Nice to meet you all from Indonesia (and an overview on my plant journey)

[Wiandry Adi]

Update:

Last night, it was raining hard again. Real hard, and I collected 100 liters worth of rainwater (I don't have enough buckets to collect more ). I saw that this rain happened roughly a week after the previous rain. If it gets raining twice a week, I think I shall dial back my watering to once in two or three weeks, if:

• the temperature drops below 30°C, esp. below 33°C. This is also related to how much sunlight that shines over my region

• humidity stays over 70%, which affects how fast evaporation occurs. Also I shall be vigilant for fungi growth

• it's less windy than previous weeks, but I think winds and air circulation play minor role on evaporation rate

I'll give more updates about my region's weather within this week. Perhaps a fert routine contingency plan?

[Steve Johnson]

I'll give more updates about my region's weather within this week. Perhaps a fert routine contingency plan?

And I may have one for you...

Remember that you'll need to fertilize pretty much every time you water regardless of whether it's acidified tap water or rainwater. When you're using rainwater, it would be awfully nice if you could supplement the GrowMore, KARATE PLUS, and Magnit with a nitrogen-free Cal Mag supplement. From Tokopedia, check this out:

https://www.tokopedia.com/skyad/pupuk-t ... fined=true

No mention of N anywhere in the labeling, so I think IONIC Cal Mag Pro should be just fine for you. (Oddly enough, the IONIC Cal Mag Pro in the UK contains 3% N -- but that's the UK, not Indonesia.) A Ca-Mg ratio of 3-1/4-1 is standard, so you should be fine there too. Only thing missing on the label -- the percentages of Ca and Mg. 4%-5% Ca is also standard, but rather than make an assumption, it's best if you contact the distributor (Pupuk) and ask them about the percentages before we figure out the right amount of IONIC for your watering solution. If you want to do no-fert watering at the end of each month, I highly recommend that you add IONIC to the water.

[Wiandry Adi]

I'll give more updates about my region's weather within this week. Perhaps a fert routine contingency plan?

And I may have one for you...

Remember that you'll need to fertilize pretty much every time you water regardless of whether it's acidified tap water or rainwater. When you're using rainwater, it would be awfully nice if you could supplement the GrowMore, KARATE PLUS, and Magnit with a nitrogen-free Cal Mag supplement. From Tokopedia, check this out:

https://www.tokopedia.com/skyad/pupuk-t ... fined=true

No mention of N anywhere in the labeling, so I think IONIC Cal Mag Pro should be just fine for you. (Oddly enough, the IONIC Cal Mag Pro in the UK contains 3% N -- but that's the UK, not Indonesia.) A Ca-Mg ratio of 3-1/4-1 is standard, so you should be fine there too. Only thing missing on the label -- the percentages of Ca and Mg. 4%-5% Ca is also standard, but rather than make an assumption, it's best if you contact the distributor (Pupuk) and ask them about the percentages before we figure out the right amount of IONIC for your watering solution. If you want to do no-fert watering at the end of each month, I highly recommend that you add IONIC to the water.

Thanks, Steve. Although, with gypsum ferts already in, wouldn't that be more than enough? I think if I'd add more calcium ferts to my solution, the calcium will dominate the mix and looking at Mulder's chart, I don't feel confident about it. Also, IONIC ferts you just listed there have nitrogen, albeit not much; looking at its price though, I see Magnit and Kalnit, which are way more affordable, are just as fulfilling, no? If you insist though, I can add more gypsum and perhaps considering using a teeny-tiny bit of dolomite (or KALSITOR... but one review said it smells funny).

Also, "Pupuk" is not a distributor; I think you misunderstood something along the way. Magnit is distributed by Saprotan Utama (same as Pak Tani 16-16-16), and 'pupuk' is Indonesian for 'fertilizer'. (although I have a wild thought about if there's a local fert company wanted to designate themselves as 'Pupuk, Co, Ltd.' or 'Pupuk, Inc.', that'll be too generic or perhaps...)

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Adi,

Since I don't know the Indonesian language, I'm at a disadvantage regarding the names of the distributors selling the ferts you're able to buy. If the IONIC I had in mind for you does include N, you won't be able to use it. I thought KALSITOR might be a good possibility, but I'm not thrilled by the fact that it includes boron (you already have enough B in GrowMore). Whenever you dilute the GrowMore, KARATE PLUS, and Magnit in rainwater, the amounts of Ca from KARATE PLUS and Mg from Magnit going to your plants will be sufficient. As I said last Monday, every little bit helps -- even the gypsum you add to your pots.

While Mulder's chart is useful, it doesn't answer a rather important question -- "how much is too much?" The answers require an understanding of how various nutrients function and interact with each other. All I can tell you from observational experience with my cacti is that when Ca is as high as or higher than N, growth is stronger. Furthermore, Mulder's chart doesn't make a distinction between nonxeric plants and xeric plants like cacti and succulents, so we really can't take the chart for anything more than a general reference.

When you dilute your ferts with rainwater, I don't want you to get hung up on the fact that your cacti and succulents are getting a limited amount of Ca and Mg. If you can find a nitrogen-free CalMag with a 3-1 or 4-1 ratio, so much the better. If not, you'll be able to make up for the "shortfall" when you dilute with acidified tap water.

[Wiandry Adi]

The weather forecast has predicted that the it'll rain more often now as it's getting closer to the end of the year. I've looked more references and saw that fungi and bacteria tend to flourish - something we exactly don't want to happen - when there's nitrogen abundance, as well as pH drop in soil. Rainwater is full on nitrogen or at least having it as the major nutrient and the references said one should combat this by adding pH-raising ferts, like dolomite, or adding less nitrogen in ferts and focusing on potassium, calcium, magnesium, and even phosphorus (though I'm still learning on it). Speaking of raising pH, potassium hydroxide solution I saw on pH-up solutions sold here can be plausible.

I'll focus on adding more potassium and Cal-Mag, but I see that nitrogen-free Cal-Mag ferts may be required for this (like the CalMag OAC). Dolomite and gypsum can be a consideration, since almost all the time, either I found calcium ferts that are not readily water-soluble or everything is calcium nitrate. I also consider to drill the bottom of the pots to increase air circulation and help wick the excess water as quickly as possible.

[Steve Johnson]

From BBC Science Focus (https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-ear ... inary-rain):

• "Air is 78 per cent nitrogen, and plants need it to grow. Nitrogen gas is chemically very stable because it is made from two atoms that form strong bonds with one another. Breaking these bonds requires lots of energy before they can react. Lightning can provide this energy, breaking the bonds and leaving the free nitrogen atoms to combine with oxygen in the atmosphere. The resulting compounds are called nitrates, which dissolve in rainwater more readily than nitrogen gas. Most plants cannot use nitrogen gas but they can use nitrates. Because of this, thunderstorm rain is particularly good for fertilising plants."

With that quote in mind...

Rainwater is full on nitrogen or at least having it as the major nutrient...

...don't make assumptions about how much N you have in your rainwater. If there's thunderstorm activity when you get rain in your area, the rain will contain nitrate N. The question is, how much? If your test strips test for nitrate, get a reading from your rainwater. Here's what to look for:

• Less than 25 ppm nitrate -- the GrowMore, KARATE PLUS, and Magnit dilutions I gave you should be fine.

• More than 25 ppm nitrate -- you'll be in a different situation.

How that different situation should be handled will depend on how much nitrate you have in your rainwater. When it comes to phosphorus, not enough P is just as bad as too much, so this is something we can discuss if you do find that your rainwater has at least 50 ppm nitrate. By the way, fungi and bacteria need a lot more than 50 ppm in the soil to flourish. Your mixes are soilless anyway, so IMO you won't have any problems with either.

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Adi,

Just wanted to give you a "heads up" on something I hadn't thought of before -- air pollution. This is from Wikipedia:

• "In atmospheric chemistry, NOx is shorthand for nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution."

Jakarta is known to be the world's most polluted city, and since NOx produced by air pollution is ending up in your rainwater, I have to wonder if you should be using it to water your cacti and succulents. Such being the case, I'll recommend that you stick with acidified tap water and and the fertilizers I recommended for you. I realize that air pollution may be less of a problem in your rainy season, but I think you should avoid using rainwater even then.

[Wiandry Adi]

Hi all,

I'd just give a quick update with details on my monthly thread update:

• The weather's gone pretty much unpredictable by now: when report said it'd rain, it's shiny all day and vice versa. I've planned that I'll only collect rainwater if there's a thunderstorm, esp. with loud thunders but preferably less wind. Also nightfall rain would be preferable.

• The rain has claimed few sacrifices (I'd say victims, but of course for such nicely perpetual growing season, I think it's safe to say my climate demands some sacrifices ), in which few are valuable and some are not. Some of my Euphorbia cuttings bit the dust after a consecutive two-nights rainfall and one valuable cactus as well; as expected, perhaps, a Mammillaria.

• I'm started drilling my pots on the sides to prepare for extra moisture that'd be occupying my pots. Think it as an attempt to mimic hydroponic pots. Hopefully this would help such unnecessary moisture to wick away as well as aerate more area of the roots. I planted some of my cacti and succulents in hydroponic pots and while they dry out ridiculously quickly, it yielded great results when it comes to excess moisture during rainfall, and of course I can't manage to repot everyone to hydroponic pots, so there goes the drill.

Also:

Hi Adi,

Just wanted to give you a "heads up" on something I hadn't thought of before -- air pollution. This is from Wikipedia:

• "In atmospheric chemistry, NOx is shorthand for nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution."

Jakarta is known to be the world's most polluted city, and since NOx produced by air pollution is ending up in your rainwater, I have to wonder if you should be using it to water your cacti and succulents. Such being the case, I'll recommend that you stick with acidified tap water and and the fertilizers I recommended for you. I realize that air pollution may be less of a problem in your rainy season, but I think you should avoid using rainwater even then.

I see after reading some more, carbon dioxide and its derivatives(?) affect pH, so I don't know if it's relevant to what you've posted here but this may be a heads-up for what I must anticipate in the future. Also, I read somewhere that pollution rate here rises from 9:00 AM where traffic is the busiest, reaching its peak in the afternoon, and lowers in the night at 7:00 PM, though this is affected by rainfall rates, as evidenced by the drought that happened quite recently (and what I've experienced). So, my plan still sticks: collect rainwater at night, during a thunderstorm with loud, rumbling thunder and lightning, plus after it's raining for more than three days (doesn't have to be consecutive; just enough to clear the air).

But in the end of the day, using tap water is more convenient than I'm having to either stay awake until midnight or awaken during midnight just to collect rainwater (until I have my own rain catchment system) so yeah, acidified tap water for the win!

[Steve Johnson]

• The weather's gone pretty much unpredictable by now: when report said it'd rain, it's shiny all day and vice versa. I've planned that I'll only collect rainwater if there's a thunderstorm, esp. with loud thunders but preferably less wind. Also nightfall rain would be preferable.

• The rain has claimed few sacrifices (I'd say victims, but of course for such nicely perpetual growing season, I think it's safe to say my climate demands some sacrifices ), in which few are valuable and some are not. Some of my Euphorbia cuttings bit the dust after a consecutive two-nights rainfall and one valuable cactus as well; as expected, perhaps, a Mammillaria.

• I'm started drilling my pots on the sides to prepare for extra moisture that'd be occupying my pots. Think it as an attempt to mimic hydroponic pots. Hopefully this would help such unnecessary moisture to wick away as well as aerate more area of the roots. I planted some of my cacti and succulents in hydroponic pots and while they dry out ridiculously quickly, it yielded great results when it comes to excess moisture during rainfall, and of course I can't manage to repot everyone to hydroponic pots, so there goes the drill.

You're at a disadvantage because you don't have a way to put a roof over your growing space. Maybe you can, and if you can, this is the type of material I would highly recommend:

https://www.tokopedia.com/wijayapackind ... c%3Dsearch

The tricky part -- coming up with a frame that'll support the roof. Protecting your plants from the rain would solve the excess moisture problem.

Also, I read somewhere that pollution rate here rises from 9:00 AM where traffic is the busiest, reaching its peak in the afternoon, and lowers in the night at 7:00 PM, though this is affected by rainfall rates, as evidenced by the drought that happened quite recently (and what I've experienced). So, my plan still sticks: collect rainwater at night, during a thunderstorm with loud, rumbling thunder and lightning, plus after it's raining for more than three days (doesn't have to be consecutive; just enough to clear the air).

But in the end of the day, using tap water is more convenient than I'm having to either stay awake until midnight or awaken during midnight just to collect rainwater (until I have my own rain catchment system) so yeah, acidified tap water for the win!

Your rainwater strategy sounds good. Since your aquarium test strips test for nitrate (NO3) and nitrite (NO2), get a reading of both from your rainwater. Remember that mg/L = ppm, so if you can give me the nitrate and nitrite numbers, I'll add 'em up, then figure out the following:

• Is the combined nitrate-nitrite number low enough to justify using the ferts and supplements you would use with tap water?

• If the answer is "no" because the nitrate-nitrite number is more than 50 ppm, I'll recommend a monopotassium phosphate-potassium sulfate "special" just for your rainwater. I'll have to crunch the numbers.

There's no urgency on this -- if you watered your plants with nothing but rainwater for a month, they wouldn't be starving to death. The main thing right now is to get the combined nitrate-nitrite ppm numbers from your rainwater, and make a determination on what to do if the answer to question #1 is "no". In the meantime, you do have a winning combination with the ferts and acidified tap water, so I'm glad I was able to help you.

[Wiandry Adi]

Hi Steve,

I think constructing a roof for my garden will require some administration and permit before I can proceed to do so, and from what I know it's quite complicated and judging from the density of my neighborhood, I think it'll be loads and loads of work. In fact, I do have plans for my future home and it exactly has the roof planning, with opaque polycarbonate as the roofs' layer.

Think of it like this:

Screenshot 2023-11-22 081817.jpg (54.52 KiB) Viewed 74023 times

I know I'm on the wrong side of the coin, but so far, apart from the what-once-was-plants I mentioned earlier, everything's so good. I just had to drill more holes and inspect the density of my mix; the bigger the particles, more porous it become. The only concern is consecutive rains, that's where I probably have to move them to drier area. Also, do you recommend using fungicide and/or bactericide?

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Steve,

I think constructing a roof for my garden will require some administration and permit before I can proceed to do so, and from what I know it's quite complicated and judging from the density of my neighborhood, I think it'll be loads and loads of work. In fact, I do have plans for my future home and it exactly has the roof planning, with opaque polycarbonate as the roofs' layer.

Think of it like this:
Screenshot 2023-11-22 081817.jpg

I know I'm on the wrong side of the coin, but so far, apart from the what-once-was-plants I mentioned earlier, everything's so good. I just had to drill more holes and inspect the density of my mix; the bigger the particles, more porous it become. The only concern is consecutive rains, that's where I probably have to move them to drier area. Also, do you recommend using fungicide and/or bactericide?

I was thinking along the lines of making a do-it-yourself frame, although I understand why it wouldn't be practical for you. I don't have any problems with fungi or bacteria, so unfortunately I can't give you a recommendation.

[Wiandry Adi]

Hi everyone,

Last Sunday, I went to another plant event in Jakarta, this time it's about rare cacti and other succulents, esp. caudiciforms and xeric plants. I had fun looking at and taking photos of the plants offered there and I think it'd be interesting if I share them with y'all here on this forum.

I'll made the update in another thread, so stay tuned!

Event: https://www.instagram.com/agreatbond/?u ... c2ODk2ZA==

[Wiandry Adi]

I'm back! I noticed I haven't been posting here for quite a while and this may be concerning for some of y'all.

The fact is my collection and I are doing OK, with some camaraderie going on under the hot, unpredictable Indonesian sun. Rain has left the room and now I'm stuck with regular fert schedule again (I haven't even got time to sample any rainwater that poured down lately), so it's back to square one again.

Anyway, I'd like to ask something that probably should be asked earlier on the thread since this is quite important but I overlooked it:

• When I apply the ferts into my water, shall I use it immediately or shall I wait for at least a couple of hours to a day to use it? For example: I make the fert solution at 6 a.m in the morning and water it ASAP. Another example is I make the solution at 5 p.m. in the evening and water it the next morning at 6 a.m. Which one would be more effective? I struggled a lot to make ends meet when it comes to both making solutions and watering my cacti since I often either too exhausted or getting conflicted schedule that prevented me from doing both actions at the same time. Some chemistry explanation are welcome

• I recently just read some articles and books about South American cacti, in particular Copiapoa. I saw that the Atacama Desert, where some of the fanciest-looking Copiapoas grow, turns out not as hot as I previously thought. It is the driest place on Earth, but that doesn't mean it's as hot as The Sahara; I saw its average yearly temp never reach as high as 30°C, which equals to some of montane regions in Java (albeit with different rainfall numbers). I mean, technically Copiapoas co-exist with penguins (of all animals!) so I decided to refrain from collecting more Copiapoas, judging by Jakarta's climate which is Atacama's antithesis, until I can get a greenhouse that can properly help Copiapoas to live and thrive in this tropical fiasco. Though, is there a way I can do to... y'know, get Copiapoas to live here? I'm just curious

[Steve Johnson]

Hi Adi,

Re. question #1 -- no problem if you prepare your watering solution in the evening and water your plants the next morning. With that said, I would avoid letting it sit for more than a day or two since the nitrogen in your ferts will be feeding algae instead of your plants.

Re. question #2 -- you won't be able to grow Copiapoas until you can protect them from the rain. That means a greenhouse.

[Wiandry Adi]

Hi Adi,

Re. question #1 -- no problem if you prepare your watering solution in the evening and water your plants the next morning. With that said, I would avoid letting it sit for more than a day or two since the nitrogen in your ferts will be feeding algae instead of your plants.

Re. question #2 -- you won't be able to grow Copiapoas until you can protect them from the rain. That means a greenhouse.

Much appreciated, Steve! Now with this, I don't have to worry not to do both preparing my fert solutions and watering them in one take. The limit will be two days for the solution to sit/remain unused, got it