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The Corroboree

CβL

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Posts posted by CβL


  1. On 25/11/2019 at 1:48 PM, Infinity said:

    Good news. I’ve found someone who has approx 5x seedlings available. They’re about 35cm - 50cm tall and look very healthy and I believe generously priced at less than $20 each. Considering how difficult these are to grow I think it’s a real bargain. They also had some Hoop Pine too.

     

    Apart from that I’m planing on doing an expedition to the Bunya Mountains in February 2020 seeking out propagation material, some mature plants plus doing some other work. If you’d like me to collect some specimens for your personal garden, please send me a message or post on here and I’ll do my best.

     

    Did you end up going? I'd be keen for some seeds if you did :) (happy to pay).


  2. 20 hours ago, Infinity said:

    The botanical gardens often give me a whole beehive looking cone around January - February.

     

    Next time I get some propagation material I'll be in touch and repost on here as well.

     

    Happy to send some over to NZ and to anyone else interested.

     

    It wouldn't hurt to get Professor Bunya Nut involved with his interesting tek and any other research findings he'd care to share.

     

    Awesome thank you - happy to pay or send some other seed in exchange :)


  3. I would be interested if anyone is able to gather seed from A. bidwillii and post to NZ. There are a few fruiting trees available in NZ, but I'm unsure whether those that fruit are being pollinated by other Araucarias (I think it's unlikely, but it's not a risk I want to take if I'm going to invest 25+ years to growing the tree).


  4. Please note that most permaculture places prefer the sterile plant (Bocking 14 for example), which only spreads via roots. A random comfrey plant can spread by seed and then you'll have it everywhere, and it also may not have the hybrid vigour of Bocking 14.

    • Like 1

  5. Here's the info on Acacia grafting: https://www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/htirc tropical/pdf/Pubs/Nelson_koa_graft.pdf

    Grafting is not just about growth speeds, but disease resistance and soil tolerance too :). I'm thinking I'll give it a shot, but I don't really know what I'd bother with grafting on.

     

    Also since I first asked, I've settled on Castanospermum australe as another Aussie nitrogen fixer I'll be planting. Can be eaten, although it's apparently a huge faff.

    • Like 1

  6. Yeah I think it can get weedy in NZ too. But luckily it doesn't do well in established forest, so as long as there's natives about it shouldn't establish.

     

    Another thing that I've read you can do is to graft acacias. So I could quite probably grow another acacia on a melanoxylon rootstock to get the resistance to the boggy ground. I was hoping there were some other acacias similar to melanoxylon to get a bit of diversity though.


  7. Hi folks,

     

    Acacia melanoxylon grows well at our site. I used to hate it, but the fact the timber is so good, and it fixes nitrogen, and it grows so fast have made the damn tree grow on me. I was wanting to know about any other acacias which will grow in a wet NZ climate approx USDA 9b? The area gets about 2.2m of rain per year (+- 20cm) spread evenly with no real dry season, and temperature mostly stays between 5 and 20 degrees the whole year (with forays down to -1 and 25 degrees respectively). The soil drains okay from what I can tell, but perhaps best to think of it as a bit swampy.
    Any ideas for other Australian natives, that fix nitrogen, and ideally have another use (e.g. edible seeds/fruit)?


  8. Hey folks - long time no see. :) I have been very busy, and so not had much time for posting here (in fact I'm supposed to be at work right now). I've still been learning about plants as much as I can, although more native plants and useful plants.
    Here are some photos I thought you might enjoy of the wall paintings at the Eden Project (http://www.edenproject.com/) - drawn by two visiting curanderos.
    I hope everyone is well!

    Wall paintings summary

    The Origin of Ayahuasca and Chacruna

    Spiritual Purification

    The Spirit of

    Winds of the Shacapa

    The Spirit Woman of Ajo Sacha

    Birth of the Spirits

    Dance of the Spirits

    Dance of the Leaves

    Spirit Woman of the Toé

    Happy Brug

    The Spiritual Birth

    Spirit Woman of Machacuy Huasca

    Paradise Lost, Paradise Found

    The Spirit of the Grandfather Trees

    Kind regards,
    -CBL
    • Like 6

  9. Long time no word. :) I hope everyone is doing great!

    I am missing my cacti garden and my country so much (and you guys too :) ). There's a few trees over here that I really like (I love oaks and yews), but so far it's not the same. Something really special about green leaves all year round.

    Here's a photo of my cacti garden:

    9lhk74.jpg

    And here is all I have over here so far (1 Terscheckii brought from a random garden centre in Wales, and an unrooted Sceletium Joubertii). Wahhhhhhh ;_;

    99dxte.jpg

    • Like 6

  10. In my opinion, it's actually taking the easy way out by running away into the bush. Giving up on the problems in the world, leaving everyone else to their fate to focus on your own. Maybe you're fine with that. But if you somehow think you're doing the world a favour, then as soon as you think about it more you'll see it's not the case. If you want to do some good for the world, and live in the wild - then be a damn forest ranger. There are jobs in NZ where you live alone in an isolated area looking after it. We went to a place up in the hills of Coromandel and the forest ranger had her dog, her privacy, and was doing some measure of good too.

    Anyway.
    - You don't seem to have thought about the material of your clothing. Avoid cotton for anything that will "move" (shirts, pants, underwear, etc). It's among the least durable of all fabrics, and it dries out very poorly (and it's heavier than a corresponding synthetic product). Nylon is extremely tough. Polyester is okay too. I guess if you can find a campsite and make 3-4 trips to stock it up, you wouldn't need to worry about the weight requirement.

    - The difference between a camping mat, and straight on the ground is close to 10 degrees in extra heat. Plus it helps keep your sleeping bag dry. I would consider it strongly.

    - Start "preparing yourself" for the food you will eat now. See how enjoyable it is to eat raw food when you accidentally tip over your fuel container, or just get sick/injured and can't walk into town to re-fuel.

    - Get properly fit and hiking-trained before going. Don't bullshit yourself on this one.

    - Think deeply about the medical kit - don't just buy a standard one and hope it'll have what you need. Some things are very useful but are never included (painkillers can be useful if you're in a lot of pain, but need to get to the town - drug yourself and away you go, maybe you prefer superglue instead of sutures, rather than toothpaste a more potent toothpowder, etc)

    - Count on your equipment failing/getting lost/stolen, etc. Being outdoors is not about relying on your equipment, but about relying on your skills and knowledge.

    • Like 3

  11. What is the veracity of this tale?

    5725108088_656db973a8_z.jpg

    Skull Mushroom, Mount Osore, Japan

    The Skull Mushroom is one of the most unique mushrooms only grows at the Mount Osore in Aomori Prefecture in Japan. It is called “skull” because the cap of this mushroom produces the pattern resembles a pair of human skulls in the back and front. This large species (12.5 inch) is called Oh-dokuro-dake (lit. Big Skull Mushroom) . Hime-dokuro-dake (lit. Princess Skull Mushroom) is smaller and Oni-dokuro-dake (lit. Devil Skull Mushroom) is orange red. This bizarre-looking mushroom has been used by Itako (female shamans who are also healer, and exorcist at Mount Osore) for many centuries for its magical hallucinogenic medicinal purposes and spiritual rituals. Mysteriously, unusually large numbers of skull mushrooms sprang out at Mount Osore after The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, officially named the Great East Japan Earthquake (東北地方太平洋沖地震, とうほくちほうたいへいようおきじしん, lit. North Eastern Japanese Earthquake, 9.0 magnitude, ) and tsunami of March 11, 2011, 14:46 Japan Standard Time, which caused over 15, 000 deaths in Japan.

    Many faithful and spiritual locals consider this extremely rare paranormal phenomena as those people killed by this earthquake reincarnated into this special mushrooms for guarding the Gate of Hell at mount Osore, so that this earthquake’s victems would all go to Budddah’s land and the Heaven.

    The last time when this many skull mushroom sprang out was happen in the fall of 1923, which was only a month after the Great Kantō Earthquake (関東大震災, Kantō daishinsai) struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923, which was the deadliest earthquake ever to strike Japan up until this year’s Tōhoku Earthquake. For this year’s Itako Taisai festival to be held at the Bodau-ji Buddhist Temple at Mount Osore on July 20, 2011, unlike previous years, extremely large number of skull mushrooms are scheduled to be used for the ritual called kuchiyose, which seasoned itako claim to summon the souls of the dead, and deliver messages in their voices for faithful followers.

    Note1: Mount Osore (恐山, Osorezan) is a region in the center of remote Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, Japan. According to popular mythology, Mount Osore (literally "Mount Fear") marks the entrance to Hell, with a small brook running to the neighboring Lake Usorisan that is equated to the Sanzu River, the Japanese equivalent to Styx. The reputation is not surprising, given that the very volcanically-active site is a charred landscape of blasted rock filled with bubbling pits of unearthly hues and noxious fumes.

    Note2: An itako is a traditional, blind, usually female shaman from northern Japan. Itako are said to have the ability to communicate with the dead, even to evil spirits due to their intense spiritual power. They also had the power to remove evil spirit from one's body mind. Usually, older Itakos are more powerful than the new Itakos.

    Note3: The Bodai-ji ("Bodai Temple") presides over Mount Osore and organizes the area's main event, the twice-yearly Itako Taisai festival. The grand festival is held over a period of five days beginning on July 20. In a ritual called kuchiyose (口寄せ), blind mediums known as itako claim to summon the souls of the dead and deliver messages in their voices.

    Note4: The 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake (関東大震災, Kantō daishinsai) struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes. The Kantō quake killed between 100,000 and 140,000 people, making it the deadliest earthquake ever to strike Japan which was the deadliest earthquake ever to strike Japan up until 2011 Tōhoku Earthquake. The quake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale, with its focus deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in Sagami Bay.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumofworldwonders2/5725108088/

    • Like 3

  12. Hey guys. Thinks are going good over here. Still getting settled in. Not many plants though lately. I miss our end of the world (except now that apparently you guys are getting sprayed by Japan's radiation :( ). I hope everyone is doing well, and that spring is fueling some hella growth for all things green or red on the inside. Anyway, keep well - miss you all. :)

    • Like 3

  13. Yeah they are kind of mounded, although once I compressed the soil it kind of turned flat again. :P
    The holes are quite shallow, just to the depth of the shovel blade, and it's on sloping ground. I can't say for sure, but I think they will do well where they are. The previous avocados had the worst potting mix (50/50 giant rocks + compost), and much deeper holes - and still managed to grow.


  14. I think I heard that eating a few of the fruit can have the same effects.

    Somehow I managed to stumble across a fruit at a market a few years ago (sold as a Cherimoya, so I thought it was a Cherimoya for years). Ate it, grew the seeds out (only one tree survived), and it's now planted out. I'm hoping it'll rejuvenate and grow happily - it's at the point now where the scales are balanced between harsher climate (windy spot, sun shock) and miles better soil - it just needs to tip into good growth and she'll be right. :)
    Once it's growing well, I can do some experiments.

    • Like 2

  15. So I have a Salvia Divinorum (legal in New Zealand), and every summer, the butterflies (white cabbage butterflies, green caterpillars) come... and lay eggs on her, and they destroy her. I've had this problem for 2-3 years now, and I solve it by popping the caterpillars individually. Unfortunately I will not be able to do this this year, so I have literally two days to plant something next to her to get rid of caterpillars. There's 2 approaches:

    1) Decoy plants.
    These are plants that attract the butterflies even more than the Salvia would, and they get eaten instead.

    http://sustainablelivingwise.com/natural-insect-repellent-caterpillars/

    2) Scarecrow plants
    These would be plants that by smell, or sight - ward of butterflies from landing near them. I'm unsure if these even exist.
    I planted 2x Kawakawa plants next to her, for shade reasons, but I'm also hoping that they somehow deter butterflies, somehow. I think I heard catnip can do this.

    edit: found this
    http://www.planitdiy.com/inspiration/in-lawn-garden/organic-gardening-repel-bugs-naturally-with-garden-herbs/

    Sage, and mint both seem to repel cabbage butterflies. I will have to buy some. stat.

    halp halp. :wacko:


  16. Today I planted two avocado trees out for my parents. I'm hoping that the wide & shallowish holes I dug, with the cactus mix as the soil - will have them thriving. I want these two to grow 4x faster than the trees my parents planted, so then I can be the avocado growing master of the family. :)


  17. To me it just seems like another discovery that we can use to make a light-based computer. These would not be quantum computers, but traditional binary computers - but with the benefit of being a lot more corrosion resistant, and theoretically much faster. This discovery shows how we can make RAM, and potentially storage modules too. But I think the thing we're really missing is the light transistor. Which a quick google...

    Light Transistor: Efficient Transistor for Light Could Lead to Optical Computers

    July 8, 2013 — Light can oscillate in different directions, as we can see in the 3D cinema: Each lens of the glasses only allows light of a particular oscillation direction to pass through. However, changing the polarization direction of light without a large part of it being lost is difficult. The TU Vienna has now managed this feat, using a type of light -- terahertz radiation -- that is of particular technological importance. An electrical field applied to an ultra-thin layer of material can turn the polarisation of the beam as required. This produces an efficient transistor for light that can be miniaturised and used to build optical computers.

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130708102927.htm

    Now with this current discovery, I'm no expert, but I think that this crystal functions logically as an AND gate. That's a good start, but I believe we need a NOT gate (in other words, when there's no light beam coming, the gate emits one, when a light beam comes, the gate does not emit one), and then we can build a light processor.


  18. I'm thinking the only way you'll be able to do it will be to have it under shelter (make like a low-roof, slanted pergola, with a clear roof) - and have a sprinkler system that'll water the plants. I was thinking if there was a way to even micro-drill the roof to allow some rain to come through as well (thus no maintenance). I was thinking about doing it myself at some point, I HATE babying plants for their entire lives.

    What kind of soil are your plants in at the moment?


  19. I have a tiny plant, that has been hanging on for ages and grown 2 leaves. Hopefully it survives. The damn chickens stomped on it! I just don't seem to be very good with Pipers. Must be a secret I haven't figured out. Maybe they love sand or something in the soil (their roots are quite fine).

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