The Ginger Project

(Picture November 04, 2017)

Ginger is used in many dishes, and my wife uses it more often than turmeric, which is the plant that I have at the moment.  So, she told me one time to also plant this.  And that is when this project began.

I started the project last September 23, 2017.  I took two pieces of garlic that already have those protruding things where leaves would grow on them, and planted them in a pot.  Finish!

Actually, my wife gave it to me, she has a couple of ginger that she bought a few days or weeks ago, and they were starting to have this ‘eye’ (that greenish thing), or the eyes are starting to grow.   These are the ones that I planted.

(Picture September 23, 2017)

(Picture September 23, 2017)

I read that if you have a good rich nutritious soil, you can already harvest some in four months, but for better taste and greater yield, ginger is harvested after ten (10) months.  Same as that of a turmeric.

(Picture December 02, 2017)

Above is how my ginger plant looks like, more than two (2) months after planting.

(Picture November 17, 2017)

These are the ginger planted by one of the maintenance guys in the building where I am working.  He planted it at the back of the building, in a broken aquarium.  I have been seeing this for a long time, and they said that they have already harvested many gingers from it.

I think that this is one of those plants that after planting, you can just leave it and tend to it come harvest time, it does not need much care, we may just need to water it a few times a week.

For the ginger in the office, the one who planted it said that he only watered it once, on the day he planted it.  He never watered it again.  It is rainy season now in the Philippines, so, the only water that the plant is getting is from the rain.  Maybe in summer, he will need to water it, when it gets too dry.

Some more information on ginger:

The scientific name of ginger is Zingiber officinale it is a rhizome (like turmeric), it is an underground stem (not a root) that sends roots to the ground and shoots above.  Besides giving that pungent smell that gives a pleasant aroma to the food, it also has lots of medicinal properties.  It is known to combat all kinds of stomach ailments and it also has anti-inflammatory properties that treat muscle and joint pains.  Ginger also stimulates metabolism and has a good effect on our blood sugar levels.  So it is good for people with diabetes to control their blood sugar and it can also burn fat because it increases metabolism.

Will update if I learn some more things about it.

I will try to plant some more in a container this November 23,  (after two months of planting the first one),  and will try to have a two-month interval in planting, hoping that I can also harvest every other month so that we won’t buy ginger anymore.

So this is it, for now, will report on this project in a couple of months to see its progress.

Propagating Mint and Basil Through Cuttings

These are the plants that I bought last January 14, 2017 from a Garden store near our place.  Two pieces of Basil and a Mint.

Some back story first before we do the propagation by cuttings.

I picked these pots because they have multiple Basil plants in each pot.  Both actually have three pieces of Basil plants each, the others that they were selling only have one or two per pot.

I first separated and put each of the Basil in its own pot.  Six new pots of Basil.

For the Mint, I have a large pot where I replanted it.

I let the plants recover and grew a little before I did any cuttings.  The first time we took some leaves was when we made the Basil Lemonade, that was last February 02 (almost three weeks after they were replanted).

Growing mint is really easy, just put them in a large container and wait for a few weeks (but do not forget to water them), and your container will be full of them.  It is unwise to plant them in the ground were its roots will be free to roam around, because it can easily infest your garden.

See the white roots that already have some new leaves?  You can already cut them out and plant them in a new pot.  Imagine if this was not planted in a pot, your garden will be full of them in no time.

So, now lets go to the propagating by cutting part.

I actually did this already in my Back to Basil post, but in that post, I was unable to show any update on what happened to the project.  This time, I will try to show a day by day picture of the progress of our plant.

So, first is the cutting.

I choose a plant to cut from,

The two branches, the left and the right ones looks good.

I made the cut up to almost the base of those branch, near the main stem.

Same thing I did for the mint.  even though they grow easily, I just want to try if this is also possible.

now the containers.

I found this three small PET bottles,

Which I cleaned and bind together with a rubber band, so that they would not easily fall down.

filled them up with water.

Then put the cuttings, two Basil and a mint.

This I did last February 23, 2016.

I already made some last February 18,

and I planted them in this container, it used to be a fighting fish tank.

Back to the February 23 project.

This is how it looks come March 04, see those roots?  That was just 9 days of rooting.

I transferred these to a pot the same day, and this is its picture as of March 06,

And this is how it looks as of April 09.

For the mint, I transferred it to a pot last March 09.

And as of April 12, this is that mint.

I just want to show some of my Basil as of April 29, 2017.

All of this were propagated by cuttings only, from the two plastic pots that I bought last January.

I have already given some plants to my friends and office mates, I hope this can guide them in their Basil planting ☺

Azolla Project Update 2

It has been Forty Two Days since I cleaned and added soil in my Azolla tank (January 21).  I have added a couple of buckets of water, I forgot how many buckets exactly, maybe three or four, when I noticed that the water level was getting low, last February 19, a day after my second harvest.  As for the cow dung, I only added some yesterday.  I was able to harvest three times already, including yesterday (March 11).

The pictures from January 21 to 29 are in my first Azolla update.  The following are the daily pictures from January 30 up to March 12.

Pictures 1 to 6 above are from January 30 to February 4.

My first harvest was last February 5 (15 days after planting), I took two thirds (2/3) of it, which I fed half to my Tilapia and half to the ducks.  I could have harvested since day 12 (February 02-Picture 4), but I wanted it to be thicker and greener, besides, I have a job on weekdays 😁

Picture 1 is from February 5, before the harvest, picture 2 is after the harvest.

Pictures 3 to 6 are from February 6 to 9.

Pictures 7 to 12 are from February 10 to 15.

I do not have a February 16 picture.  Picture 13 was last February 17, and pictures 14 and 15 are both from February 18, before and after my second harvest.

Picture 16 is from February 19, after I added some water.  Pictures 17 and 18 are for February 20 and 21.

Second harvest was last February 18 (13 days after first harvest), were I think I took more than Two Thirds (2/3) of the Azolla that time.  I gave some to the Tilapia, ducks and chickens, but most of the batch, I gave to my Uncle, as a starter kit, so they can also start planting, to be use as feeds to their ducks and chickens, and look, Triple A (the dog) also wants some......

I will check on their progress later, 

This is the pond that they have use to grow their Azolla, the water has a greenish color already, hope it will work.

Back to my tank.

No picture for February 22, picture 19 is for February 23, no picture again for February 24, next pictures are for February 25 to March 1.

I have used the dates of March for the pictures above, I do not have pictures for March 2 and 5.

The production from the second harvest, and a few days after it was still good (February 19 to March 06), but I think the yield was getting fewer after that  (or was this also because of over population, it was 16 days after second harvest after all).  If you would take a look at March 7 picture, they are the same, or even fewer than that of March 06.  They have probably depleted the nutrients from the cow dung, so I must add some more.  Also, it is now summer time in the Philippines, and temperature really gets so high from 11 am up to 3 pm, some days even up to 5 pm.

This was what I was thinking the night of March 10, because as of March 9, you can already notice the decrease in population, but when morning of March 11 came, I went to see how my Azolla are doing, and the picture below shows a horrific scene.  Instead of dark green, I am seeing many brown leaves.  My Azolla are dying.

(March 10 and March 11 pictures)

I took action at once.  I removed all the Azolla from the tank, and put them all in a bucket.

I measured the depth of the water, it was only five inches, I added some cow dung, and mixed.  

Then I added water, four buckets full (the green one), the water is now 11 inches deep.

After that, I added some Azolla from the white bucket.  The rest I again gave to the Tilapia, ducks and chickens.

As of today (March 12), this is how it looks.

Maybe I should add some cow dung after every harvest, and also I have to maintain the 11 inches level of water, specially this summer season.  My tank is made of metal, and it can make the water temperature higher also.  Should I put some cover to it, besides the net that I have?

I still have the Back Up Azolla, so, I need not worry if anything unfortunate happens to my main tank.

That is all for today, I hope the Azolla in my main tank would recover.

Solar Power - Basic Equipment

These are the basic equipment for a solar power system.

First are the solar panels.

These solar panels uses the photovoltaic (PV) method of converting the suns light or solar radiation into direct current (DC) electricity. 

These panels are then connected to a Solar Charge Controller.

Solar Charge Controller (SCC)

The Solar Charge Controller or SCC regulates the voltage that is coming from the PV going to the batteries.  It will make the voltage high enough to charge the battery, but low enough to not ruin or break it.

Batteries

This is where the energy is stored, so that when night comes and there are no sunlight, your system will still continue to function, using the energy stored from your batteries. I only have a 12v DC system, but if you want to use your system to make 220v AC equipment to function, you will need a power inverter.

Power Inverter or just Inverter

This equipment converts your 12v DC electricity to 220v AC electricity.  This will enable you to use your TV, Electric Fan, Refrigerator or even your Air Conditioning Unit.

As I earlier mentioned, I do not have an inverter in my system.  So I can only use mine for 12v DC equipment.  I have a couple of 12v light bulbs, and the USB charger for the gadgets.

 This are the basic equipment needed for a solar power system to function. Many thanks to Kuya Nelson Hernandez for allowing me to use the pictures of his Solar Power System.  But I think I need to go back to get clearer pictures.

I was able to get some clearer picture last Sunday, February 19.

Basil Lemonade

 

I lost all my basil's last year, but last January 14, I was able to get two new ones and a mint in a garden selling plants near our place.

So now, we can again make our favorite drink.

here is how:

Ingredients:
2 pc lemon
10-15 large pcs Basil
10-15 pcs mint
Honey (or sugar )
1.3 liters Water

You will also need a blender.

 

( we did not use the cucumber, but you could also include it and use an electric juicer ☺)

Put the basil leaves and about 500 ml of water in the blender.
Set it on slow mode and blend until you can only see tiny particles of the basil.

You can use a manual juicer or you can just squeeze the two (2) pieces of lemons in an 800 ml of water.  Remove the seeds from the juice.

Then pour your lemon juice in the bender and mix.

Put them in to glasses and add the mint and some ice (we do not include the mint in blending, it will taste sour).

There you have it, a very refreshing drink.  Summer is almost here, hope this could help to cool your body down.

Enjoy...

The Solar Power Project (Pacham Style)

Clean and free energy!

That is what Solar Power is all about.

I am one of those types of person that would always want to know how things works.  So, most of the time I would dismantle an equipment and study what is inside it, then I would put them back again and would wonder what those extra parts are for ☺☺☺☺

I have been trying to learn how to make my own Solar Power System for quite some time now, but one would only really learn how, when he makes his own (or is that case only applicable to me).

Last January 06, due to some unfortunate events in my life, I decided to just go and do it, I really need something to keep my mind occupied.

After office, I decided to go to a CDR King outlet and buy me one of those Solar panel.  I first went to Lumina Mall in Imus, but unfortunately, there were no more CDR King store there.  Had to pay Php30.00 for parking only to learn that they have already closed their outlet there. wooo.

So I went to the next mall along the way home that I know have that store.  Robinsons Imus!  And I found what I was looking for.

(Picture January 06, 2017)

Solar panel and charge controller. (the black and the blue thing) (Php2,990.00 for the panel and Php990.00 for the Charge Controller).

(Picture January 06, 2017)

I also bought one of this tester for Php480.00.

(Picture January 07, 2017)

The next day, I tried it, I thought of using only the USB charger of the solar charge controller (SCC), and guess what, it did not work, apparently, you really need a battery.  Epic fail.  But no worries, it's only my first try.

But my urge to make it work was so strong, so the following day I went out to buy me a Battery, a 70 Ah (ampere hour) Electron battery.

(Picture January 08, 2017)

I bought this for Php2,900.00, now the equipment's are complete, I tested it and this time I made it work, the next thing to do is to install them!

Installing this was fun but scary, 

(Picture January 08, 2017)

I installed the panel in the garage roof, and as what you are seeing that roof needs a major cleaning and renovation, and that's what made it scary.

(Picture January 08, 2017)

The Charge Controller and Battery I installed near the window.  During this time, I still do not have any 12v light bulbs, so, all I can use this system for is to charge my power banks.

On the 15^th of January, I was able to finally buy some more things that are needed, the light bulb and the USB extension cords.  These, I bought from CDR King SM Dasmariñas.

At around 7:30 PM that day, I was able to make the light work.  Even though wires are dangling all around, at least it was working. ☺☺☺

I will be able to fixed that someday, wiring that are clean and good to look at, someday, hopefully......

I think it had cost me around Php8,000.00 for this 12v system, including the wires, for one (1) light bulb (eheheh).  Hope to install some more light bulbs inside the house.

This is my first post regarding Solar Power System, hoping to post some more, will show the updates of my system.  Soon....