whatever happen to coleus & hot chilli – the final story June 6, 2011

I didn’t realize it’s been ages since I “touch ‘ this blog..  I can say that I have succeed in growing TWO types of plants: COLEUS & HOT CHILLI. Coleus.. They have been through lots and lots of tragedy including cold burn, hot burn, strong winds you name it! I have one in particular that grows well, and still growing..

I took this pic about 2 months ago I think. The coleus above was the one that had green leaves with pink shades on the centre when it was little.. And look at it now!  This one and the other ones have gone through scorching summer and strong cold wind, both of these conditions made some of the leaves turn black, so heaps of time I would bring them inside. Once they all mature, they need more water and I water them once every 3 days now (once a week before). I’ve had some yellowing old leaves – which is normal – and I’ve had flowers growing – which I immediately removed from the plants. I keep pinching the new growth, and they’ve gotten bushier..

How about the Chili?? They are tough aren’t they?? I had some of the chillies started losing the leaves a while ago, I have no idea why, but then about a few weeks later they started growing new leaves! I’ve had plenty of green chillies picked from the plants, they serve me well. I can’t wait until they turn red, it’s taken too long . It’s  winter now, and the temperature is around 18 degrees during the day, and can drop below 10 at night, so I bring them inside at night to save the small chillies that are still on the plants.

I can say that I will not try to plant any tomatoes ever again.. It’s a complete disaster!.. I will stick to my coleus and chillies this yearand try some new varieties!

We’ve got a chilli!! December 9, 2010

Hurrayyyyy!! yes that’s true!

Last week, the flowers on one of the plants were blossoming, and I used a small paint brush and hand pollinated them – as I read on some gardening forum).. anyway the very next day all the blossoms dropped off!! I was freaked out.. thinking what have I done?? Nothing that I could do.. so I just let them be.. and this is what it looks like today!

But there is a problem though – well 2 problems actually.. from 3 flowers that I hand pollinated, only one (in this picture) that shows significant fruit growth. the others?? one, as you can see in this picture, the flower has dried up and still hanging there.. and the other one, it’s still very tiny.. that’s problem number one. Problem number two is that I’M LOSING LEAVES!! again in the picture above , you can see that leaves are yellowish.. and later they’ll turn all yellow and finally drop off. The yelowing start from the bottom leaves first. I read that It mignt be nitrogen deficiency.. but I’ve been giving them fish emulsion with NPK number 9:2:6.. that’s high on nitrogen, right?? I don’t know what’s wrong, but I am afraid that there’ll be no leaves left soon coz the lost is not balanced with the growth

final container December 1, 2010

Last week, I have moved the coleus plants into their final containers – only one that is still in the temporary one.. and yes once I put them into bigger containers, the faster they grow..

Coleus with orange shades in the middle

I call this one as the “dirty one”. The holes on the leaves are more visible as the leaves get larger, but no sign of any new bug attack.

I especially love this maroon coleus. The color is more intense on the new leaves.

This is exactly why I love coleus so much, you never know what you’re gonna get Started with only white in the middle, It has added some pink shades as It’s growing.. lovely!

more and more trusses! December 1, 2010

The latest from the tomato plant, some more trusses are growing, and some of the flowers are blossoming.. and the plant itself is taller than before, although it’s only been a week since I transplanted it.. So excited!

It’s been wet all week, thank God it’s not too windy, worried the flowers will be blown away!

and blossoming! December 1, 2010

Never thought this day will come!! After the disasterous start, and not to mention the neglect finally they are blossoming, it’s funny though, both of the chilli plants, they are still quite small, and they don’t have that many leaves at all.. One of them, the taller one, it has around 16 leaves (yes I did count), but the flower buds on this one are a lot smaller than the other plant – which is the smaller one, but has more mature buds and they are blossoming!

Flower buds..growing November 25, 2010

The flower buds on the chilli plants haven’t blossomed into flowers yet.. but they are growing.  

I feed them with fish emulsion – still at half strength once a week. Really hope they will grow well and start giving me some chillies!

Final potting November 25, 2010

Finally I transplanted one of the tomato plants into its final container yesterday. I put 3 stakes into the soil when I did the transplanting.. I still have 7 other small tomato plants still in the small pots, I have no idea what I’m going to do with them. It is impossible to keep all of them as I don’t have enough space!! My mistake was that when I started this plum tomato project, I didn’t look up any information about it.. AT ALL! BIG MISTAKE!! I didn’t know that they are ones that will grow as tall as human!! :p

The weather has been hot, summer’s coming, and at this stage I’m not sure how often I should water the plants, especially the one that I just tranplanted into the final pot. This week the temperature is around 25-28 degrees Celcius and the tomato plants wilt during the day but come back alive again after the sun’s gone down.. I’m not quite sure if it’s normal??? I water the plants in the small pots once everyday early in the morning, and for the big pot one I’m thinking to water it once a week.. hmm.. not sure..

What’s eating coleus leaves?? November 18, 2010

Arrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!! I’m at war! with what – Don’t know yet Something has been chewing the coleus leaves, and I’m pretty sure it happened at night. I don’t see any caterpillar – found n killed one a while ago & suspected it’s the one that chewed the tomato stems, don’t see anything on both sides of the leaves.. so I’m clueless. This is how the holes look like.

The leaf on the right hand side – can’t see in this photo – has bigger holes

A big hole on one of the maroon coleus’ leaves 

Tonight will look around the plants again and see if I can found something.. I will get you – sooner or later!

And come the flower buds! November 18, 2010

I am pretty sure that they are indeed flower buds (still very tiny though). I realize now that chilli plants are strong plants, I kind of neglected them for a while, coz I thought they would be no hope for the little buggar! as I mentioned before, there is something making holes and chewing on the leaves – still haven’t found the trouble maker – but up until today, they are still alive and even start growing flower buds!! YAY!! So, now I start giving them my love and tender care as I did before

I couldnt get my camera to take a better close up photo – anyway the buds are there

Tiny tim on day 22 November 17, 2010

The Tiny tim seedlings are looking just fine today. They already have true leaves since last week, and I guess coz they’re meant to be “tiny” then they are growing normal