GRICULTURE | PEPINO
Eating a pepino is similar to eating an apple and a banana all in one fruit. People with diabetes can eat this delicious fruit from the Solanaceae family, whose fruits resemble tomatoes.
Sarah Buwembo, a grower of Pepino, asserts that the best time to consume ripe Pepino is in the morning, just before breakfast. It is a detoxicant, gives off energy, and has zinc and vitamin C.
How to grow and take care of pepino
Although it can be planted from seeds, according to Buwembo, the plant is typically planted by cutting. It does well in black soil and needs ample sunlight and regular watering.
“Water it thoroughly at night. To create suitable soil for planting a Pepino plant, combine regular soil with charcoal dust and manure, she suggests. It may also be cultivated in pots.
Mulching the plant, according to Buwembo, stops weeds from sprouting up around it. Additionally, this method assists in keeping the soil hydrated.
The Pepino plant is simple to grow. However, it only lives for two weeks before dying if it is not cared for.
From the moment her Pepino plants begin to grow leaves until they bear fruit, Buwembo sprays them every two weeks with a pest-repelling mixture she creates from rabbit urine.
It takes the plant an entire month and a half to bloom. It begins to put on fruits after two months, and the fruits are ready after one month.
Pepino plants that have been properly pruned yield large-sized fruits.
Fruit harvesting of pepinos
Pepino fruit will be available for harvesting in the fourth month following planting, according to Buwembo.
A Pepino fruit’s color changes from green to yellow with purple striations as it ripens, and it also softens.
A Pepino plant has the first-harvest capacity of 10 to 25 fruits, according to the woman.
Illnesses and pests
The plant is fragile, according to Buwembo, so it must be treated before being harmed by pests and diseases.
However, insects like cutworms, flea beetles, spider mites, and leaf miners frequently attack them. Weeding is essential because bugs use weeds as hiding places.
She continues, mixing one liter of rabbit pee with a 20-liter jerrycan of water, adding one crushed garlic bulb and three spoonfuls of bird pepper, and letting it sit for a week to ferment as a pest deterrent.
After two days, you will see a change in the leaves if you spray the mixture on them.
She claims that the smell of garlic deters bugs from attacking the plant.
