Mosquito repellent

Indian Borage (bangun-bangun) + Mint = mosquito repellent.

Not sure if this is true or not but I will be rooting this two plants in water. I know Indian Borage (Plectranthus barbatus) is better to be planted straight to ground (as adviced by many in the Malaysian Gardeners Facebook group) but I just like to see it in water for a while.

According to one blog, the Indian Borage is an effective cure for cough and even recommended by her doctor friend.

Ulam Raja rooted

Placed this Ulam Raja stem in water and it finally rooted.

It wasn't fast. Took more than a week to see this small root growth. Still it's satisfying. :)

This gives me encouragement to root even more Ulam Raja stems.

Mosquito experiment

Left this bottle of water out in the open and of course living in a mosquito infested place it didn't take long for mosquito to lay eggs in it.

I figure half a day for the larvae to hatch so I have time...

The camera can't seem to capture a clear picture of all larvae, which is like a dozen of them (trust me!)

There! one clear shot of the larvae. Water was just left overnight. That's how fast they hatch.

Of course, it's bad to let them become adult mosquitoes so immediately they serve a greater purpose as fish food !!

I only have one lone guppy in there, but it is one happy guppy :) 

P/S: Incidentally guppies are also known as mosquito fish as they have a healthy appetite for mosquito larvae. The pot is part of my mini aquaponics with perlite where I first germinated my durian seed.

Will leave the water bottle out again to collect more larvae.

Results - Mint in water - 1 week

This is my follow up for my mint in water experiment.

Managed to change the water used (from aquarium) and the leaves still look ok after a week.

Since I live in an apartment, I like to experiment growing mints in small cut off glass bottles like this (using a little soil). Still looks alive...

Only this bottle shows some leaves getting yellow. So I changed the water, and also reduced by half.. perhaps soaking all off the roots in water is not so good ?

Durian - 2 weeks after germination

Little shoots starting to show after 2 weeks.

Potting the durian

Finally decided to temporary pot the durian in this small plastic container first. Bought it at Giant for RM 2.

Added some perlite to improve water absorbtion and the durian seed did germinate in perlite so I guess it should be ok.

Added soil but leaving that root just jutting out a bit.

Will tranplant it to bigger pot when necessary.

The extra pot I got is planted with mint.

My new favourite vege - Ulam Raja

First had this strange ulam in a mamak mixed rice shop in Shah Alam. It went well with my chicken kurma curry and rice. It had that hint of tangy mango taste which I really liked.

After that, I Googled it to find out it's name is Ulam Raja. Next I wanted to plant it so asked a Malaysian who posted on YouTube about this Ulam Raja. He even sent me the seeds (all the way from Sabah!!) for free. 

(his youtube link here)

Anyway I did receive his seeds safely in an envelope which I did plant and is now growing fast.

At the same time my mom got some from the pasar for just  RM 1 a bunch. She saved the stems and planted it in soil.

After a few days it looked like it was dying.

However after 2 weeks the leaves started growing.

This is after 2 months ....

Together with the grown seeds I now have a good supply of ulam with my dishes ... :) 

Give it a try. This vege can grow from stems/cuttings.