Wandering Ays

On day 48, hoping to increase my "grassy" succulents' numbers, I got cuttings and stuck them into mostly pure pumice. (grassy = those succulents that look like grass, i.e. leafy). 

*I only realized this happened before the death ^ when I checked the photo details; this should be the first update, but let's just go with the flow..

The mother succulents now look ugly.

 

I also cut off some stems from my jelly beans because they look super etiolated, and the stems are growing lots of roots.

 
*Most of the jelly bean leaves are now dead due to the chicken invaders episode I'll be discussing below. They're supposed to be fast growers -- growing roots as early as two days after removal.

Encouraged by my apparent success in water propagation, I added some more leaves into my water nursery.

I had to move them to another container because of the number of leaves I added (failed to take a photo).

However, most of the leaves rotted:

I guess water propagation is not for everybody. The water in the new container got so moldy too. The roots of my first batch got molds growing in them. 

 
I decided to transfer them into soil, fearing the molds will damage them.

On day 62, seeing that my first batch of propagates (from leaves) were getting crowded in their container, I decided to transfer some of them into tiny cups usually used for desserts. 

I bored holes into the bottom of the cups for drainage using a soldering iron, carefully removed the babies (their roots were quite extensive and got tangled up with the neighboring babies' roots), and planted the babies in my soil-sand-pumice mix. I used a toothpick to dig through the soil, prying the roots free.

  

I wanted to check first how well they do in this new pot so I only potted three, leaving the rest as is. 

I've been having problems with my mother's chickens. They get on my propagation table and step all over my babies. They don't seem to really like the taste of the succulents because they peck at some but leave the halves behind.

With my mother's help, I made a net-fence around the table to keep them off. It's very haphazard work, no real strength in it, just intended to discourage the chickens from climbing on the table.

The chickens still managed to get on the table and disturb my babies some more, so my mother put up some bamboo cuttings around the table to give the fence more stability. When I forgot to put up the bamboo posts after watering, the chicken got on the table again. It was very frustrating and I lost a lot of babies over the next days.

On day 66, the worst invasion happened. Almost all the containers in my propagation table got overturned. I lost so many babies, including those that have started to sprout roots and babies. The 'grassy' propagates got tipped over as well, damaging the tiny root growths. Even my newly-potted baby succulents got overturned.

I was soooo upset I could eat a whole chicken. ;) I didn't even take a photo of the wreckage in my anger. My mother also felt the same, so the next weekend, we had chicken in coconut milk for dinner. :) I know it sounds harsh but that's the typical life of chickens in our rural home. Also, one of the chickens had a lame leg and she wasn't doing really well with her increasing weight. It would be cruel to kill one and leave the other lonely, so we killed the two. They tasted really good. haha

More Vibrant Colors

Remember how I moved my succulent shelf a little to the west on day 46 to get more sunlight? The colors are now more vibrant. Here are some comparisons:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, looking at the photos on my screen, the differences aren't all that noticeable, but they are in real life. However, they are still a long way from colors when they arrived. Here are some sample photos.

 

I'm hoping they get to their best colors in a couple more weeks.

My problem are the hardheaded ones. They just won't improve. Do they need a full day of sun?

 
 
 

This leads me to my next update:

New Table

I made a new table for my succulents. I made it myself (mostly) using an old tubular GI frame, old cabinet doors, and some left-over paint from my room renovation. I intend to put it where it gets more sun than my current set-up. This would hopefully help me get the colors I'm aiming for, plus give me more room as my propagates start to grow. 

*Photo to follow when I've completed my new set-up*

Lastly, I'm sharing with  you some photos of my babies.

 

Some really bad cuttings in the middle.

These ones lost their momma leaves fast. The leaves were tiny, about 1 cm long and 2 mm wide, but the babies sprouted fast. Then the leaves immediately shriveled when the sprouts came out.

Okay, that's all for today. I'll try to post another update soon so I won't have to make a really long post next time. Bye!