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"What's Ampalaya?" you asked? Some call it bitter gourd, others call it bitter melon , we call it Ampalaya. This is a log on my first attempt of growing Ampalaya from seeds. A friend of mine gave me two Ampalaya seeds and since I didn't believe that it would germinate nor fruit, I just reluctantly potted it in loam soil some time in January in the small green house where I let everything germinate. It started growing without me knowing that it was actually Ampalaya. I thought it was just one of those watermelon till it started looking like this.
Watermelon leaves don't look like these so I picked one, rolled them in my fingers to let it excrete its scent and from there I could tell - it was ampalaya.
Both seeds germinated but I accidentally yanked the other one when I transplanted it on a bigger pot it must have lost an important root or something - it yellowed and died. Thinking I will be needing at least two to pollinate it, I thought of throwing the other one in the trash to utilize its pot for one of them pomegranates but that small voice in my head said give it a chance so i left it and gave it something to crawl on to because some of its vine parts were starting to choke my strawberry plants inside that greenhouse.
I thought it was growing too slowly and not a bud in sight so I thought of pulling it out again cause obviously when patient was being sold in the market I didn't avail of any. Some time in June a bud sprouted and somehow I started sweet talking it encouraging it to show off its flowers. I have been open about sweet talking my plants from the start and I am never ashamed of it. I believe that every living things have souls and that we can communicate with them.
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By the way, I keep it real when I sweet talk them. It sprouted more buds and one day, when I was about to water everything inside that greenhouse, a certain perfume like scent was lingering in there that I had to trace where it was coming from .. this.
I sweet talk it almost everyday to encourage it to fruit and since I don't know how to pollinate it, I left that part on the winged insects that visit that green house some time in July. I have never learned pollinating them nor whether they are self pollinating or not and as you know I was very busy with so many things during those days, the sweet talking sort of became seldom that when I visited it, this is what I saw, it's had a miscarriage :'(. (okay.. that part's a joke plants don't do that hehe)
Back when I was still living in my grandparents house, we were growing them every year and all I remember was they just flower there and before we knew it, it was time to harvest and we would have so much the whole street could share them harvest with us. All I remember was the harvesting part so I don't really know what I did wrong.. perhaps because I grew it in a pot? However, the friend who gave me the seeds, grew it directly on the ground, used poop fertilizer and grew it in her glass greenhouse but no luck of fruiting either.
I sweet talked it again and somehow she must have tried harder but to no avail again. It had another yellowing fruit but it kept climbing up and budding so I let it till that first attempt of improvising a winter coat for my strawberry greenhouse. With pain in my heart, I let it all go because the bottom leaves have already turned yellow. I guess, it's time to rest for her. The weather is a lot cooler surely it would just be agony for this tropical plant to go on trying.
So yes, this year, I failed to make my first Ampalaya plant fruit but would I ever try again? Hell no! I'll do it again .. over and over till I get the right way. Perhaps, I over watered it or her growing condition was just not ideal for her but surely, if I ever could get my hands on any Ampalaya seeds again, I'd experiment on growing them again to fruit specially now that I believe that it's possible and I was so close to achieving success of making it fruit, there's just no point in stopping now is there?.
This content's 100% mine. I took the pics with my Samsung A3 1016..
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