It is a Samba Kordana

by Richard Chew

I visited Kordes site and happened to bump into one of their roses. It looked similar to my yellow with bronze edge miniature rose. After doing some google search, I believe what I have here is a Samba Kordana and it is also known as Korfriroy.

For more pictures, go to www.photobucket.com/sambakordana

Here are some of the pictures that I like to share with you.
























The following picture was taken in the late evening. The dimmer lighting lighting brings out a different tone of colours.









It is a miniature shrub. It grows up to 60cm high.






This picture was taken when it was a young shrub.







This was the flower bud about to bloom. Looks like a flaming torch.









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Soil Mix - Transplanting - Part 2

by Richard Chew



This is continuation of my posting on Soil Mix - Transplanting.



There are some new things that I learned in the past couple of months, that I like to share here.




Below is the soil structure that I used in my previous posting.

In the following, I like to share some changes made that I believe may help improve the soil structure.

I learned by adding perlite into the mixture it improves water drainage dramatically. I extracted the description of Perlite material as below.

Perlite is a unique volcanic mineral which expands from four to twenty times its
original volume when it is quickly heated to a temperature of approximately
1600-1700 degrees F. This expansion is due to the presence of two to six percent
combined water in the crude perlite rock which causes the perlite to pop in a
manner similar to that of popcorn.

When expanded, each granular, snow-white
particle of perlite is sterile with a neutral pH and contains many tiny, closed
cells or bubbles. The surface of each particle is covered with tiny cavities
which provide an extremely large surface area. These surfaces hold moisture and
nutrients and make them available to plant roots.

In addition, because of
the physical shape of each particle, air passages are formed which provide
optimum aeration and drainage. Because perlite is sterile, it is free of
disease, seeds, and insects.

The difference was very obvious. The potting mix that included the perlite material drained out very quickly, almost immediately, however for the potting mix without perlite, water retains above the soil for a few seconds longer. Therefore during continous heavy pouring rain, the mix without perlite is literally submerged in water due to poorer drainage.



Another advantage of mixing perlite is that it improves soil aeration. The soil organism need sufficient air to perform aerobic activities.

The other changes were the soil medium material that I used. I tried compost with mixtures of sand and silt in it; which is also known as Sandy Loam mixture. This helps improve a lot in drainage especially if it is exposed to heavy rain fall. I noticed for soil mixture without Sandy Loam mixture, the soil structure changed during rainy months. The soil became more compact and the heavier soil properties tend to make its way to the lower base, thus increased water retention and may impede water drainage at the base.

When soil is compact, soil aeration is reduced thus changes the organism metabolic activities in the soil. Lesser air in soil, raises anaerobic activities. The increased of anaerobic activities will affect the soil pH and eventually affect the nutrients availability for the roots.

Some of the symptoms of lack balanced nutrients are leaves defoliate rapidly, new buds turn black, some stems may suffer dieback and many leaves turning yellow.

The above is the improved version.

I realised each supplier/producer package the peat moss differently. Some of them are pre-mixed with compost, that makes up to soil pH of 6. However there are some that is not pre-mixed with compost, therefore their soil pH could go as low as pH 4.5 to 5. It is always good to check the peat moss pH before using for top soil layer.

The correct top soil layer should have a pH 6, slightly acidic.

In my earlier posting, I mentioned using 50% of peat moss for top soil layer, that is because the peat moss that I purchased was pre-mixed with compost, the pH was slightly acidic.

If your peat moss is less than pH6, then it is advisable to mix it with some compost, otherwise the soil will be too acidic and may stunt the growth.

Apart from using brown mulch, coconut powder can also be applied if loose brown mulch is not available. The objective of including brown mulch or coconut powder in the mixture is too loosen the soil and provide some additional organic material to fuel soil organism activities for decomposition.

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Prevent fungal diseases on roses - [EXT]

I found this posted by Niels Plougmann in his rose gardening blog.

He has good advise on controlling fungal infection.

by Niels Plougmann

Prevent fungal diseases on roses

I have many roses in my garden and some of them are prone to getting the 3 most common fungal diseases: Blackspot, Powdery Mildew and rust. Gardeners can do a few things to prevent fungal diseases on roses. If you do not have much time for gardening, then the most important thing you can do is to practice good garden hygiene. Look out for leaves affected by fungal diseases, and simply remove them! This way you can prevent a lot of fungal spores to spread and infect other leaves and rosebushes.

Read the rest .... here



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Equiping Rose Plant to Fight Disease & Pest ?

by Richard Chew


There is some common responses when I converse with people on the topic of growing roses. The word "difficult la" usually comes up and the next common statement is "must spray fungicide and pesticide regularly wor..".


Yes I do agree with the first comment, it is difficult especially if we lack the understanding and experiences. Anyway I won't want to dwell too much on the difficulty part. It is not my intention to expound this point here.


However I am keen to present the common misconception of using fungicide and pesticide on roses whether as preventive or controlling measures. This topic has caught my attention lately. How much of fungicide and pesticide is sufficient to successfully grow roses? Weekly or fortnightly? Spray on leaves or soil or both? Which type is better? Oil base type, organic type or chemically formulated? Which pest control strategy is best? Repel pest, kill, eliminate or destroy its eggs? Which one doesn't damage its leaves and stems but kill the pest effectively?


I suppose all these are valid questions. You probably were considering all these factors when you were deciding which pesticide and fungicide to use. And after much consideration, you thought you have selected the best pesticide/fungicide in the market, and then a week or 2 later, the pests came back again. Then someone came along and recommended another pesticide/fungicide brand. You consented and a week or 2 later, again you discovered it didn't work to your expectations. And just to console yourself, you say to yourself perhaps you didn't apply it correctly and had not been consistent enough. And therefore you blamed yourself and perhaps close to concluding that growing roses is not your thing.


In case what I mentioned above is what has been bombarding your mind and in case you are entertaining thoughts of giving up growing roses, please give me a moment to share my thoughts with you. I hope by the end of this posting, you will reconsider before you decide and make your own conclusion.


Let me clarify this, growing roses is not about fighting pests and diseases. Really, it is not meant to drain you out and down. It is meant for you to enjoy the blooms and colours. I don't worry about my rose plants geting infected but if they do I'll treat it as a surprise and a opportunity to learn something new.


However keep this in mind, rose plants are 'designed' by our Almighty for us to enjoy.


I am not going to present you a super formula today. But first and foremost I wish to tackle on our 'philosophy' in our garden practise, in fact this 'philosophy' can be extended for growing other plants.


Naturally we are protective. We protect our children from danger as well as bad influences. It is not wrong, it is good attribute and it comes naturally. However if we become overly protective (extreme case), we may end up causing more harm than good. Is there a difference between protective and being over protective? In my opinion, Yes. Being over protective is simply controlling the one you are protecting.


Pardon me for deviating from the main topic, however I wish to illustrate that plants do have some ability to resist pest and diseases. It could be possibile that your rose plants been overly protected thus they have lost the ability to resist infection. And more detrimentally, the over use of pesticide causes the pests to become more resistant to it. Therefore new brands, new mixtures are continually introduced and marketed to counter new breeds of pests and infections.


My intention here is to present a concept to you that may change your gardening practise. I believe if you adopt this concept, you will find gardening more meaningful especially plants that you love to have in your garden but could not because of recurring pest infestation.


My proposal to you is 'Equiping your Rose Plant to Resist and Fight Diseases and Pests'. Please do not misquote me. I am not telling you to dispose your pesticides and fungicides immediately. I believe it has its place and usage. However strengthening your rose plant should be your top priority. You need to know the environment and food that your rose plant like.


If you see pests or diseases at your rose plant, look at it as a secondary problem. Administering pesticide is just a form of relief, like relieving someone suffering from high fever with a iced cool pad on his forehead. Focus your attention on fixing the primary problem, the root cause. Strenghtening the person's immune system to fight the viruses is a much better and long lasting solution.


I believe by now you probably have this question, if this is the right approach, then how do I strengthened my rose plant? If you are thinking of this question now, good for you, that means you have accepted my proposal.


I must admit it has not been easy for me because there were lots of trial and error, success and failure. However embracing this 'philosophy' in my gardening practise has steered and helped me stay on course to discover and learn many new things.


Keep this thought with you, as you attempt or reattempt to grow roses in your garden. I hope this helps to 'reengineer' your gardening practise in dealing with pests and diseases.


Keep asking the right questions... you will find the right answers.



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Dealing with Spider Mites Infestations - Part 2

by Richard Chew

This is continuation of my posting on dealing with spider mites infestation. I thought my readers may want to know what happened to my "The Prince" rose.

This is Day 12 since I first detected spider mites and no recurrence since I last jet spray 7 days ago.

The following are some pictures.

The picture above is the whole plant. You will notice the older leaves are badly damaged by the direct hot sun. And it may invite spider mites if hot and dry conditions prevail. It is best to place it totaly shielded from direct sun. Another reason is because this rose is not sun tolerant type.

This is the result and outcome of after I posted part 1. Once the older leaves drop, new ones will grow.

The following pictures are new shoots and growth.

I got a surprise, when I discovered a garlic shoot (chive). It wasn't my intention to plant it. One of the bulb must have germinated. It is suppose to act as a mite repellant.

From this experience, it does make a lot of difference, if we make the little change to accomodate the rose plant growing condition.

Like I said earlier, need to monitor till at least for 30 days to be assured that the mites are 100% gone for good.