I have bugs. Some of the seedlings are looking a bit yellow. First the bugs. I looked them up on Google ("bugs container plants" - first search I tried was "bugs pot plants" but that just led me to lot of sites on growing marijuana!). I have fungus gnats. It seems that I have been loving my plants with too much water (well I did read that they should be kept moist!). I am also growing everything in a very moist compost mix with lots of organic content that the gnat larvae apparently love. I have to break the life cycle (the things lay 100s of eggs in the soil before they die). I can't change my soil, as I only have one kind available here. I can't by chemical solutions, well maybe I could but the process of trying to communicate my need in a language I can't speak makes this just too hard. To illustrate, remember my quest to find a refill for my fabric softener? Today I was in a supermarket and we bumped into some friends. The husband is Australian and the wife is Mongolian. I swallowed my pride and asked the wife to help me buy two things - fabric softener refills (I had identified a pack that looked promising) and leave-in conditioner for Alesia's dreadlocks. It turns out that all the writing was either Russian or Korean, so she couldn't read it either, but being Mongolian she just asked the sales people (always plenty hanging around) what the different things were for and now I have both items. I will now recognise them on sight (a strategy of the illiterate around the world).
Back to the bugs, several websites said putting potato slices in the soil would attract the larvae. Then I had to dry the plants out as the larvae can't survive in dry soil. I should also cover the surface of each plant with sand or aquarium gravel, as the larvae can't get through it, and the adult bugs can't lay eggs in it. So I won't be watering my plants for the next 24 hours or more. I have been busy for a few hours, but now each seedling either has a top layer of sand (from last summer's sandpit, which over winter has become target practice for the smokers in the office above it), or aquarium gravel (yes, I do have this, Chris' hobby is fish!). The bigger pots have slices of potato buried in them that I will have to dig up tomorrow. I can feel the frustrations of the bugs, as instead of hanging around the plants they are now hanging around me! It will take up to a month to break the bug cycle, but I don't have too many so I am hopefully that I will prevail. Yesterday we visited new friends in their apartment. They have filled the apartment with plants that are flourishing. They also have two birds that sing all day, and a fish tank that bubbles in the background. The combined affect of lush greenery, birdsong and bubbling water creates an out-of-Mongolia experience. So I have something asthetic to aim for now, instead of just food production. I was given an African violet to bring home to add to our plants. I am afraid I will kill it so I am ignoring it at the moment....probably safer that way.
Now, to fix that yellow problem with the leaves. Google helpfully told me that this was a lack of nitrogen. Where can I get an easy supply of nitrogen fertiliser? For those of you who know organic gardening, and basic chemistry, I will let you guess where our free supply of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous is coming from!
