My Chili Farm - Attack of the wrinkly leaves

Did I mention in my last post that I am replanting all my chili plants to the local variety of the Cili Padi(Bird's Eye chili)? Yes I am. I would have transplanted at least 300 of them by now, if some pest did not devour all of them! Yes, all of them! The mysterious pesky pest didn't even leave a single seedling for me!

It's true about our local farming taboo, they say you shouldn't curse or scold when some pest disturb your crops because they will come back with a vengeance! So when you are at the field or your farm and you notice that one of your crops has been 'disturbed' by let's say, a monkey, you are just to shoo it away but no scolding or cursing or doing anything beyond what is necessary. Otherwise, that monkey will come back with more monkeys and do worse damage. Some Oil Palm growers swear by this taboo.


This mystery pests of mine have been my bane ever since I started my chili nursery but they usually take out 4 to 5 seedlings out of 100 seedlings. That day, I decided that I had enough of this attack, so I moved all 300 seedlings to another location, enclosed one. The next day, to my utter dismay, all of them were without leaves! Talk about vengeance!

Hence, I have shifted my nursery to the farm. Fingers crossing, so far no problem.

Some of the seeded polybags that I have relocated to my farm.  Planning to build a proper nursery in the future, one with netting to keep pest out. 

I got tired of grass cutting every one week, so I bought a roll of Silvershine from K.K Kimia in Kota Kinabalu the other day for RM98.00. Spec : 0.03mm x 500m.

It's not perfectly straight but I guess it'll do the job for now.

So far I've only managed to cover three rows of my Chili plants with the Silvershine. It's a bit tricky to cover the ground when you already planted your chili plants. Fortunately, I've only planted five rows. Otherwise, 'pening kepala woh' (headache). I'm pretty proud of myself though :D. I did all the work by myself. But I shouldn't celebrate yet, I've more rows to cover.

The function of the Silvershine? It is put there to prevent grass/weed from growing around the plants. It also helps keep the soil cool which would encourage earthworms to 'congregate' around the plants. I used to hate earthworms but now they are my best friends LOL. I plan to collect leaves from the Rambutan trees at the farm, shred them with my brush cutter and scatter them around the plants(not on the silvershine).

A victim of my brush cutter. This one got 'decapitated' at the top when I misjudged the distance of my blade from the plant. One of the reasons I introduced Silvershine.

By the way, that condition which I don't have a name for it yet which causes the leaves at the top of the plant (I think they are called Terminal Bud) to go wrinkly struck four of plants, again! It couldn't be due to lack of nutrients because I think I have got the combination and frequency of fertilizing balanced. They started healthy and green and then the top go wrinkly. The leaves are shriveled, crisp, paper thin, dark green and plantinum'ish' in colour. I am at a loss. Should I destroy them and prevent the spread of this disease which is unknown to me or just hope that these plants will ride it out and somehow overcome this condition? I'm reluctant to destroy them because they have grown so big. On the otherhand, I'm also exposing the rest of the healthy plants to the risk of being infected if this condition is indeed a disease and not due to lack of nutrients!

Before.

 

Now. Notice the top leaves?

    
On a different note, I wonder if anyone can tell me what is the name of the following Chili?

A very healthy plant.

Close up of the same plant. See the strange looking fruit?

I got the seeds from my aunt who got it from a plant someone planted in the compound of Tenom General Hospital. My aunt and her colleagues who work in the hospital tried the chili and they swear that they are hotter than regular Chili, yes even hotter than 'Cili Padi'!

It's obviously a hybrid because I planted four of them in a separate plot from my 'Cili Padi' and all four are thriving. They are not fussy at all. Very strong and resilient. I planted them at the same time I planted my 'Cili Padi' but they are already fruiting.

At first I thought they are the famous or maybe infamous Bhut Jolokia, the purportedly hottest chili in the world but when I googled Bhut Jolokia, all the fruits that I see are bigger in size. This one is maybe about a quarter of the size of a Bhut Jolokia that I see in the internet.  

I can't wait for the fruit to ripen, I like to taste it myself, see whether it is as hot as my aunt says it is.