Cut off the flower stalks but don't chuck them. They are your best hope. There appears to be a little keiki (orchid plantlet) on one of the stalks and you should try and get it to grow roots as it is your best hope for the orchid to live.
Mines simple: a small desert bowl.
- Super easy way to make fancy steam poached eggs - pour a thin layer of water on the bottom of a pot and place small bowls on top (Coat each bowl with oil beforehand). crack an egg into each bowl, turn on heat and place lid on. Cook until white is firm but yoke runny. Serve on bread with avacado or butter
- place on top of butter to keep fresh
- cookie cutter! (Good for other doughs too)
- mini terrarium for micro greens (if bowl is glass)
- your own unique measuring unit that no-one else will understand
- upside down as a stand for raising other dishes up
- 1 person baking vessel - bake things in it
- scooper
- lid for jar
- pot for herbs
Your ferns are beautiful! What maidenhair is that first photo cos its huge and I love it
Yea I love those both too, another of my favourite are shield ferns, for their beautiful brown and dark green colours, unfortunately I wasn't able to keep mine alive which was sad.
Anyways here's an update with more of my ferns I'm growing:
My family heritage staghorn (originally my grandads):
Some NZ native maidenhair (Adiantum aethiopicum) and another native fern I forgot the name of (bottom left) 
Some wild native Rasp fern (Doodius australis) looking lovely and pink. Who's growth I've been encouraging:
There's lots of wild ferns around to, including giant tree ferns. These photos here are just the ones I'm currently somewhat cultivating.
Maidenhair (Adiuntum something):
Staghorn (Platycerium bifurcatum) and some little hen and chicken ferns in a tarrerium (Asplenium bulbiferum)
Nephrolepis (back), and 2 mystery ferns (bought them in an unsorted clearance lot):
I've got some of other ferns outside and in other places, but its dark rn so I can't take photos. Will post them tomorrow when its light outside.
Its so hard to pick a favourite I love them all so much. I'd like to try to grow some from spore soon, would love to know what ferns your growing/your favourites too
someone has been trying and it looks like it has potential if it keeps on being developed: https://github.com/Fancy-Mumble/FancyMumble
This is amazing I didn't know they could be coulored like that either. Thought it was coulor swapped first. Beautiful photo
I love micromoths too. we've got a micromoth called Zealandopterix zonodoxa its so cute and even has little mandibles that it can eat with. I love them so much.
Spagnum or some other moss (preferably home grown). if you buy it make sure to get the stuff that is still slightly alive (dried not toasted else it will rot and not work very well.
Most "sustainable" sources aren't all that sustainable, but its my favourite substrate nonetheless, I'm currently trying to grow it myself (not very sucsesfully tho)
My favourite sandwich ingredient would have to be avacado. Though I realise its unobtainable for most people, Im lucky to grow 2 fruiting tree's so get em for free.
fresh baked bread with a drizzle of olive oil. Toped with avacado, homegrown olives tomato and lettuce (and some very old Edam if you feel like it). But don't forget to add some homemade Rocoto chilli sauce somewhere along the way, adding some sweet tropical spice.
Unfortunately avacados are seasonal. We get them for about half the year. For the other half I must sit and wait, patiently biding my time. Waiting for the sun to rise on a day when the avacados will ripen once more.
In my experience the best defence against ants is ants, they are very territorial.
I have had a colony of ants in a little box just inside my window for about 10 years now. They come in and out through a little crack in the window frame. The ants always stay near the window. I can even leave my food out and they won't touch it (though any food placed on the windowsill would quickly be demolished). They seem to be only there for shelter. I respect their home and they respect mine.
However in another room that doesn't have a resident colony I have problems with these pesky little ants that steal any food left out. They are so small they can even go under some lids. Their nest is outside yet they are so much more of a pain.
For you i would say there is no "nipping the colony off at the bud", the ants are already there and properly settled, they probabably would have allready found the food if they were intrested in it, but if they start being a problem and taking food then you can get rid of them.
Otherwise just keep your house boundaries (such as with diatomaceous earth or carnivorous plants or in my case nothing at all), and they will be loyal guards of your porch, defending off annoying ants and many plant pests while improving soil. (Some ants also have symbiotic relationships with certain plants such as Pseudomyrmex ferruginea with Vachellia cornigera. the plants provide food and shelter and the ants defend the plant with their life).
Idk, I love ants. They are an important part of the ecosystem, and we couldn't live without them. A loyal colony is good defence against other pests. And it's nice entertainment watching them form highways carrying food and eggs too and fro. But if they become a nuisance in the house then you do probably need to get rid of them sadly.
Yea we can grow lùcuma here to (my uncle grows some), but Im not a big fan of it. Though I haven't tried one since a kid so I should try it again (lots of my other food preferences have changed). How do you like to eat them? I've heard they are best in smoothies?
Yea they fruit great, we haven't harvested any yet but they should be ready soon. (Or now I better check). They are so delicious
I'm not quite sure what you mean by elevation, But elevation would be only slightly above sea level and plantmaps.com says I live in zone 10b.
We live on the very limit for apples, only golden delicious and some cooking apples seem to do really well, other varieties we have don't produce much and are vulnerable to pests. I hope climate change doesn't skrew my apples over in the future but I think it might.
off the top of my head the ones that we grow and are fruiting (New Zealand):
Fejois (tons of em), persimmons, guavas, bannana, lemons (just started), avocados (nearing the end), quinces (gotta make jelly today), apples (we have picked golden delicious and cooking apples will be ready soon, I'm going to make some cider), figs (nearing end), Casimiroa, tamarillo, rocoto chilli. I think kiwi fruit are fruiting too but we don't grow any.
Use them to predict the weather! Their scales close when its humid (predicting rain) and open when its gonna be sunny.
I've sowed corn lettuce and rocket, ready for the quickly approaching winter.
They taste like watered down sour, you will know it when you taste it.
Crystal apples and Port Albert only go sour if left on the vine way too long (they also get a very tough skin and sometimes go bitter if left really long). So you're unlikely to find sour ones at the store.
I should have said it before, but you still get a lot of seediness before they go sour. I think all cucumbers go sour eventually, if you don't like it just pick them early enouph and there will still be plenty of seeds. (For port Albert and crystal apples the more yellow the more sour)
crystal apple cucumbers seem to be a variety of lemon cucumber.
Crystal apple cucumbers are spherical and can both go sour if left to long, they also go yellow as they age on the vine making them look like lemons so that's probably where the name comes from. there seems to be other varietys of lemon cucumber as well but I have not tried others.
Both would be kin to port Albert, I prefer port albert as they are a bit larger making them have a bit more seed per flesh.
The first thing this fungus does to its newly infected victim is to take over the insects mind. A zombie is created. the insect is forced to climb up and up. Eventually stopping, it latches on as tight as possible to the nearest branch. The insect will never move again.
Now the processes can really start, the fungi fully devours the insect interior. using the energy gathered, long spore producing structures are extruded out of the insects body.
like little ships sailing to colonise new land, thousands of spores float away on ever drifting air currents. the cycle continues
Found in New Zealand
Tree species: rimu, Dacrydium cupressinum
Wasp species: german wasp, Vespula germanica
Fungus species: genus and species currently unknown by me, any info would be much appreciated.
MRS. C GREN (Movement, Respiration, Sensitivity, Cells, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion and Nutrition.) is an acronym I learnt at school to categorise things as living or non-living. If something does all of these it is considered alive.
My teacher told me cells are included to categorise fire as non living (as fire fulfills all other requirements).
Even after finishing school I am still annoyed by this requirement. Cells are the basic unit of life. So cells need to be alive to be cells, but you also need to have cells to be alive, in other words you need to be alive to be alive, not very useful for determining if things are living or not.
So I propose an amendment, remove C and add E - for ability to Evolve. Fire cannot evolve, but I see evolution as an essential requirement for all forms of life.
Much more elegant.
Also as a bonus, MRS. GREEN is a nicer acronym and I think its easier to remember.
Were you taught a better acronym? Or perhaps do you have an even more elegant idea?
Floss things get a lot of rep for working well, but looking bad, sure we appreciate function, but here's some floss games that feel AND look good. These games are optimized for mobile, often polished to a tee, AND have the looks.
All links are for F-Droid
Tell me any more open source Android games you think look Amazing (on F-Droid or not).
Key: EXGL - extremely good looking
My favorite's:
• Super Retro Mega Wars - play retro games like Tetris, Snake, Atari breakout and space invaders, in style! EXGL
• TriPeaks - beautiful pixel art tri-peaks solitaire. EXGL
• Lato - more of a demo than a polished game, but still very fun to ski from peak to peak, and its gobsmackingly beautiful (heavily inspired by Alto's Adventure). EXGL
• Xeonjia - slide around on ice in this polished pixel art RPG
• Fruity Game - perhaps not conventional beauty, but as you merge fruit you will realise it is art of the finest order
• Libre Memory - a gorgeous app to play memory, with a creative "very hard" mode, bringing a whole new level to classic memory
• gauguin -a unique sudoku like game that's a lot of fun
• Flowit! - a puzzle game with fantastic level design
• Ricochlime - ricochet through your enemies defences
• Antimine
- fancy customizable minesweeper.
Other games which are also fun but aren't (imo) as polished and/or good looking as the ones above, or just aren't for me:
• Feudal Tactics - a fun strategy game, its pretty great, except it looks really bad (though the MS paint like looks do carry some charm)
• Vector Pinball -very fun pinball with great sound design
• Ball2Box - put the ball In the box
• RuamBaller - fun pixel art galaxian like game (bit to easy though)
• SUD🩷KU
• Mindustry - looks great, though I haven't played it much, so that's why its here (may be moved to my favourites soon)
• BlastOff - guide your rocket to space through debris
• Astroids revenge - I nearly deleted this game because the default android controls suck, until realising better controls are hidden in settings, why.
• 2050 - 2048 but circles, fun and creative take on 2048 but the visuals are a bit lacking
• pixel wheels - looks are great but the controls are pretty bad (imo).
• unciv - civilisation building game, I haven't played this yet but once again it looks fun
Honorable mentions:
• GLXY - simple and quite elegant space gravity simulator (I love it but it's probably not what people reading this list want)
Hope you found a game you like!
Edit: added unciv and feudal tactics
Found this weird ant on our table, it has a very big head. Does anyone know what type of ant this is? (Found in New Zealand). Im guesing because of its large mandibles its probably not a worker ant instead perhaps its a soldier.
Also I just learnt the different forms of an ant (queen, worker, soldier) are called castes.
Heres my tier list of open source android apps, I have only included ones i feel I have used enouph to understand.
Please tell me any of your favorite open source apps as I would love to hear.
S tier- OpenCalc, firefox, thunder, organic maps, Aegis authenticator, wikipedia, F-Droid, Clock.
A tier: open camera, fossify suite, k-9, termux, simplenote, Acode, pie launcher, translate you, lavendar photos, Heliboard,
B tier: gallery (by iacoblonut), peer tube, simple keyboard, floris board (might be higher if it used haptic feedback interface by default), unexpected keyboard (would be S tier if shift did not carry on selecting text once released).
C tier: FreeDcam, libre camera, geo notes, free paint.
Checkout my post of my favourite Floss android games here
Edit: after using the apps some more I have:
• moved "translate you" from S to A tier due to no offline translation
• added lavendar photos to A tier (my new gallary of choice)
• added Clock to S tier (a much better Foss clock then fossify clock)
• added Heliboard to A tier due to recomendations below (my new main keyboard)
And added a link to my post about my favourite floss android games.
About a year ago I rescued a native Earina autimnalis orchid that had fallen on to the road. I placed it on a tree with some sphagnum moss behind and watered it occasionally.
I was worried it wasn't happy, but then new shoots started growing, and before I knew it, flower spikes emerged!
A conservation friend of mine, who has cared for native orchids, said she's never seen them flower in captivity. So I wasn't expecting much from the spikes.
Then today when I checked how the orchid was doing, It was flowering with some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen :).
Yesterday as I was walking through the bush collecting seeds, I was suddenly caught by a strange vine that ensnared my leg.
While it may look like your traditional vine, a climbing stem with many leaves attached, its a fern, and the entire "vine" is just one gigantic leaf stretching from the forest floor to the tree canopy.
Mangemange is a fern native to new Zealand. Its from the genus Lygodium.
Its stem (rhizome) grows along underground, almost like a long root. Every few meters a new leaf (frond) spouts from the rhizome.
The leaves emerge from the ground twisting and turning, desperately trying to find something to latch onto. At the same time pinnae form on the leaf stalk (rachis). Pinnae look a bit like normal plant leaves but they are actually just leaf segments. The pinnae provide the energy for the frond to grow even longer.
Once a target tree is found, the frond starts wrapping around it, slowly climbing upwards, making new sets of pinnae every few meters.
Continuing climbing, the frond often reaches the forest canopy. Once in the canopy, fertile pinnae start growing and spores are produced. The spores are then carried away in the wind, to new lands unseen.
And once again a new mangmange can climb to the sky.
This is the first post in a series of posts, that I'm going to make about weird and wonderful ferns and fern allies. If you have any weird ferns (or weird fern allies) that you would like me to write about, feel free to suggest them. Or post your own or wonderful/weird ferns in this community!
Here's my current record for most ferns growing on top of each other!
A tree fern called a ponga (Alsophila tricolor) forms the base, growing on this tree ferns trunk is a hen and chicken fern (Asplenium bulbiferum).
Hen and chicken ferns grows little bulbils (baby ferns) on its fronds, when the bulbils are old enouph, they drop off to become a new hen and chicken fern.
These bulbils make up the final layer of ferns of my fern stack, making it a magnificent 3 layers of fern.
Here's my current record for most ferns growing on top of each other!
A tree fern called a ponga (Alsophila tricolor) forms the base, growing on this tree ferns trunk is a hen and chicken fern (Asplenium bulbiferum).
Hen and chicken ferns grows little bulbils (baby ferns) on its fronds, when the bulbils are old enouph, they drop off to become a new hen and chicken fern.
These bulbils make up the final layer of ferns of my fern stack, making it a magnificent 3 layers of fern.
Dendrobium cunninghamii, in Puketi Forest, New Zealand. In full bloom :). Its indigenous Maori name is Winika and a Maori canoe (Waka) is named after it >"In the fork of the tree grew a type of orchid known as ‘te winika’ which blooms with masses of white and green star-shaped flowers, evoking the huia feathers worn by high ranking rangatira (chiefs). This led to the auspicious name being given to the waka taua, that served Maaori royalty for many purposes, from transport to ceremonial duties."
-50 years of majestic waka at Waikato Museum Source
Image by me
I found this while walking through the Bush it was on the track with its exuviae right next to it. They are bloody deafening at this time of year but I still love to see them. Unfortunately I couldn't get any photos with the eyes properly in focus (as well as the exuviae) and my dog was desperate to carry on walking so this is the best I got.
Edit: spelling
Dendrobium cunninghamii, in Puketi Forest, New Zealand. In full bloom :). Its indigenous Maori name is Winika and a Maori canoe (Waka) is named after it >"In the fork of the tree grew a type of orchid known as ‘te winika’ which blooms with masses of white and green star-shaped flowers, evoking the huia feathers worn by high ranking rangatira (chiefs). This led to the auspicious name being given to the waka taua, that served Maaori royalty for many purposes, from transport to ceremonial duties."
-50 years of majestic waka at Waikato Museum Source
Image by me
Edit: grammer and written better
