Saturday, October 29, 2011

Calcium, Magnesium, & Bone Meal...

I have never understood why bone meal is nowhere to be found here in LOS. Drove many kilometers yesterday in search of either bone meal and/or a calcium supplement.
The biggest fertilizer store I've found is 20 kilometers from home and when I asked about bone meal; mai me (don't have). Then I asked about calcium supplement; mai me again.
Upon further inquiry and questions they finally came up with a big jar of some kind of foliar chemical powder.
Persistence paid off this time; they had what I wanted but didn't even realize it because Thais don't question the way we westerners are prone to do. It's just too common a growing adjunct not to have in a huge shop like this.
The second largest ingredient was calcium oxide preceded by magnesium and followed by potassium.
Bingo! It also has copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum, and iron.
Yes, I have the Bison organic fertilizer w/bone meal, but I can't find it anywhere, so when I run out (which will be soon) I have nothing else to substitute; now I do and enough to last for a year or more.
The pods are still dropping but I expect next week this will stop as there is nothing else to cause problems at this time.
Another thing that is different this time around is the leaves; they are flat and healthy looking, unlike last year with them all curled up. Now that's headway IME.
Cheers; the adventure continues...

Never a Smooth Road to Growing Habaneros in LOS

The plants are fine as the pods grow, mature, rot, and fall; 30+ pods lost to the never ending rain.
Despite my best efforts, the constant soaking is taking it's toll on the pods.
The irony is thick; I quit planting in pots for the very reason of water logged soil because of the monsoons.
But this year has been an especially wet one and even though the plants are doing okay, the pods are not maturing before the rot settles in and they go to ground.
The Costa reds are producing huge quantities of pods; but alas, for naught.
We're coming out of the rain as the year advances; we've escaped the floods, but not the rain. So be it; I'm confident the winter will bear fruit; pun intended.
Cheers and good growing to all...