Paper Clamps Make Great Test Tube Holders

When testing water parameters you have to handle these fiddly and extremely unstable test tubes. Just use medium size metal paper clamps as the base...

Flowering for the first time

After yesterday's siphon disaster, it was great to greeted by this...

The brinjal flowered for the first time!! We have never been able to grow fruit plants to this stage... I can't stop smiling :)

The Danger Of A Siphon

Damn it!!! Went to check the garden this morning to find the bamboo holding the hose that fills the pond had decomposed and snapped. This resulted in the hose outlet entering the pond and creating a siphon which emptied most of the reservoir into the pond. Let me explain the details the best I can...

Tap water is kept 24 hours in a reservoir. From there it is fed into the pond for a couple of minutes everyday using a pump. All is fine as long as the end of the tube is above the reservoir water level.

But if the tube drops down to the pond level, we have a problem. The water will siphon out of the higher level to the lower level until it reaches equilibrium.

That's exactly what happened sometime last night. Luckily the fish were not affected by the siphoned reservoir water, probably coz it was only partially chlorinated having sat exposed for a few hours.

Super Fast Growing Kangkung

I've mentioned this before that kangkung grows really well. Here is proof from the roots. This is a screenshot from a video taken yesterday...

and this morning, less than 24 hours later...

15 Oct 2019...

16 Oct 2019...

17 Oct 2019...

Today's Harvest

Before...

After...

Problem with pest control in sensitive areas

I use a few different sprays to minimise the bugs eating the vege leaves.... a soap spray (water with a tiny bit of dishwashing liquid), and a neem oil spray ( water, neem oil and soap).

Problem is there are veges growing on top of the pond. The fish wont do too well with soap and neem oil dripping into the water.

First step to solve this... transfer the veges that the bugs seem to focus on like the kale and lettuce to the boxes in the ground. I think I will just keep the kangkung over the pond. They seem to attract less munchy bugs.

Next I am going to try using just garlic soaked in water for spraying on the kangkung over the pond. Hopefully garlic juice won't be too toxic for the fish.

Snail In The Pond

There are 3 ponds outside, 2 are old containers with lots of bladder snails. The 3rd and newest is the brick pond. I have been very careful not to introduce any snails, but today I spotted this on the kangkung stems...

Looks like a ramshorn but tiny. I think they are ok for the pond... will have to keep an eye on this. If the kangkung roots look like they are suffering, then sorry snails, but I'll be coming for you!!! Another source of live food for the fish.