Chili, Chili

This entry is about chili (or hot peppers), one of the crops I have always been so excited about planting; and not that I am such a big fan of sharp food, but I think I like the idea of an ordinary perennial, that is fairly commonly kept as an ornamental house plant, producing as an offspring a spicy, and therefore, I guess, interesting, fruit.

And so, I am excited about the seedlings and this entry. In the post, I am embedding the by now habitual factsheet following the same template of the previously posted ones. Like aubergines, chili is well suited as a container or house plant, especially in our climate. With an optimum growth temperature ranging between 24 and 32 deg C, now is practically an ideal time to easily start the seeds succefully in Cairo. So if you are interested in growing your own, check this entry.

Better Know a House Plant: Punica Granatum Nana

Punica is a dwarf variety of pomegranate. The plant looks like a miniature tree with woody stems, glossy light green elongated leaves, and it produces plumpish teardrop shaped flower buds that are bright red. I have three plants arranged in a trough, and since taking residence in a north-facing balcony about four months ago they have been blossoming more or less continuously.

In this post, I discuss my experience in caring for my pomegranate trees and the conditions under which they thrive.

Pests and Bugs

Plants are prone to pests and bugs. A lot of the bugs are tiny and attach themselves to spots of the plant that make them not always directly detectable: plant crowns, underside of leaves.
Regular inspection of your plants in general and these spots in specific will allow you to control pests and bugs before they do any or much damage. Leaf discoloration, wilting, wrinkling, curling, and stunted growth at the tips are all signs of some infestation; so always watch out for these symptoms.
In this post I present the most common bugs and discuss my pest control methods, I do not use any chemical pesticides.