Felt bag for woody plants

I came across the process of "air-pruning" when studying nursery operations some years ago. Plants roots has several enemies, which includes air and copper, and when they are encountered, the roots would die. This process is utlilised mostly by the nursery industry to prevent girdling and encourage the formation of root tips (at the periphery of pots) in woody saplings and container trees. The additional benefits include improved drainage and aeration, leading to less heat build up than in plastic and clay pots. I encountered the air-pruning containers again, in the form of felt bags in a tree nursery. But the felt bags were not used in a correct manner, as pictured below.

Tree nursery with a batch of Aleurites moluccana.

The felt bag was buried resulting in a reduced contact with air, but fortunately, the bag managed to hold most of the roots in.

In order for the air-pruning containers to work well (whether they are felt bags or containers with holes at the sides), they should be in full contact with air, as root tips would desiccate and die when they meet air. I chanced upon some inexpensive felt bags from an overseas shopping website and order two to try out. The website made shoppers to buy in twos, presumably to make the most out of the postage. The following photos shows the repotting steps for woody plants that are to be kept indefinitely as houseplants.

Not the photo of the exact product, but its just a seemingly plain bag.

The inside of the bag facing noon-sunlight.

 The plastic bag that the plant came in had its bottom cut out and it was inserted into the felt bag.

 The remaining plastic bag was pulled out, and additional soil could be added for a snug fit between the root ball and felt bag. After the roots are established in the felt bag, it is not recommended to move it by the handles, as the roots at the periphery of the bag would break. Thus, a pot tray should be placed below the felt bag.

 Syzygium polyanthum are grown for their leaves that could be used in cooking and fruits that attract birds.

Coccoloba uvifera are usually found along the coasts in the tropics. Their fruit are edible but are cultivated mostly as ornamental and windbreaks.

Microgreens catching on in the farming scene

In land scarce Singapore, growing microgreens are the trend now, as farm lot and house sizes are much smaller then they were. Furthermore, the prohibitively expensive labour and rental costs make growing these seedlings an even more attractive option for modern farmers. This growing method even comes with an addition benefit of being organic, as no pesticides and fertilisers are necessary. Some studies have shown that microgreen pack 40 times more nutrients than their mature stage.

Sprouts vs Microgreens

Sprouts are not grown in a medium like soil or peatmoss. In commercial settings (and sometimes in homes), they are farmed in containers that are inundated with water from time to time. Sunlight is not required for their growth.

Microgreens are grown in a medium like soil or peatmoss. They need sunlight and air circulation. After the first leaves are fully developed, microgreens could be harvested. Microgreen have a better taste, as compared with sprouts that tastes plain.

Although sprouts may habour more bacteria because of their growing environment, consumers are advised to wash both sprouts and microgreens thoroughly. Sprouts should be cooked before consumption but microgreens could be eaten raw.

Companies involved with Microgreens locally

1. G.R.E.E.N.S (Grow. Reap, Eat, Educate, Nurture, Share)
Website: www.facebook.com/greens.in.sg and www.greens.sg
Activities: Workshops to educate on microgreens. Participants would get their own microgreen kit.

(source: G.R.E.E.N.S facebook)

2. Green Nature Ecological Technology
Website: www.greennatureeco.com
Activities: A greenwall company and microgreen farm at Lim Chu Kang Agrotechnology Park growing pea sprout, pine willow sprout, sunflower sprout, alfalfa, radish sprout, toon sprout, buckwheat sprout, sesame sprout, black bean sprout, and wheatgrass. Although they are supplying to the major supermarkets, they are also open to small orders from individuals.

3. Pocket Greens
Website: www.facebook.com/urbanfarmbarn and www.pocketgreens.com.sg
Activities:  Located Bukit Panjang Hill Community Farm, Pocket Greens offer workshops, gardening supplies and the adoption of microgreen "lots". Patrons just need to turn up twice - one time to sow and the other time to harvest. The growing process would be handled by the company.

(source: Pocket Greens website)

4. Kin Yan Agrotech

Website: www.kinyan.biz

Activities: Hosts group visits to their farm at Lim Chu Kang Agrotechnology Park, and supplies vegetables to major supermarkets. They sell wheatgrass, buckwheat sprout, and other agro products on their website.

Visit to Edible "Garden City" Rooftop at People's Park

 Their signature array of wooden boxes.

 Indian borage grown on a wooden pallet.

 "Urban farm growing here..."

 A closer look at what are growing in the boxes.

 Rosemary in the foreground and Cranberry Hibiscus in the background growing healthily.

Very useful for the heavier rainfall nowadays.

Singapore Sportshub Field - patchy grass and being a beach about it

Well, the "beach" in the title refers to the sand that the grass did not cover, obviously. The sports field at Singapore Sportshub was installed by Desso GrassMaster (link: http://www.desso.se/news-events/nyhetsoversikt/2014/5/singapore-sports-hub-unveils-state-of-the-art-multi-functional-pitch-at-the-national-stadium/), a Belgium company, who revealed it on May 2014. The field consists of two grass species - ryegrass and bluegrass - that were previously unheard of being grown in equatorial countries. The following will be a brief examination of the grasses and management practices.

Ryegrass - presumably the Perennial ryegrass, with the scientific name of Lolium perenne. It is native to Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Asia... mean it could grow in Singapore right? Perennial ryegrass is a C3 grass, best suited for growing in temperate climates: its optimum growth temperature is 18-20 degree celcius (Mitchell, 1956) (source: http://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/31166). Maybe that is why its called a "cool-season grass" (meaning it thrives in areas with cold freezing winters and hot summers). Furthermore, in the distribution map on the CABI website mentioned above (reproduced below), nowhere near the equator, except for Brazil, is this grass growing. Perennial ryegrass does not have rhizomes or stolons, so they do not form a "mat" like the turfgrasses commonly used in Singapore like Zoysia or Cynodon. Perhaps that's why it cannot hold down the sand, leading to players kicking sand into one another's eyes. Also, it is drought sensitive. As I understand, there is no irrigation systems installed in football fields. Edit: According to the photo on the following article, (source: https://sg.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/fit-to-post-sports/-well-said---baihakki-khaizan-s-instagram-post-on-singapore-national-stadium-strikes-a-chord-with-many-025022049.html) there seemed to be an irrigation system on the field, temporary or otherwise.

Bluegrass - presumably the Kentucky bluegrass, with the scientific name of Poa pratensis. Like the Perennial ryegrass, it is cool-season grass, but the Kentucky bluegrass is moderately drought tolerant (source: http://plantscience.psu.edu/research/centers/turf/extension/factsheets/species#section-0). Kentucky bluegrass has stolons and rhizomes.

One of the unique points of the field is that "artificial fibres of 18cm long are inserted into the sand and at 2cm intervals." The grass roots would intertwine with fibres and the designers claim that "this anchors the field and creates a solid, even structure." With some foreign objects stuck in the ground, how could aerating and dethatching be done? According to an interview with the head groundsman, it could be done (source: https://sg.sports.yahoo.com/news/national-stadium-pitch-utilise-state-art-hybrid-grass-081500546.html).

Recently, the Stadium brought in artificial lights to shine on the field in order to encourage growth of the "otherworldly" turf. Is Singapore experiencing winter already? Oh no, it was just that the dome top was closed! By the way, the artificial lighting costs S$1.5 million, which is 80% more than the field (S$833,000).

Leaning tree next to a mound, part 2

I re-visited the washing bay, and wanted to see if the water really entered the tree's root zone through the cracks. And I was also bored. So I hosed some water down, and look at the photo to see what emerged from the hole:

 Toads

Leaning tree next to a mound

A tree in the operations/logistics area was noted to be leaning more by the day, and the concrete washing bay next to it was getting more heaved up.

The roots may have pulled loose due to saturation of water from the washing bay or excessive rainfall, and caused the tree to lean. As it leans, more gaps in the soil may have been created to introduce more water into the root zone. A mound was created on one side of the trunk by roots lifting soil.

The tree could be supported by guying but it was too large. And it was too late to close the gaps in the soil to stop the roots from losing grip. Hence, it was decided to remove the tree as it was next to a frequently used footpath (across the hedge).

 

 To the left of the leaning tree is a hedge, and across the hedge is a frequently used footpath.

The heaved up washing bay with gaps in the concrete slabs that may have allowed water into the rootzone.

 Overview of the tree. You can see half a buggy at the bottom left corner of the photo for size comparison. The tree might have been correcting the lean by "turning" its trunk and putting more growth in the opposite direction of the lean.

 Aftermath.

Organic matter heaped onto root collar of trees

A mass of fungus was observed to be growing at the root collar of trees, and we wondered if it was *gasp* ganoderma. Upon closer look it was not, but the guard was not let down, as it could still be a type of necrophytic fungi.

Looked like someone left food scraps at the root collar.

Prying the damn thing out.

Scraping the remainder off. Hmm looks like it was just a saprophyte fungus feeding on organic matter that was not part of the tree. The bark was still intact.

Poking around for anything soft, which could indicate left over fruiting body or decaying bark/tissues.

Cinnamon powder is known to be a natural fungicide, so I applied it on the crevices after I cleared out the organic matter and fruiting bodies. But apparently, the correct method was to mix the powder in water, let the mixture sit a while, and then spray on the target area.

Hopefully there would not be a recurrence of this fungus problem on the treated trees.

Bark Colours and Textures

Looking at the photos of Eugenia deglupta (Rainbow Eucalyptus) online, wow... the colours of the bark is so psychedelic. All these nice photos were taken at Hawaii or the Philippines, like the one below:

Rainbow Eucalyptus bark (Attribution link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/verzo/, Edit: photo cropped)

But how about the ones in Singapore? Looking at the ones at Kallang Park, Gardens by the Bay and HortPark (below), they seem to pale in contrast.

 Close-up of the bark of the tree below

Rainbow Eucalyptus in HortPark

So are they worth the price tag? One source state that a sapling of slightly over 2m height retails for $100+. For more bang of the buck, the trees below could provide interesting bark colour and texture as well.

Cratoxylum cochinchinense 

Lagerstroemia speciosa

 Syzygium antisepticum

Honourable mentions:
Syzygium gratum
Melaleuca cajuputi

Tristaniopsis whiteana

Pink

A tree (Maniltoa lenticellata) sprouted with pink flushes in Feb 2011, and after that, I was hard-pressed to find a tree with such an occurrence. But at least the following is something - almost three and a half years later.

News article on the cloning of 'Pink cascading bean tree': http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.sg/2010/08/singapore-lab-photocopies-forest.html

 Saraca indica with a bit of pink flushes

Saraca indica 3 days later

Maniltoa lenticellata, photo taken on Feb 2011

Solar Panel

Trying out the seemingly defunct solar panel meant to power lampposts. Great success.

Feeding squirrels and mistletoes

There was a squirrel feeder in our office compound and it was being stocked up diligently, in order to entice squirrels to keep coming. But wasthat the right thing to do, for wild animals to have part of their diet contributed by humans?

Got your attention right?

The squirrel feeder was to be left of the near bald Lagerstroemia tree. Why was the tree so? Note that the Lagerstroemia to the right seemed to be relatively healthy.

The tree was rid of mistletoes, which was festooned on it!

Some of the mistletoes sprouts were about 7 cm high, and could be spotted on the top of a 4 metre tree.

This was just 2 cm tall and cannot be seen with naked eyes when on the top of a 4 metre tree.

The Lagerstroemia tree putting out new leaves soon after the heavy pruning. Thank goodness.

So what happened?

• Squirrel may have emptied their bowels on the tree before and after tucking in at the feeder, and probably deposited the seeds of the mistletoe fruits they ate earlier.
• Are mistletoes desired or tolerated on trees in the garden? If no, there should be no feeder or the feeder should be located in a more obscure area.
• Could mistletoes be culled before they set root? When high up in a tree, the chances of spotting mistletoe sprouts are low.

Kanji Signs for Japanese Inspired Building

This was a sign that was outside one of the rooms and it looked... hideous. So a new set of sign were made to compliment all the room. Oh, and somewhere within the history is a small, out-of-pocket budget.

Hand written sign 

Half way there

Ta da

This room has three air-cons in it, so...

Recently discovered that it looks like a coldroom from the outside.