Preparing mint cutting for propogation

Mint is easier to propogate by taking mint cutting that using seeds.

Remove the bottom leaves and put them in a glass of water. You can expect to see white roof after 5 to 7 days. Some stubborn ones can take a little longer.

Tips: Save the leaves to flavour your tea. 

How to know your mint cutting is alive?

After moving your water rooted mint cutting to soil, it is important to monitor and when you see : new leaves or babies, you know you can expose them to more sun (like other mature mint plant).

Cuttings below has been moved to soil a week++ ago. It has both new leaves and babies shoot. 

7 days after moving to soil:

10 days after moving to soil : you can see new leaves. 

To encourage bushy plant you can cut at the blue line, just above the baby shoot circled in pink.

Plant will start to branch out soon:

Tips: dry and crush egg shell and use as mint fertilizer. 

Growing mint in Singapore

Growing mint is very common in Singapore and Malaysia.

• Light : Full morning sun. Avoid direct afternoon sun here in Singapore due to heat. Full sun if you live in cold countries. 
• Water: lightly at least twice a day (unless raining) 
• Fertilizer : lightly every 3 to 4 weeks

If you do not have an existing mint plant, skip step 1. You can use mint purchased from supermarket/market for growing a new plant.

It is very easy to propogate mint using cutting. You will need:

- clean scissor

- glass container

- Water

Step 1:  Cut mint below leave node.

Choose healthy and strong cutting to increase chances of rooting. The cutting should be at least 3.5 inches. It is also important to thoose branches with many leave nodes as root will grow from node.

Step 2: Remove all the bottom leaves and keep only the top 2 to 4 leave.

Step 3: Place cutting in glass of water at a bright spot. It is fine to use a mug too if you can't find a glass bottle. 

Step 4: Throw and give the cutting new water every 2 to 3 days

Step 5: You should see white roots growing after 5 to 10 days.

Step 6: Transfer the cutting to soil when the root is at least 2cm. However do not wait too long as the plant may get shock and not able to adapt to growing in soil. 

Water the pot in the morning and evening to keep them moist. 

Keep the pot indoor for 1 to 2 week before moving them to the final location.

You should see new leaves growing within 2 weeks and new shoots when root is developed. Alternatively, you can trim off the top to encourage splitting. 

I will post an update after few weeks. Happy Gardening. 

How to dry your air plant after watering

You may choose to mist or soak the plant to water them.

The main worries of many owners is rot when it comes to watering air plant. To avoid rot and fungus, you should make sure the plant is dry within 4 hours after watering.

To dry your air plant, make you remove excess water by shaking the plant upside down and dry them in bright windy place. The plants should be totally dried before returning to the container/holder. 

You may also use a fan to blow dry the plant. 

T. Eric Knobloch

Upcycled a holder for my Tilly..air plant number 11.

Materials and equipment:

- Empty bottle

- Pebbles

- Pen knife

You can choose to make some holes on the holder for better air flow 

Havesting Ginger Plant

My oldest ginget plant is about 7 months old. I couldn't wait any longer to see how are things below the grown and decided to harvest them.

First, give them a nice trim:

Turn the pot upside down:

This is how the look after a nice bath:

Made some ginger tea immediately after that. They tasted extra spicy and hot. 

Growing Ginger in Singapore

My ginger plants are now 2 to 4 months old.

To my suprise, the smallest container has the biggest and strongest plant- 2.5 feet tall plant in a ~7 cm height pot.

It will take another 4 to 5 months for the plant to be mature.

Suprise suprise...the ginger plant has a flower