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Choose and Produce Your Sander’s Dracaena

Commonly known as Sanders’ dracaena, Dracaena sanderana is also called Ribbon plant, Lucky bamboo, Water bamboo, and Corn plant. It is neither a bamboo nor a relative of the corn (Zea mavs).

This species originated as an understorey plant from the rainforests of Cameroon in tropical west Africa, although some literature state that it came from Congo. It is an herbaceous, evergreen, shrubby plant that grows to 2 meters tall and forms a clump by producing suckers. The stems are slender while the strap-shaped, sheathed leaves are flexible and arranged in a spiral.

Tall plants are prone to bend when there is heavy rainfall or strong winds due to the top heavy foliage. Without anchor or support, containerized plants may topple down. It is seldom seen flowering because it is often cut to a desirable height of less than 1.5 meters which prevents the plant from maturing to flowering stage. Nevertheless, it produces an inflorescence called a panicle under Philippine conditions.

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Gardening At Home

Growing Basil at home
Basil is grown for its fragrant tasty leaves that can be added raw to salads, sandwiches or used in cooked dishes such as the ever popular pasta with tomato and basil sauce.

• Preparation
In growing basil in pots, ensure that adequate drainage is allowed from the base of the pot (line with coarse gravel if necessary).
• Sowing
Sow the seeds thinly and if grown in pots, sow enough for a few plants in each pot. Cover the-seeds with 1/2 cm of compost and firm gently. Basil seeds should germinate in about a week and once the seedlings have developed 2 pairs of true leaves then you can thin out the weakest seedlings in each pot, leaving each pots strongest.

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Beware of Bacterial Leaf Streak

Non-stop rain is a double-edged sword. On one side, you can have a relatively good night sleep because of the cold weather. On the other hand, farmers will surely fret at the thought of bacterial diseases invading their rice farms

Bacterial leaf streak (BLS) is one of these diseases. Less invasive and less popular than bacterial leaf blight (BLB), BLS is more prevalent when it rains non-stop like these days.

According to Dr. Hoai Xuan Truong, plant pathologist from PhilRice, BLS damage ranges from 10 to 20 percent when most of the leaves are infected.

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Meet the Amazing Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is something new in the Philippines but in the United States, it has long been a prized wellness and nutritional product.

Wheatgrass is prepared primarily as a juice but it is also made into tablet and powder. It is considered as a superfood and a wonder medicine that can cure or prevent various health problems.

What is wheatgrass? It is the young grass of the wheat plant that is sprouted from wheat grains. When juiced, it possesses nutritional and therapeutic properties.

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Prevent Spread of Bacterial Leaf Blight

The rice disease called bacterial leaf blight occurs mostly during the wet season when water overflows in rice fields. The symptoms of this disease manifest at 45 to 55 days after transplanting (DAT) and it accounts for 30 to 40 percent of rice yield losses.

PhilRice experts, however, say that even if the wet season favors the occurrence of rice diseases like bacterial leaf blight, farmers may as well follow a number of practical tips to make their occurrence unfavorable.

The experts said strong wind, heavy rains, and 25°C-35°C temperature, excessive nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus deficiency, and use of highly susceptible variety aggravate the severity of bacterial leaf blight.

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Cashing in on Lemongrass

The Baligod family of Kalinga province used their individual expertise to concoct a healthy beverage out of the once lowly and neglected lemongrass.

In the verdant slopes and fields of Kalinga province where the Baligod family grew up, lemongrass (Cymbopogon, a genus of about 55 species of grasses), locally called tanglad, grows in wild abandon. Lilia Baligod Pelayo, and her brothers, Joe, Benny and Ronnie learned at an early age that lemongrass. particularly the East Indian type (Cymbopogon flexuosus) are edible. It has essential oils. Its leaves can be distilled and turned into organic fertilizer, or even made into pouches or specialty paper.
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Hope Springs Eternal for the Abaca Industry

PCHI’s Dennis Orlina expounds on the great demand and opportunities facing our abaca industry.

The abaca fiber’s tensile strength is once more tested not only as an indigenous plant but also as a challenged industry which, of late, has been threatened by serious diseases and the supply and demand chain rigmarole. Industry insiders say three main diseases, the abaca bunchy top, abaca mosaic and abaca bract mosaic continue to wreak havoc on thousands of hectares of abaca plantations: In Samar and Leyte alone, around 26,000 hectares of land planted to abaca are reportedly affected by these diseases.

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