The Sili Seeds Grew Like Crazy

A few weeks ago I did an experiment and planted all the seeds from one free sili which I forgot about and dried up. I chucked it in a pot and it immediately started sprouting. 

I got busy caring for other plants, but I knew the Sili sprouts needed to be transplanted already. I found some time yesterday and divided the sprouts into 9 grow plastic pots. 

Ahh, let's see if it produces healthy sili! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Harvested Bell Pepper Twice

I'm on my nth run to grow bell peppers in the past three years. I've learned a lot and now I got to harvest twice with Sweetie!

The bell peppers are a bit small for now. I haven't transferred the plants to a bigger pot, but I've been consistently adding fertilizer monthly. I guess that helps a lot. 

Here's why I think I've been successful with this batch:

1. Consistent watering everyday.

2. Top up fertilizer at the beginning of every month. Switching to chicken manure was very helpful.

3. Putting the pots above ground helped keep pests away.

4. Surrounding the bell pepper plants with dog fennel helped keep aphids away.

5. Trimming infected leaves helps keeps pests and fungus away.

6. Spray weekly with neem oil, baking soda and castillr soap mixture.

It's a lot of work, but bell peppers now are very expensive, even small harvests help. I'll use the two new bell peppers we got today to make papaya atsara. Woohoo!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Bell Peppers!

I've been trying to properly grow bell peppers for a few years now. I just use the seeds from store bought bell peppers. I just scrape it off and dry it for a few days before I plant it.

It's been hit and miss. I've grown bushy ones only to lose the plant to fungi and other pests. In my recent try, I covered the pot with used water bottles. I did this to increase humidity and to protect the plant from pests (mainly snails).

The bottle trick worked! I also places the pot on a plant stand to make it harder for pests to reach it. So far I have a couple that are growing steadily. About a month ago, I removed the bottle cover of one to allow it to grow bigger. 

It's been raining so I didn't notice that the plant started to produce flowers. I just noticed a few days ago that the plant started to form fruits already. Ohhh! I'm so excited! I'm hoping I'll be fully successful this time! I need to check my notes if there's anything I need to give the plant to make it healthy.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Snails Can Eat Your Papaya Fruits!

I spotted a small papaya fruit on the ground the other day. I haven't been very mobile yet, but had to step out and check what was going on with my papaya trees.

I picked up the small fruit and looked up to check the growing fruits. I was shocked to see a huge snail munching on the baby fruits! I haven't been able to spray Neem oil lately and the foil I wrapped on the trunk came off, that's why it was able to go up. Grrrr.

I immediately asked help from Sweetie to remove the snail. He also noticed another huge one on the wall and removed it too. I have to really be more vigilant and make sure the fruits are protected. I've put in a lot of time and hard work to reach this phase for my papaya trees, so I need to be more consistent.

#BeKind #StaySafe