Friday 12 December 2014

My Stingy Chili Plant


I have not had much luck with chilies in my garden. Flower buds appear, bloom and then drop off. Even when the fruit begins to form, it is aborted shortly after.

These did not develop into chilies. They became yellow and drop off. See the middle one? It is yellowing.
I have tried many times growing chili but sadly I still have to get my chili fix from the supermarket. One plant will give me at most one or two chilies or none at all. Stingy.

A chili flower in full bloom.
I have one plant in a pot right now and it is flowering like mad.


There are flowers at every branch.


But these are false hope :( And then one day....

Helooooo.....
I was happy but I told myself not to get too excited. It could turn yellow and fall off. Everyday, I take a peek at my solitary chili.


Of the 20 to 30 flowers only one gave me a chili.


I think my plant lacks certain nutrients. As I understand it, potassium is essential for formation of flowers and fruits. 


My green pepper plant is doing a lot better.


It does not seem to have any issues, flowering and fruiting away without a care in the world.


I love you green pepper!


I have two green pepper plants. The one above is in the same pot as the chili plant.


Why same pot? Actually I did not purposely plant them but they came out of the compost that I used to fertilize a plant that grew in that pot. Can't remember what plant that was as it died. But coming back to her holy stinginess (I am not referring to myself), look what I discovered one morning.

One, two.
Three.

Four.
Five.
They look quite promising (no signs of yellowing and did not drop when I touched them) and I hope that I finally get more chilies from this stingy plant. 

This is the first chili. It is big now.

Meanwhile, I noticed that my curry plant was not doing too well.


I quickly took a closer look.


Eeeksss!!! It's those yucky pests! The ones that look like aliens!


Do you see them? The two black gobs above? The first time I spotted these pests, I thought they were insect droppings. Until they started moving. Yeeekkksss....made my hair stand on end and they still have the same effect on me. I cut off the affected leaves to prevent my plant from dying.


This is an old photo. I don't have anymore tomatoes.
That's it for now. Till next time, happy gardening!

40 comments:

  1. Ooooo...lovelies! You should come over and look at what we have in our garden. You would appreciate yours a lot more. Heheheheheh!!!!

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  2. oh, today no Phong Hong bakes or Phong Hong cooks but Phong Hong plants!! hahaha.. hmmm, i won't comment anything on your garden, because even a cactus under my care can just "dong-ngiaw" in just a few days, hahahaha!! you should get advices from Small Kucing since she really has green fingers that make her harvest her plants for her own cookings.. :p

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    1. SK, some of my plants also KO hah..hah.. Ya, I notice that Mamarazzi is good in gardening. Must consult her :)

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  3. ah, now that i can really see how a chili tree looks like, the plant, the leaves and the flowers.. thanks for all your close up.. and actually despite of those "bintik bintik leaves", your plants actually look cute with those mini size chilis, hahahaha!! :p

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    1. Yeah, lots of small chillies coming out suddenly hee..hee...

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  4. Morning dearie.. Ooohhh, so today's about plants.. I don't fancy plants, but I like looking at them in blogs.. Looks like postcards view, nice.. Singy? No lah, they will bloom and grow into big big plants one day, right.. Looks teeny-weeny, but don't play play, cili padi hor, lagi kecik, lagi ganas !! haha..

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    1. Hi Louiz! This morning I noticed some more small chilies coming out! I think my plant knew I complained that it is stingy hee.hee...

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  5. This is a long post huh, as in, takes a few weeks/months to get all the photos for this post. I hope your latest chili crop works out ;)

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    1. Thanks, RG! There seems to be a spurt of little chilies forming after I published this post. Hopefully I get a decent harvest :)

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  6. I loves to see plants, but myself no fate in planting plants...

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    1. Sharon, you just look only lah... hee..hee...

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  7. I thought chilli is very easy to plant. Could it be due to your soil ?

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    1. Chris, it is easy to plant but hard to get it to fruit. Yes, my soil could be lacking in nutrients.

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  8. PH, join the gardening group in FB... tell them your woes... hope this will help you to become a better gardener.. hahahaa... I talk only.. no action yet... :)

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    1. Claire, thanks for the suggestion! I am sure I have lots to learn from them.

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  9. Yalo PH, chilli plants seem to kena penyakit quite easily. I rarely have a big harvest of chillies too, but I notice some aunties have like a big plant with so many chillies.

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    1. Yen, I guess I have no luck with chilies but soon after I published this post, there are some more small chilies developing :)

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  10. Recently I have lots of chilli blooming out and I'm a happy lady here..... I would love to try out planing green pepper too.

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  11. Maybe your green pepper plant is too aggressive and not into sharing! And took all the nutrients meant for your chilli plant as well :D

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  12. Mamarazzi can give tips or not?

    She loves to garden too, right? :)

    But the chili look so big lah! Maybe because no other competitor from the same plant? hihihi

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    1. Lina, I must consult Mamarazzi. The chili is big as it is the first one to develop. I haven't harvest it yet.

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  13. Hi Phong Hong, no more complaints please. At least yours have flowers. Mine only leaves and no flowers at all, no matter how long it is growing in the pot. My friend teased me 'It must be a male', hehehe!.

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    1. Kimmy, OK I won't complain hah..hah... I think your plant lack potassium (K). So look for fertilizer that is specifically for fruiting.

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  14. this is definitely not winter in your part of the World:)

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  15. Phong Hong, at last your chili plant is fruiting well....I love your green pepper, I just germinated some seeds, hope they will be as fruitful as your plant.

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    1. Nancy, I am sure your green peppers will do well!

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  16. Well, looking at those green pepper blooming out really feel happy and satisfying :D Hope you get more chilies from the "stingy plant".
    Nice photos !

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    1. Karen, the plant is starting to give me more chilies!

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  17. Wahhhh petani moden! Hehehe.. You should be thankful, even though it's a stingy plant, well at least it buds some flowers. Mine, didn't even germinate! Hahahaha... lagi brutal kan!

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    1. Mama, I pun sometimes the seeds don't germinate. Either that or eaten by some pests.

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  18. I have never do gardening before! Your garden looks good, look at the tomato!

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    1. Thanks, Hayley! I ate the tomato already hee..hee...

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  19. Hi Phong Hong
    I tried leaving my comment this morning, but cannot get through, no idea why!
    I have discarded my cili padi plant, the whole plant was infested by mealybugs! So sad got to discard the plant, as it has been giving me dozens of chillies. Got to have my chili fix from the market too! :)
    Your green peppers are doing great! Those yucky creatures on your curry leaf plant will weaken the plant. Gave me goosebumps each time I see them! Get rid of the "mother", the white beetles that loves curry leaf plant. I check for them almost daily, mostly under the leaves, and would catch a few each week. No idea where they came from!
    Looking forward to your update of your green peppers! Hope you will have abundance of harvest!

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    1. Hi Joyce! This is the first time that my chili plant grows well and produce so many flowers. Right after I published this post, I discovered a few more little chilies developing! I have never seen the white beetled on my curry plant, perhaps I was not observant enough. Will check again and thanks for the tip!

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  20. I heard that it is not easy to grow. All the best! May the tree have more chili!

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    1. Thanks, Mun! It seem to be producing more after I published this post :)

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