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.