Pineapple (Malaysian)

After growing for a year this pineapple plant finally decided to produce a pineapple.  The size of this pineapple is really the size of an apple.  Is this the reason for the name pine-apple?  What have i done to deserve this?  Yes, i must admit that i did not really care much for the plant but isn't it supposed to go find its own food around the roots?  And i did apply more fertilizer after i see the developing fruit.  Anyway i think i need to read up more on growing pineapples.

But i do have a neat trick to teach those who intend to plant your own pineapple:  Never use a knife to cut off the top of a pineapple if you intend to use it to get a new plant.  All you need to do is to get  a good grip on the top (wear gloves if you have tender hands), twist it clockwise in one strong move.  The top should come off cleanly bringing very little flesh with it.  All you need to do now is to leave the top in the open for 2 days so that it completely dries up.  After the bottom part of the top is dry you can then peel off some of the very small dried leaves to reveal very short developing roots.

You can now plant it and wait for a year to get your pineapple.  Hopefully it is bigger than an apple. Good Luck.

Dimocarpus longan

Nowadays it is easy to get cuttings of Longan plant already in fruit from the nurseries in singapore.  I heard that these plants are the result of many years of experimenting with hybridizing the local variety with the Thai variety. 

Actually Longans are native to S.E.Asia but cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics especially Thailand, Taiwan and China.  Dimocarpus longan var. malesianus, the mata kuching, is a subspecies of longan that is better adapted to tropical lowland conditions.  But this variety bears small fruit with thin, soft flesh which is not so appealing. But Mata Kuching has a slightly sweeter fragrance than Longan. 

This hybrid has qualities from the two types of Longans.  It is bigger than Mata Kuching, with thicker flesh which is softer than Longan, bears the Mata Kuching fragrance and is VERY sweet.

These pictures were all taken on the same day to show how crazy my tree is.  While it is bearing almost ripe fruits on some branches, others are already preparing to flower and there are flower buds in various stages of development.  It is truly a Longan tree gone crazy and it had been like this since two years ago so i get lots of  Longans almost every 3 months.

curcuma zedoaria

This is Curcuma ginger native to S.E Asia which i bought from Thailand where it is known locally as Khamin khun or khamin oi.  It has beautiful flower bracts which are of a very bright purplish red color.  The leaves have a purplish vein which runs alongs the inner side.

Flowers of Barbados Cherry

The interesting flowers of the Barbados Cherry is pink in color.  It is quite small and hardly qualifies as a beautiful flower.  But the cherries that come after the flowering is what i look forward to, unless the birds get to them first.

Scotch Bonnet chili

This new batch of fiery Scotch Bonnet chilis finally produced some fruits.  They are still green now but soon will be red and ready for harvest.  Chilis are heavy feeders so they must be given lots of fertilizers and fruits must be harvested and kept in the refrigerator to be used later.