guayusa

DIY Guayusa cuttings propagator, rooting Guayusa

Leaves — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:18:51 +0000

These are the last atempt of rooting Guayusa still in the right season, initially there were about 10 cuttings, of which 5 were ideal, 3 of them are doing well, presenting some growth and leaves, but on inspection the roots are just forming… no actual roots yet…

The propagator is a small wonder, kept in the shade works a lot better than any other that I have tried so far. Yes its just a cola bottle cut in half and made to fit like a package by heating up the first 2 cm of the bottom of the top half to make it shrink, this is done by submerging the first 2 cm or so in hot water, it makes it shrink and after that the two half are a perfect fit, the irregular bottom of the bottle stores some water away from the pot, which is perfect for humidity control, and so is the bottle cap, that works like a valve.

I am now reducing the humidity gradually by opening a bit more of the cap every week.

The cuttings are in there since march this year, they were excellent quality, and even were scorched a bit by letting them in excess sunlight for a day, what might have affected the weaker ones a bit.

I regularly wash the vermiculite filing up the pot in the kitchen sink with water an letting it drain, about five times. I do this once week to eliminate fungus and bad bacteria that could accelerate rot.

I dont inspect the roots more than once a month as I dont want to disturb them or break them, filling up the pot with water to wash them works fine.

Finally, used Clonex in the first week to encourage root growth, and now feed them with Vitalink, using the irregular bottom of the bottle to keep it barely touching the bottom of the pot.

oncidium cebolleta – oncidium papilio – creative culture

Leaves — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:52:40 +0000

A great way to pot orchids is to add a creative tone to the plant-pot display, the Oncidium in the picture is an Oncidium Cebolleta, bt this technique can also be used for the Oncidium Papilio, it consists of a piece of driftwood found in good condition, left to loose salinity submerged in fresh water and outside during winter to ensure the PH was appropriate for the Orchid, once the PH was assured.

Once the wood was ready, I uses a common driller to bore some 5 large vertical holes, that were intercepted by 4 Horizontal ones that were drilled from the rear side. So all the holes are networked for the plant to shoot roots freely.

Next the holes were filled with Orchid soil and moss, and the plant placed on the centre vertical hole.

The roots started to grip very well after just one week, and the plant has been there for some 4 months, occasionally I feed it with Orchid feed or Vitalink Hydroponic feed, the plant is very happy.

Orchids love sterile wood, this combination of wood and soil is something I intend to test with my entire collection, it creates a beautiful display, a very architectural and decorative display.

Oncidium

More photos soon, Ill keep them coming..

Yerba Mate and Guayusa

Leaves — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:48:40 +0000

germinating Ilex Guayusa seeds

Leaves — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 22:35:33 +0000

It took the great part of 4 months to see any results, the germination rate is very poor. I used a sterile medium in half of the batch and clean sterilised compost for the other half, they have been kept at a temperature of 20-22 C during night and day.

the results were… well disappointing, they shared the propagator with Guarana (Paullinia Cupana) seeds, and even the Guarana did a lot better, the Guarana were very fresh seeds tough and even some less viable Paullinia Yoco (Yoco Tree) seeds did quite well compared with the Guayusa.

In everything the Guayusa germination is similar with its cousin Mate (Ilex Paraguariensis), these are very difficult too. Im not going to give up yet but its not very encouraging…

Resuming out of 60 seeds, 4 months later about 7 seem to show signs of life, the remaining did rot completely. I am hoping to get some more mid next year and will be happy to give some away to any experienced gardeners that can give them a go and teach the rest of us how they did manage it. Just leave me a message and I will keep your name on the list.

A Happy New Year to everyone

Ilex Guayusa Experience

Leaves — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:54:02 +0000

Well what is it all about, energy, focus, dream recalling

effective slimming tea

Leaves — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:30:34 +0000

A quick way to loose weigh is of course a healthy diet, but the anti-oxidants present in normal tea and specially some herbal teas work with some of us to produce quicker results.

Slimming is not a feat, it requires some effort and determination, I personally experienced a quicker metabolism a few weeks after starting to drink Yerba Mate tea, and Guayusa. It might be different from person to person, but like I said in my personal case it seemed to work very well.

I also seem to draw some alertness out of Yerba Mate tee that made me reduce coffee intake.

Guayusa

Leaves — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 01:56:07 +0000

Brilliant !!! I have got both cuttings and seeds, I am really looking forward for this, I was warned that it is rather difficult to both root cuttings or germinate the seeds, any advice very much appreciated. I amhopping to give away some seeds if I can get any more, with the condition of the gifted people sharing their experience germinating them in this blog.

I am so happy

I will be shorty adding some pictures of the progress, Iam also hopping to have some sucess with Dalbergia Nigra totally unrelated with this blog but equally difficult, so I will eithershare it here or start a newblog about species difficult to germinate.

At this stage I am starting to believe nobody seems interested in this Ilex species, but again Guayusa if very hard to keep as an ornamental.

Guayusa Seeds Plants Tea

Leaves — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:24:45 +0000

It has been nearly a decade since I first tryed the tea of Ilex Guayusa, or simply called Guayusa, I love so much that I couldnt help being curious if there are other english speaking people out there has fascinated by this wonder of nature as I am.

Having been always a coffee and tea connoisseur, the high content of caffeine has never really concerned me, it took Guayusa to prove me wrong, so gentle in flavour, and as potent as Red Bull… by the gallon!

The tea of Ilex Guayusa is fairly hard to find in Europe, and this blog will try to gather resources and shops that have this wonderful tea available, take a look at the links on this page to find portals and specialised suppliers of Guayusa and Yerba Mate teas, plants and seeds.

Yerba Mate is in many ways similar to Guayusa, a very tasteful tea, with a smoky hint.

For great deals in Guayusa tea, plants and seeds autoselected according to your location, visit:

Guayusa and Yerba Mate Resource Portal

You will find the best of the best gathered by importance and distance from your area/country, its a great little tool, much more focused than a standard search, and much more accurate.

Guayusa and Yerba Mate Seeds/Plants

Of course you can also grow your own tea plants, the next posts will deal with care and propagation of both Ilex Guayusa and Ilex Paraguariensis (Yerba Mate), while finding seeds and plants of Yerba Mate is relatively simple (although caring info is limited), seeds and plants of Guayusa are close to urban legend status, they are very hard to find, but DO EXIST in the market, finding them is a good reason to read the following posts.

Until them try both teas if you are curious about this South American Tradition, they carry vast health benefits in addiction to being stimulants like regular tea and coffee.