The themes of the week have been aphids and blooms. Let's start with the aphids. We had thought we had gotten the habanero under control using lemon juice, but we were very wrong. Turns out the aphids were going and hiding under the leaves when we'd spray them and that the lemon juice does not work on them.
Now I know it's very un-vegan of us, but we are launching a 'war on aphids', it's either them or our plants. So we decided to use a more 'potent' organic pest remedy: a combination of boiled garlic, cayenne pepper, oil, and natural dish soap. I did a lot of research online and found that this is a fairly 'sure fire' way to get rid of aphids, however, I did not take note of the part that said to only spray the plant once a week. We really sprayed the habanero good with the stuff, and then came back the next day and did it again. Needless to say, the spray did kill all the aphids on the habanero, but it also got all the blooms and kind of did a number on the habanero. It's survival is a bit tenative at the moment.
And of course, since our peppers share the same space, now they all have aphids on them. None of them are as infested as the habanero was (it came with aphids from the store), so hopefully we can get it before it gets too bad. We've decided that we will spray them once, lightly, then go back an hour or so later and rinse them off, and repeat in a week if necessary.
Aside from the aphids, which don't kill the plant, they just stunt its growth, we've had a lot of progress. Everything is growing and blooming. Sadly, due to the flippin' constant wind and rain we've had in Missouri this spring, the Hungarian Wax pepper I showed you guys last week broke off in a spurt of wind. But there is more where that came from. The peppers are all blooming like crazy and the Community Garden plot is looking excellent. Blooms galore there as well.
Check out the Community Garden:
And some bloomage:
Here is the container garden (I apologize for the pictures, it has been really windy here lately):
New Mexican Chile start.
Serrrano pepper start.
Hot banana pepper.
So, aside from the aphids, which I think we can take care of, things are going well. And with all the rain we've been having, it's required very little effort on our part.
And of course, since our peppers share the same space, now they all have aphids on them. None of them are as infested as the habanero was (it came with aphids from the store), so hopefully we can get it before it gets too bad. We've decided that we will spray them once, lightly, then go back an hour or so later and rinse them off, and repeat in a week if necessary.
Aside from the aphids, which don't kill the plant, they just stunt its growth, we've had a lot of progress. Everything is growing and blooming. Sadly, due to the flippin' constant wind and rain we've had in Missouri this spring, the Hungarian Wax pepper I showed you guys last week broke off in a spurt of wind. But there is more where that came from. The peppers are all blooming like crazy and the Community Garden plot is looking excellent. Blooms galore there as well.
Check out the Community Garden:
And some bloomage:
Here is the container garden (I apologize for the pictures, it has been really windy here lately):
New Mexican Chile start.
Serrrano pepper start.
Hot banana pepper.
So, aside from the aphids, which I think we can take care of, things are going well. And with all the rain we've been having, it's required very little effort on our part.
'Til next time!