(Translated from the original post on July 23, 2024)
Hello, this is KA-TSU.
At the end of last year, I happened to get a capsule toy that grows pak choi, and I started growing it at the end of April when the temperature got warmer. And I was able to get a plant to flower in early July, so I decided to write an article about it.
First, here is a picture showing the size of the capsule toy. It is an all-in-one, and in addition to the seeds, it contains soil that swells when it absorbs water, and a pot small enough to cover the tip of a finger.
All of the following photos were taken by cropping to the equivalent of 71mm. Note that the ISO was set to 3200 because I was shooting indoors without any additional lighting.
This is a shot of a seed that started to germinate about 10 days after it was planted. (Ignore another capsule toy on the left...)
The first few days after germination, the plants change drastically in a single day. Below is a picture of the three days before the first true leaves appear. The plants are amazing.
Since the pod is very small, I should thin the plants out, but I felt sorry for them and couldn't thin them out. The following photos show the growth of the true leaves.
The first photo is about a week after the previous one. The true leaves are starting to grow.
The second photo is about a week later. The true leaves have grown thicker. A toothpick was used for support. (There was a time when it was weak due to watering failure, but it recovered partly due to the support).
Instead of thinning, we decided to remove the weak leaves early and let the next ones grow. Because of this, I did not expect it to flower, but it did flower on one plant in early July.
A flower? You can't see where they are?
The flowers are at the top of the tallest plant. I took the photo with a ruler on the side and cropped the edges to about half. The original picture was taken with a lens equivalent to 71mm, so the macro shot would be equivalent to 140mm.
As you can see from the ruler, the flowers are about 3mm in diameter. After setting the camera to the minimum macro shooting distance using MF, I moved the camera back and forth to visually focus on the subject. The cover image was taken in the same way, without the ruler, and cropped to the same level. The GR IIIx is quite good at macro photography.
Another plant bloomed a week later. No new leaves are growing now, so I think it is almost at the end of its life.
There is only one seedling left, and it may or may not grow. I will keep an eye on it until the end.
(KA-TSU)
