∀･)／❤＼(･∀･) 

Ong lai a.k.a Pineapple Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏhuat ar!

Persimmon (＾□＾*)

Mushroom ( ^‐^)

Yeah, that's my garden. What a pathetic garden of mine !(＊>ω<) 

Would you like to share a spare bit of your garden/land with me? p(*＾-＾*)q

I got this idea from Hugh. Hugh? Who is he? I knew him from watching 

River cottage on Astro AFC, channel 703.He came out with this brilliant 

idea of land sharing in England. 58508 people have joined this community 

so far. I want to be one of them!!

I wish we have something like this in Penang, an island where land is so 

scarce. Whenever there's a piece of land in Penang, they'll build a 

shopping mall on it. Why can't they build library or greenhouse or 

anything that's more beneficial and useful than shopping complex? 

As if Penang is lacking of shopping mall. We have Gurney, Queensbay, 

Prangin mall, Komtar, Island Plaza, Midland, BJ complex, Straights Quay, 

Times square, Gama and 1st Avenue on a tiny island!! 

Not to mention Tescos, Giants, Sunshines and many others! -_- 

How I wish our public library is as cool as the New York Public Library or 

Hiroshima City Manga Library. I would love to spend my whole weekends 

or even overnight there.

(taken from Google)

Make more wishes because wishes are free! haha...