Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

We hope for everyone to have a fruitful and bountiful 2019!

An Unknwon Chili Update #1

October 11, 2018

About our mystery chili.  The one that we do not know the name.

The picture above was taken today, exactly 12 days after it was planted.  I am really so happy that most of them have already sprouted.

The first time I saw a sign of life was last October 06, or 7 days after planting.

(October 06, 2018)

This is how it looks, the following day.  I did not see any other sprouting seeds, just this one.

(October 07, 2018)

On the 9th of October (two days after),  these are what I saw.  Many have sprouted.  But for the others, I will still have to wait.

(October 09, 2018)

And today, only a few of the holes in my seeding trays have no sprout in them.

We are still going to wait for them, and I hope they would show themselves soon.

Agrilink 2018! Part 1.

October 04, 2018

The annual Agrilink was again held at The World Trade Center, Pasay City, Philippines.  This was last October 04 to October 07 (Thursday to Saturday, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm).

This year PachamWorld was able to have its appearance in the event.  No, not as an exhibitor (yet), just a visitor.  But hopefully, someday we would have our own booth.

I arrived at the venue before 10:00 am, and the place was jam-packed.  The people in line at the registration booths was so long that I decided to go out and check the stalls outside first.

The live animals were placed there, together with the different machines used for farming.  The gardening supplies were also there. Yey!

(Peacock)

(Peking Duck)

(Geese)

For the animals, I saw some pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, ponies (i want one!), peacock and a camel.  Yes, a camel (I also want one, although I do not know what I would do with a camel, ride it to work probably?).

(Various grafted fruit-bearing trees)

(Various grafted fruit-bearing trees)

 (Insulin Plant)

(Siling Pangsigang)

(Bell Pepper)

For the garden needs, I saw different kinds of Mulberry trees, fruiting already, grafted kalamansi seedlings, and as I expected, lots and lots of chilies (seedling and fruit-bearing).

(Chili Seedlings)

The chili seedlings that they were selling are still on trays (seedling trays), I did not bother to ask how much they cost any more (I cannot buy any anyway),  because it would be very hard for me to carry those home,  I did not bring a car.  I wanted to buy some because I see that the seedling are very nice and healthy.  Maybe next time.

I have already expected that many exhibitors will have chili on their booths (plants, seedlings, and fruit) because there was a lot of buzz on chili price these past weeks.  It reached a record high of more than a thousand peso per kilo.  No market seller is giving free chili anymore.

After the outside tour, I went to register, there still was a long line, but after 15 to 20 minutes, I finally got my ID.

What are inside the hall next time.

An Unknown Chili (The Beginning)

September 29, 2018

This chili was given to me by Kuya Jhen last September 23, 2018.  Below is the plant where he got it from, well this is actually his plant.

He told me that someone gave him some seeds, and said that those were Ghost Chilis.  He had a Ghost Chili plant before but was not able to propagate it, until the plant died, more than a year or two after he planted it.  It was a pity really.  Ghost Chili plants are really nice to the eyes.

Well, back to this Chili.  So, he planted the seeds, and this is what it turned out.

We do not know the name of this chili maybe you can help us.  If you know its name, kindly put it in the comment section below. Thank you.

I have been looking online, and I saw two that resembles this.  The first is the Liebesapfel sweet chili pepper.  The other one is the Picuante or Peppadew chili pepper.

Our chili has a diameter of about one to one and one-half inches only, and it is less than an inch high, like a small tomato.

The plant really looks good, especially when the fruits are already ripe.  The fruit also turns red, like in the first picture.

I planted the seeds that Kuya Jhen gave me today, 69 seeds in all.

Hopefully, they would all grow.

Until next time.

Mushroom Update #4 (First Harvest)

October 07, 2018.

Yesterday morning, Eldeen harvested the three mushroom bags (the ones in update #3).  And today, I got some from two other bags.

When I got home, I weigh the two-day harvest, and it was almost 200 grams.

Lanie will be making some mini mushroom burger patties with these.  Soon I will post her recipe.

To date (37 days from the beginning and 7 days after the humidifier), only around 10 bags has fruited.  Hope to have more of the bags fruit in the coming days.

I am really excited to taste the burgers :-)

Mushroom Update #3 (They're Alive!!!)

October 04, 2018

My brother Eldeen sent me the picture above.

It had only been four days since we've installed the humidifier, and when Eldeen visited 'The Box' this morning, he saw this three fruiting bags that have fruited.

This is the picture of the third bag.

Harvest time would probably be tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning.  We'll see.

We hope that this is the start, and in the coming days, all of the bags would bear their fruits.

Until the next update.

Mushroom Update #2 (The Humidified Mushrooms)

September 30, 2018

Day 30 of our mushroom project.

Things really aren't going well with our mushrooms.  To date, we only had 4 fruitings, and one of those bags is the one that already had fruits in them when we got it, it just had another flush.

We still are not able to give this project its needed attention.  My brother and I both lives far from its location.  I think Eldeen visits them every other day, while I can only visit on weekends (either Saturday or Sunday).

And to make it up to them (again), we added this humidifier.  My brother ordered this from an online store about two weeks ago, and it was finally delivered!  Talk about fast delivery (hmph!).  He ordered three items from this online store, some vertical pots, a timer, and this humidifier.  He made the order last September 17.  The pots were delivered on the twentieth, the timer on the 24th, and this humidifier just this 28.

Eldeen installed our DIY humidifier yesterday (September 29). 

He used a 5 liter PET bottle, where he cut two holes.  One is for the PC fan (the intake) to blow the mist, and the other one is where the mist would come out.

This is how it looked.  The PC fan was attached using four screws.

Below is the Timer.

It is set to work in a two-hour cycle. 

30 minutes on and 90 minutes off.

We hope that with this addition, our mushrooms would be happier and all of the bags would fruit.  Soon!

Until next time.

Mushroom Update #1 (The Boxed Mushrooms)

September 14, 2018

We had these mushrooms for 14 days now, and we haven't really taken good care of them. That is probably why we only had up to date, one bag that had fruited.

But today, we wanted to make it up to them.  We are going to build them a house!  Well, it is actually a box, or at least that is what my brother and I intended it to be.

We bought some 2 x 2 x 12 Coco lumbers and 1/4 kilo each of 4" and 3" nails.

I cut the Coco lumbers into 4 pcs of 60" long, 4 pcs of 22" long and 4 pcs of 20" long.  This will serve as our frame.  My brother was the one who assembled them together.

The picture above is what we had made.

We forgot to buy some tarpaulin that we will use as cover for the box.  But we will have those next time.

In the meantime, we have used some old carton boxes as covers.

We are also planning to put a humidifier with a timer in it.  Hope to have those in my next post.

Thank you.



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Subscribe Button Added

September 21, 2018

I really really wanted my blog to have this email subscription button for a long long time!  But (okay, excuses again) placing one on Blogger wasn't easy.  I had to do a lot of research.

I tried putting one before, but I couldn't make it work.  I Have tried several times without any success until I finally gave up.

Then, last September 19 (I think), our Aunt/Tita Baby asked how she could subscribe to our blog.  Unfortunately, I still do not have that subscribe button.  So I again remembered that I need to put that button on our blog.  And search for how to put it, I again did.

I finally was able to have it last September 21.  But I had to test it and to do that, I need to post something first.  Luckily, I had that post last September 23, and it worked!  At least in my email.

The first email that was included on my list was, well, my email (Google email Address).  I also included another email of mine.  Sir Chino was my first subscriber!  His was the third email on the list.  I also included my wife’s email address so I can further check if the email subscription really works.

My Gmail and my other email received the notification that PachamWorld had a new post.  But my wife's email did not receive any notification.  I haven't check with Chino yet.  I will do that later.

So I need to test some more.

Also, I want to change the content of the email that was sent.  I have to research more about that.

But for now, since it worked on two out of four emails, I am being optimistic that it is working. :-)

So, please subscribe to our mailing notification.


Thank you!

Sweet Basil For Sale!

September 23, 2018

Our first Sweet Basil customer.

Presenting Sir Chino!  Thank you very much!

He said that basil is one of the ingredients in his cucumber juice.  I remember that we also have a juice recipe that includes basil.  The Basil Lemonade.  I forgot to ask him if his recipe has lemon in it, maybe it's the same, or maybe he can put his recipe in the comment section if he has a different one.

I explained to him how I propagate these plants, and in case you also would want to know, here is the link.

I posted the picture above on our Facebook page last night (around 10:00 pm, September 22, 2018). 

And this morning, I got a few messages.

The first message was from Sir Chino, and since their place is near ours, I delivered his order today.

I will be delivering some more tomorrow.

Thank you very much for the orders!

Siling Pangsigang - Update #4

September 03, 2018

Made my first delivery!

Two pieces of Siling Pangsigang plants (fruit-bearing already) sold!

First costumer/buyer Miss Selena! (Thank you!)

I can only bring two pieces per day and Miss Selena bought four, so, I delivered the first batch on September 03 (Monday) and the rest the following day.

Miss Lerma and Miss Memie also bought a plant each, which I delivered last September 05.

All of them are my office mates.

My wife also posted this on Facebook, and there were many who inquired and wanted to visit us, but unfortunately for us, we only had six pieces available at that time.  The other plants haven't fruited yet.  I hope that they would soon.

I still have some pending orders at the moment, and these are just from my office mates.  I also have some friends who told me to contact them once I have some already available for sale.

(This picture was taken September 18, 2018)

I have three pieces available now and I would be delivering soon.

Just a side Note:

Prices of Sili in the Philippines today are rising.  They said that Siling Labuyo or the Red Chili is now more than Php1,000.00 per kilo, this used to be only around Php50.00.  I really am not aware, and I never really bothered with what had caused this.  Maybe the inflation, maybe the people in the government, or the charter change or maybe even climate change :-)  But that is really ridiculously high.

Mushroom (The Beginning)

September 01, 2018

Finally!

We will be starting our mushroom farm!

Way back in 2012 my brother and I attended a seminar about mushroom farming.

In that seminar, all who attended were each given a certificate and a fruiting bag (like the picture above).  

My brother (Eldeen), was able to make this fruiting bag.  He took a little piece of the mushroom that our fruiting bag produced and cultured it in agar.  

Agar is the gelatine-like substance that scientist use to culture bacteria.  Maybe you would remember using that in your high school science class.

When the agar was fully colonized, he divided it and put a piece in each bottle that contains sorghum.

Sorghum is a kind of grain, and this is the grain we use here in the Philippines for mushroom production.

Then when the bottles were fully colonized, again, he divided the content to the fruiting bags that he made.

I cannot remember how many he was able to harvest from those fruiting bags.  But he said that some of the bags had some worms, and he needed to dispose of those at once.  That meant that he was not able to sterilize the bags correctly.  I think he steemed those bags for five hours, but it should be at least eight hours (according to a new source). 

Today, I went to Silang Cavite, on the mushroom farm of Miss Divine Camama and got us 100 pieces of fruiting bags.

Hopefully, we will be able to harvest many from these bags and also make more fruiting bags.

We Call It Kamansi!

July 02, 2018

My good friend Mr. Kuya Jhen Cantada gave me these seeds last July 01, 2018.

The following day, I planted them!

I used these plastic disposable cups as my seedling pots.  I just punched a hole at the bottom as their drainage.

I filled half of it with soil, then I put a seed in each pot.

Then I covered it with more soil.

And there it is, I have planted the nine seeds!

The picture above was taken last July 15.  Two weeks after planting.

And this picture was taken August 05.  35 days after planting.

Last August 19, I transferred them to a proper seedling bag.

As you can see in the pictures above, the cups were I planted them are already too small.

I removed them from the cups and planted them in the black seedling bags.

The first picture from this post was also taken last August 19.

I posted that picture on our Facebook page last August 24, with a caption "Now Selling!".  But up to now, no one was inquiring, eheheh.

I have some office mates who told me they wanted to buy,  but they all thought that I was selling Calamansi.

Hopefully, some would inquire and buy our first product.

Until next time.

Siling Pangsigang - Update #3

August 11, 2018

Look! Look! Look!

Do you see that beautiful bud?!

I am just really happy and excited about this.

These were the Siling Pangsigang that I planted last June 02, 2018.

Let us take a look at the timeline for this project.

June 02 - Seeds planted to seedling tray (72 hole tray)

July 07-08 - Transplanted to seedling bags (One month five days or 35 days after planting) (70 pcs)

August 11 - Saw the first sign of fruiting (70 days after planting and 35 days after transplanting)

Only seventy days, wow!

Here is another one.

Of the 70 pcs that I have transplanted, only 45 remains.  32 are in PachamGarden, 6 I will give to my officemate and 7 are on top of the roof (Yes G.I. roof).

I was not able to go to PachamGarden today because of the rain (there is a typhoon again), I will try tomorrow to see if they also have some buds on them.

So, you might be thinking what had happened to the 25 pcs.

Here is the story.

I have placed all the seedling bags in our garage (ground made of concrete).  Unfortunately, Termites, yes Termites used it to crawl to one of the wooden beams, and they were starting to make our home theirs.  I cannot allow that.  So I removed the seedling bags outside the garage.  I put some motor oil on the wood so they would not go back, and it seems to be working.

I thought that the bags would be better outside because I only saw minimal growth while they were inside the garage, probably because they were not getting enough sunlight.  Unfortunately (again), my father's calves made them their playground.  They have walked all over the bags, and the 25 did not make it.

On that same day, I transferred the 32 pcs to PachamGarden (I can only fit that much in my car), the rest I have put on top of the roof.

So, that was the story of what had happened.  Why some are on the roof and why only 45 remains.

But I am really happy that I saw some signs that they were ready to fruit.

Until next time, hopefully, I would be harvesting these on my next post.

Siling Pangsigang - Update #2

July 07-08, 2018

I have transferred the Siling Pangsigang to the seedling bags.

It had been 35 days since I planted the seeds in a seedling tray.  I think they are big enough to transfer to a bigger container.  It took me 2 days to transfer 70 pcs.

I had to buy some soil and seedling bags.  6 bags of soil (₱200.00) and 100 pcs of seedling bags (₱100.00).

Let the transfer begin!

How I wish it was that easy.  It takes patience, I had to do it 70 times. 

These are the Chili seedlings in the tray.  The one that I planted last June 02.

So, this was how I did it.

First, I filled about half of the seedling bag with soil.  Then I dug a little hole in the soil where I would plant a seedling.  After that, I took out a seedling from the tray.  And dropped it in the hole, then covered the roots with some more soil.  That's it!  Easy.

The seedling tray really was very useful, the roots were not damaged, or any damage made to the roots was very minimal and would not hurt the plant.  I would really recommend using the tray.  

To get the seedling out of the tray you would just need a nail.  There is a drainage hole in each of the sections in the tray.  Just push the seedling out of the tray using a nail through that drainage hole and the seedling would come out easily.

The first picture in this post are the ones that I was able to transfer yesterday (July 07).  36 pieces.

These are what I have accomplished today (July 08, 2018).  34 pieces.

My plan is to put a little more soil as they grow.  That is why I did not fill up the bag with soil.

When I bought the two plants that are now in PachamGarden, they were just in seedling bags this size, so I hope I could also make these seedlings grow to bear some chilies while they are in these bags.

Now, that's a lot of Chilies if that would happen.  And I do hope it will.

Until next time.