HOW TO PLANT (BITTER MELON) AMPALAYA

Ampalaya is one of the vegetables you need to plant in your farm or garden. Aside from being a good source of vitamins and minerals, it is also a good source of income because it has a ready market. Almost all the parts of this plant are useful. Its fruits and leaves--and sometimes its stalks--can be sold.

There are two types of ampalaya: the white and the green types. The latter, however, is more popular among consumers. Among the varieties you can grow in your farm or garden are the following: Lagus Africa, Indang (or BPI Long Green), Iloilo Long, Santa Rita, Laur, Polo, Karela, and Silang.

The ampalaya vine is found everywhere in the country for it grows on different kinds of soils. However, for best result, plant it on a well-drained, sandy-loam or clay-loam soil which is rich in organic matter. Do not plant ampalaya in wet areas because it cannot tolerate too much moisture. You can grow ampalaya any time of the year as long as there is sufficient moisture.

Prepare the land thoroughly before planting ampalaya. Plow and PREPARATION harrow the field three times and then furrow it with a distance of two meters between rows. If you intend to plant ampalaya in your garden, be sure you prepare the plot thoroughly. Usually the ampalaya is planted in hills about one meter apart.

There are two ways of planting ampalaya: transplanted and direct seeded. If your area doesn't have enough water supply and ampalaya seeds are rather limited, it is much better to sow the seeds first in a seed box or seedbed. Press the seeds into sterilized soil and then water the seed
box or seedbed every day until transplanting time. (Sterilize the soil by pouring boiling water on the surface of the soil or by burning dried leaves of banana on top of the soil.) The seedlings are ready for transplanting when they have one or two pairs of true leaves. Seeds to be used for direct planting should be dried in the sun for two days. Then plant three to five seeds per hill five centimeters deep in rows. After several days, when sprouts are seen on the ground, thin out the plants leaving only two to three of the strongest looking plants per hill.

When the plants are about one foot long, you can erect two-meter high vine supports of either ipil-ipil or madre de cacao on each hill. Reinforce the supports with plastic twine or rope and weave one-foot square wire mesh to top the trellises. Later on, inspect the fruits to be sure they hang well. This is done in order for you to avoid harvesting curled or deformed fruits.

You can start doing a shallow cultivation with a hoe or "guna" or animaldrawn plow three months after planting.

This is very important in amplaya growing. Weeding is done in order to eliminate weeds, which will compete with your plants for moisture and nutrients.

Apply just enough water to keep the soil moist--not too wet but not too dry. Do not over water your ampalaya plants since, as stated earlier, they cannot bear too much moisture.

Proper watering coupled with adequate fertilization will increase plant vigor. At planting, apply a complete fertilizer (14-14-14) at the rate of two table spoons per hill eight centimeters from the base of the plants. When plants are three weeks to one month old, side-dress with one tablespoon of urea and two table spoons of ammonium sulphate.

The most common pests that attack ampalaya are the melon PESTS fruit fly, thrips and aphids. You can control melon fruit fly by using Foliafume-soap, which is available from your agricultural stores or from the Bureau of Plant Industry and its local agencies. Thrips can be controlled by spraying with Hamidop 600. To control aphids, Orthene 75 or Malathion may be used at regular intervals.

There are two common diseases of ampalaya: fusarium DISEASES wilt and anthracnose. Fusarium wilt can be controlled by crop rotation and by observing sanitation in the farm or garden. Control measures for anthracnose include spraying the plants with fungicides, sanitation, and disinfecting seed before planting.

You can start harvesting ampalaya when most of the fruits have reached marketable size and when seeds are still immature. This is usually 50 days after planting. Fruits are harvested every four days thereafter.

To prevent bruising and to prolong the freshness of ampalya PROTECTION fruits, place them in bamboo baskets lined with fresh banana leaves while harvesting.

Banana or Saging

Saging is found in cultivation throughout the Philippines in many forms and varieties. The Philippines' has different varieties of banana - from the cooking variety named saba, to small sweet latundan, to the bigger exportable bongolan, to red-skinned morado, to full of seeds Espanola, to small, finger-like senoritas.

The male inflorescences (puso) of saba is extensively used as a vegetable. The fibers are made into clothes. The leaves are also used for polishing floors, for lining pots in which rice is cooked, and as wrappers for various foods. The fruits are delicious and very popular as food. Wine, rum, and brandy are prepared from the ripe fruits.

There are many uses to the saging. The saba for example is used as a main ingredient for pochero, a hearty meat stew, and also for sweets like turon, minatamis na saging, ginataan, binayo and others. The leaves are used also for cooking as wraps for ibos, tinumis and others.

The fruits are most valuable and widely used in medicine. The unripe fruit is a valuable article of diet, especially for those suffering from hemoptysis and diabetes, and in the dried state, or preserved with sugar, it is antiscorbutic; it is also useful in diarrhea. Flour made of green bananas is used in cases of dyspepsia with flatulence and acidity. A slight gruel made of banana flour mixed with milk is said to be a tasty and easily digestible article of diet in cases of gastritis. The ripe fruit is beneficial to anemic persons on account of the iron contained in it, and is a valuable food in chronic dysentery and diarrhea when mixed with half its weight of tamarinds and a little common salt

Papaya

The fruit is cylindrically long, pear shaped or round, it is orange to orange-red, sweet and juicy when ripe. Unripe papaya makes for a good concoction of vegetable stew, salad or pickle. The fruit is rich in Vitamins A and C, iron, calcium, protein, carbohydrates and phosphorous.

Papaya thrives best in areas with dry climate ( 25-30C ) with annual rainfall of 1,200 mm to 1,500 mm distributed throughout the year. Normally, it is a crop for low to medium elevations (from sea level to 900 meters above sea level) with humid to fairly humid conditions. It requires ample sunshine and protection from strong winds.

Papaya is adapted to a wide range of soils but its grows best in well- drained light textured soils with pH range from 5-6.5.Good drainage is important as water logging kills plants. Sticky and calcareous soil are not good as rain water, may accumulate in the soil even only for a few hours. In this case, raised beds and drainage ditch are recommended.

Papaya generally starts to flower after 5 months from seedling and the first harvest is obtained 4 to 5 months later. When intended for vegetable, papaya can be harvested when fruit is at color break to ripe. For shipping to distant market the fruits should be harvested when the apical end starts turning yellow and the latex is no longer milky. Do not allow fruits to ripen on the plant and they should not be dropped to the ground to avoid possible injuries. Use step ladder or plumber helper with long bamboo pole to pick the fruits if the tree grows taller.

To harvest, to twist the fruit until its stalk snaps off the plant or cut the stalk with sharp knife.
The productive lifespan of papaya gradually ends on the 3rd or 4th year. As the tree matures, production also slackens. The yield of well-managed papaya plantation is 35 to 40 tons per hectare.

Guava or Bayabas

Bayabas is found throughout the Philippines in all islands and provinces and is usually very common in thickets and secondary forest at low altitudes, ascending to at least 1, 500 meters. Also known as bayawas (Aklanon), guava (English).

This plant, which is somewhat hairy reaches a height of 8 meters. The young branches are 4-angled. The leaves are opposite, oblong to elliptic, and 5 to 12 centimeters long, the apex, being pointed and the base usually rounded. The peduncles are 1 to 3 flowered. The flowers are white, 3 to 3.5 centimeters across, solitary or two to three together. The fruit is rounded, ovoid 4 to 9 centimeters long, and green, but yellowish when ripe, and contains many seeds embedded in aromatic, pink, edible pulp.

Bayabas is one of the commonest and the best known fruits in the Philippines. A wild tree, it grows abundantly in settled areas. The fruit is a favorite with the Filipinos and is extensively used in the manufacture of jellies owing to the presence of a considerable amount of pectin. The ripe fruit is eaten as a vegetable and used as seasoning for sinigang.

Widely distributed in the Philippines. Common in backyards. Well-known because of its edible fruit. Propagation by seeds, budding, grafting, and marcotting. Root cuttings have been tried with success.

Leaves used for wounds and toothache must always be fresh. Decoction or infusion of fresh leaves used for wound cleaning to prevent infection and to facilitate healing. Bayabas twigs, chewed at the ends until frayed, used as alternative for toothbrushing with whitening effect.

Sugar Apple, Sweetsop or Ates (Atis)

Atis is cultivated, throughout the Philippines and is occasionally spontaneous. It was introduced from tropical America by the Spaniards at an early date and is now pantropic in cultivation. The plant is a small tree 3 to 5 meters in height. The leaves are somewhat hairy when young, oblong, and 8 to 15 centimeters in length with petiole 1 to 1.5 centimeters long. The flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves and are about 2.5 centimeters long. They are pendulous, hairy, three-angled, and greenish-white or yellowish. The fruit is large, somewhat heart-shaped, and 6 to 9 centimeters in length. The outside of the fruit is marked by polygonal tubercles. When the fruit is ripe it is a light yellowish green. The flesh is white, sweet, soft and juicy, and has a mild very agreeable flavor.

Atis is a favorite fruit of the Filipinos. It is very refreshing and may be eaten raw or made into an excellent ice cream

In the Philippines the leaves are applied as a poultice to children with dyspepsia. Crushed seeds with coconut oil are applied on the scalp to rid it of lice. A decoction of the seeds is used as an enema for the children with dyspepsia.

Externally the leaves, the unripe fruit, and the seeds (which contain acrid principle) possess vermicidal and insecticidal properties. The crushed seeds, in a paste with water, are applied to the scalp to destroy lice. The same is used as an abortifacient if applied to the uteri in pregnant women. The bruised leaves, with salt, make a good cataplasm to induce suppuration. The fresh leaves crushed between the fingers and applied to the nostrils cut shorts fits and fainting. The ripe fruit, bruised and mixed with salt, is applied as a maturant to malignant tumors to hasten suppuration. The unripe fruit is astringent, and is given in diarrhea, dysentery and atonic dyspepsia.

The bark, is considered a powerful astringent and tonic. The leaves are used as an anthelmintic. The seeds are considered a powerful irritant to the conjunctiva.The roots are considered a drastic purgative.

Mushrooms or Kabute

The scientific name is Pleurotus ostreatus. Strictly speaking, it is a fungus just like wood ears (taingang daga). The color is off-white, the topside of the cap is smooth while the underside is ridged (see the photo). It has a delicate aroma and flavor and only takes a few seconds to cook which makes it an ideal ingredient for Chinese-style stir fried dishes. It is a source of statin drugs used for lowering cholesterol levels

Taro or Gabi

Gabi, or taro, is generally cultivated throughout the Philippines but is not a native of the Archipelago. It is pantropic in cultivation.

Gabi is variable in size and grows from 30 to 150 centimeters in height. The rootstock is tuberous, and up to 10 centimeters in diameter, short or elongated. The leaves, in groups of two or three or more, are long-petioled, ovate, 20 to 50 centimeters long, glaucous, with entire margin, and a broad, triangular, basal sinus extending one-third or half-way to the insertion of the petiole, with the basal lobes broad, rounded. The petioles are green or purplish, and are 0.2 to 1 meter long. The peduncles are usually solitary. The spathe is variable n length but usually about 20 centimeters long, the tubular part green, usually about 4 centimeters long, with the lanceolate, involute, yellow limb about 20 centimeters long. The spadix is cylindric, about half as long as the spathe, green below, yellow or straw-colored above; the male and female inflorescence are each 2.5 to 5 centimeters long, separated by intervals and covered with flat oblong neuters.

Gabi, or taro, is prized chiefly on account of its large corms, or underground stems, which are a staple food in many localities. It has a high starch content, and on this account is very nutritious. The leaves and petioles of gabi are also considerably used as leafy vegetables, and both are very good sources of calcium, phosphorus, and iron. The leaves and petioles of gabi are not only excellent as to taste but also rich in minerals.

In Aklan province, the variety whose leaves and stalks are edible is called gutaw. The leaves are generally used in ginataan (simmered in coconut milk) in itself or as a wrapper for tinumkan, the insides of which are pounded freshwater shrimps or freshwater crabs mixed with young coconut meat and then simmered in coconut milk - similar taste to the Middle Eastern dolmas. When the leaves are cooked alone in coconut milk, the dish is called laing which is a generic term for gabi leaves strictly speaking (Tagalog). In the Bicol region, they have a specialty called pinangat in which about five leaves are bundled together and packed in another leaf. Three of the five leaves are actually shredded to make a filling which may also include pork, dried fish or anchovies and spices (especially red hot pepper!). Then they pour in coconut milk. The secret is the wrapper should not have any holes so that the coconut milk will not leak out. The the packets are then boiled in coconut milk.

The tuber or the root of gabi is also eaten, as vegetable or sweet snack. The best variety in Aklan, at least, is the wahig (right). The tuber of gutaw is also eaten but mostly used as a vegetable included in dishes in which the leaves are used. In desserts gutaw can be mixed with other fruits and root crops like camote (sweet potatoes) and sab-a (cooking bananas similar to plantain) and sweet rice and coconut milk to make eangkoga. The wahig however is solely cultivated for its tuber. The leaves and stalks are not eaten. The tuber is brown skinned and hairy and the flesh is white or have a little bit of purple tinge to it. The best wahigs are those that when the flesh after being boiled is smooth (mapihit). Many a tuber are sometimes coarse (maeagadlad) or brittle.

The tuber is used as ingredient for sinigang (in Luzon) or for desserts - boiled and then eaten with butter or Star margarine and sugar. The best preparation of taro I have eaten is in New Zealand where the Maori (actually my Samoan friends) bake them underground under hot coals in a hangi. There is another variety called palawan or pueawan which is a gigantic plant and the tuber is sweeter.

Sweet Potatoe or Camote

The camote (Ipomoea batatas), is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The young leaves of sweet potato is used as an all purpose vegetable.

The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). It is even more distantly related to the true yam (Dioscorea species) which is native to Africa and Asia. Thus, a sweet potato and a yam are in fact different foods.

This plant is a herbaceous perennial vine, bearing alternate heart-shaped or palmately lobed leaves and medium-sized sympetalous flowers. The edible tuberous root is long and tapered, with a smooth skin whose color ranges between red, purple, brown and white. Its flesh ranges from white through yellow, orange, and purple.

Bitter Melon or Ampalaya

Ampalaya is a vegetable grown throughout the Philippines. It is mostly cultivated, although wild forms can be found.. As the English name suggests (bitter melon), the melon has a bitter taste due to the presence of momordicin. There has been much research done on the effectiveness of using Momordica Charantia in the treatment of diabetes. It has been shown to increase production of beta cells by the pancreas, thereby improving the body’s ability to produce insulin. It has been recommended by the Department of Health of the Philippines, as one of the best herbal medicines for it's ability to help with liver problems, Diabetes and HIV. The truth is, it is considered medicinal by many native herbolarios. In folk medicine, the bitter this vegetable is, the more medicinal value it has. We were always reminded during elementary grades to eat our ampalaya because it is rich in iron. It probably is. It's really an ugly looking vegetable and considered an acquired taste because of its bitterness. The smaller (or more elongate) and greener variety is more bitter than the larger (or plumper) pale green ones that are usually found in Asian-American markets (see picture). It is a common herb used in Chinese herbology. In the Philippines, the leaves are often used for children's coughs. It is also used in the treatment of skin diseases, sterility in women, as a parasiticide, as an antipyretic, and as a purgative.

Malabar Spinach or Alogbati

Alogbati or Malabar Spinach has a mild taste similar to spinach; thus, its name.

There are many varieties and the one has red stems and small fleshy fruits the juice of which can be used as red dye. It's probably a member of the spinach family, it does look like spinach although its leaves and stems are more succulent than spinach. It's a little bit slimy when cooked.

In the Philippines, it is usually planted as a vegetable. The young leaves can be eaten fresh in salads. The older ones can be used as a potherb. It is mucilaginous, though, when cooked, and the longer it cooks, the slimier it gets. The colour of the red leaves fades when cooked. And may also be cultivated as an ornamental plant. It can be propagated by stem cuttings.

The plant is perennial, but it can't survive frost. Nor, though, will it bolt in the heat, as regular spinach does.

It grows as though it were a vine, up to 6 to 14 feet (almost 2 to 4 metres) long. It has broad, round to oval, meaty, glossy leaves. The leaves and stems can be either purplish-red or green. The purplish red-leafed and stemmed variety is "Basella rubra"; the green-leafed and stemmed variety is "Basella alba."

It is a pick and come again plant. You harvest the leaves when they are 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm) long.

The stems have a bitter taste, and the consistency can be disconcerting if you're not used to it.

The plant will produce bright red berries, whose juice can be used as a food colouring.