Gardening and Plant Thread

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Aphids got the chives, of all things. It was a massacre; they were covered in black spots one day, then turned yellow the next.

Research told me that dryness in chive territory encourages aphids. We'd moved the chives, with some grass they'd been hopelessly mixed into, in order to put a raised bed where they were. New resting spot was one of those fake whiskey barrels in the sun.

Covered the dirt in the barrel with a piece of black plastic for the winter, and now we have a bountiful crop of the neighbor's cat. He likes to lie there in the sun and play solar collector.
 
What kind of indoor lighting for plants are you guys going with, if you're in an area that will get low enough temps for damage in winter? Personally I don't have very many plants and went with a singular high strength multi-led thing, not sure about the specifics. Always looking for better options.
 
AnOminous said:
After a couple of untimely frosts, my ghost pepper (removed into a heated shed) is the last of the peppers alive. I'm not sure if I'll put the effort into wintering it and seeing if it survives into another year (although I am leaning that way) but it's also fruiting again and more importantly, what is probably the final batch is actually bright red.

I'm not sure what to do with these. The orange ones were so insanely hot that I had to dilute them with carrots and green peppers and other stuff just to render them into a sauce so hot I still can't use it without diluting it.

Has anyone else done ghost peppers?

My best was a sauce with just two along with a few habaneros and tomato paste and lots of vinegar and sugar.

I have one that was roasted (semi-charred) ghost peppers, green peppers, a few habaneros, and garlic and onions and celery, roasted and blended, and it's absurd. The good thing is I'm definitely going to have that until well into winter, putting it onto nearly everything.

The batch of pickled peppers I made (with some ghosts) is also ridiculous and I can barely even take a single pepper out of it and eat it without feeling like I just got maced.

And I used to use actual pepper spray as a seasoning.

Any ideas what to do with about two dozen bright red ghost peppers that probably actually are hitting the 1 million Scoville units rating?
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I have grown several ghost pepper plants. The best thing to do right now is go ahead and harvest what you have and save the seeds! Cut several peppers open and dry out the seeds. Store them them in a low humidity 50% or lower dark location in an envelope or vacuum seal and try again next season. Depending where you live, you may want to try an indoor setup with an additional grow light, maybe LED or something low cost efficient. As far as the soil and grow medium you might try a mix with hydroten or rock wool along with soil. Be sure to give them grow and flower nutrients periodically depending on how they respond. I wish you luck!
 
Aunt Carol said:
Aphids got the chives, of all things. It was a massacre; they were covered in black spots one day, then turned yellow the next.

Research told me that dryness in chive territory encourages aphids. We'd moved the chives, with some grass they'd been hopelessly mixed into, in order to put a raised bed where they were. New resting spot was one of those fake whiskey barrels in the sun.

Covered the dirt in the barrel with a piece of black plastic for the winter, and now we have a bountiful crop of the neighbor's cat. He likes to lie there in the sun and play solar collector.
Click to expand...
Aphids are the WORST. They got my poppy sprouts one year and it was a massacre just like you said.
 
Aunt Carol said:
Aphids got the chives, of all things. It was a massacre; they were covered in black spots one day, then turned yellow the next.

Research told me that dryness in chive territory encourages aphids. We'd moved the chives, with some grass they'd been hopelessly mixed into, in order to put a raised bed where they were. New resting spot was one of those fake whiskey barrels in the sun.

Covered the dirt in the barrel with a piece of black plastic for the winter, and now we have a bountiful crop of the neighbor's cat. He likes to lie there in the sun and play solar collector.
Click to expand...
I've had aphid problems in the past, had them on a few pepper plants in my greenhouse this year, I find that a good neem oil spray takes care of them most of the time, just spray either early in the morning or late at night just so that the wet oil doesn't cause burning on the plant from the sun. Check daily and spray as needed, if it doesn't kill them all it'll at least keep their numbers down. Keep your eyes open for ant activity, the little bastards farm aphids like cows and will move them to better feeding grounds. Thats how I got them in my greenhouse, if you see alot of ants on a plant chances are there is a "herd" of aphids under a leaf.
My nightmare this year was spider mites, they were everywhere this year I had them on my nasturtiums, moon flowers, black eyed susan vines, and butterfly peas. They even somehow got into my greenhouse, and now I have to check and watch all the plants I'm bringing indoors like a hawk because if even one gets in it'll reproduce and move to the other plants.
 
Worst pest I've ever dealt with in terms of damage is the striped cucumber beetle. Wiped out an entire acre of squash in a week and a half. Absolute fucking menace.

Mealybug is pretty bad in greenhouses because they are really hard to kill with just about every damn pesticide available on the market, even the restricted use ones. I usually just end up having to remove them by hand.
 
Honored guest said:
I've had aphid problems in the past, had them on a few pepper plants in my greenhouse this year, I find that a good neem oil spray takes care of them most of the time, just spray either early in the morning or late at night just so that the wet oil doesn't cause burning on the plant from the sun. Check daily and spray as needed, if it doesn't kill them all it'll at least keep their numbers down. Keep your eyes open for ant activity, the little bastards farm aphids like cows and will move them to better feeding grounds. Thats how I got them in my greenhouse, if you see alot of ants on a plant chances are there is a "herd" of aphids under a leaf.
My nightmare this year was spider mites, they were everywhere this year I had them on my nasturtiums, moon flowers, black eyed susan vines, and butterfly peas. They even somehow got into my greenhouse, and now I have to check and watch all the plants I'm bringing indoors like a hawk because if even one gets in it'll reproduce and move to the other plants.
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Spider mites are a nightmare, not least of all because they're hard to see. Since they're an arachnid most pesticides do nothing, and some powerful systemic ones (neonicotinoids like Ortho Tree & Shrub) even have the opposite effect, making the spider mites reproduce faster! This especially sucks, because those pellets are a miracle treatment for scale, aphids, and mealy bugs on indoor plants. I had the best luck combining a high humidity environment (the fuckers thrive in dry conditions) with spraying the worst affected plants with water every morning and getting predatory mites that you can release which eat them. It controlled them enough, at least until I could put the plants outside once the weather warmed up - then nature seems to take care of them.

They just killed my Tibouchina, still a bit pissed about that. Didn't notice the webbing until it was too late. They go hard for Brugmansia, Nepenthes, and some Dendrobium too.
 
ForgedBlades said:
Worst pest I've ever dealt with in terms of damage is the striped cucumber beetle. Wiped out an entire acre of squash in a week and a half. Absolute fucking menace.
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I can't grow cucumbers anymore because of both striped and spotted beetles, they give all my cucumber plants bacterial wilt and quickly kill them, surprisingly they don't do much damage to my squash, thats reserved for the squash vine borer that kills any squash I plant that isn't a Curcubita Moschata, which sucks because I'd like to try growing giant pumpkins but they're all Curcubita Maxima.

Mukhrani said:
Spider mites are a nightmare, not least of all because they're hard to see. Since they're an arachnid most pesticides do nothing, and some powerful systemic ones (neonicotinoids like Ortho Tree & Shrub) even have the opposite effect, making the spider mites reproduce faster! This especially sucks, because those pellets are a miracle treatment for scale, aphids, and mealy bugs on indoor plants. I had the best luck combining a high humidity environment (the fuckers thrive in dry conditions) with spraying the worst affected plants with water every morning and getting predatory mites that you can release which eat them. It controlled them enough, at least until I could put the plants outside once the weather warmed up - then nature seems to take care of them.

They just killed my Tibouchina, still a bit pissed about that. Didn't notice the webbing until it was too late. They go hard for Brugmansia, Nepenthes, and some Dendrobium too.
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I feel your pain, I was tempted with buying predatory mites this year but held off as I was able to get their populations down somewhat with daily neem oil sprays, I'd like to try citrus but I've heard spider mites like it So I'm holding off on that, I didn't know that they go after pitcher plants thanks for the heads up.
 
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Honored guest said:
I feel your pain, I was tempted with buying predatory mites this year but held off as I was able to get their populations down somewhat with daily neem oil sprays, I'd like to try citrus but I've heard spider mites like it So I'm holding off on that, I didn't know that they go after pitcher plants thanks for the heads up.
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This mix that's on the American Orchid Society website also works well to zap them:
Another less-exotic and much cheaper method of control involves a pint of 409 household cleaner and a pint of rubbing alcohol mixed with water to make 1 gallon of spray. This method is especially effective as a preventative or to control light infestations. For any miticide, homemade or purchased, apply a heavy coating, especially to the underside of leaves. Reapply every three to four days for six to eight applications. This will ensure that both the adults and hatching young are eliminated.
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So it's basically one part isopropyl alcohol to one part 409 cleaner to six parts water. It's good for just killing them all in one quick blast, though it won't get eggs.
 
AnOminous said:
After a couple of untimely frosts, my ghost pepper (removed into a heated shed) is the last of the peppers alive. I'm not sure if I'll put the effort into wintering it and seeing if it survives into another year (although I am leaning that way) but it's also fruiting again and more importantly, what is probably the final batch is actually bright red.

I'm not sure what to do with these. The orange ones were so insanely hot that I had to dilute them with carrots and green peppers and other stuff just to render them into a sauce so hot I still can't use it without diluting it.

Has anyone else done ghost peppers?

My best was a sauce with just two along with a few habaneros and tomato paste and lots of vinegar and sugar.

I have one that was roasted (semi-charred) ghost peppers, green peppers, a few habaneros, and garlic and onions and celery, roasted and blended, and it's absurd. The good thing is I'm definitely going to have that until well into winter, putting it onto nearly everything.

The batch of pickled peppers I made (with some ghosts) is also ridiculous and I can barely even take a single pepper out of it and eat it without feeling like I just got maced.

And I used to use actual pepper spray as a seasoning.

Any ideas what to do with about two dozen bright red ghost peppers that probably actually are hitting the 1 million Scoville units rating?
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I'm a moderate spice kind of person but I can agree that adding them in tiny amounts to a large batch can't hurt. I mostly grow jalapeno, Serrano and other bell Peppers so nothing TOO spicy. I normally have wild bird's eye chilis (also called chili pequins) on my property and was looking to pickle a jar but they didn't seem to pop up this year. My plans for my jalapenos is to use them in pickled eggs or some other jarred recipe.

I'm really thinking about getting a dehydrator to dry my herbs before winter, as i dont know if theyll all make it. I don't know if the humidity here is right to do it the old fashioned way of hanging, or in a hanging mesh holder.
AnOminous said:
I love those. They're just beautiful, as are their webs. And I have never been bitten by one, even after accidentally disturbing their webs.
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I agree. Big and beautiful. She made a huge web (like three feet) and it was at just the right height that I often bumped my head into the side. She never seemed to mind.
NoReturn said:
Kind of heartbreaking, but not all the babies will make it. Just think of it as a couple of really weird-looking eggs for just a couple babies.
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I did see that when reseaeching to make sure that's what they actually were. I also think it's a legitimate possibility that if they hatch my chickens could nab a few. It's kind of like sea turtles or any animal that lays large batches. Nature can be harsh.
 
Honored guest said:
I've had aphid problems in the past, had them on a few pepper plants in my greenhouse this year, I find that a good neem oil spray takes care of them most of the time, just spray either early in the morning or late at night just so that the wet oil doesn't cause burning on the plant from the sun. Check daily and spray as needed,
Click to expand...
I used neem oil when I spotted them (I had some for the indoor plants) but I think it was too late. It's weird that they'd go after the chives and nothing else; you hear about alliums repelling insects. (And this planter was chives and marigolds; I guess aphids don't read the Farmer's Almanac.)

The bright side is that an enterprising spider made a web right next to the chive planter and it was full of aphid corpses. Someone ate well.

I'm going to be more vigilant next year, now that I know. This might be my best excuse to buy a big sack o' ladybugs, too.
 
I almost forgot! First harvest from my new place. I dug up almost 50 pounds of sweet potatoes and most of them are a good size to cook. I'll have plenty to start next year's garden with too
 
I was planning on trying to overwinter the ghost pepper plant. I don't think it's going to happen, but I will water it a few more times indoors and see what happens. It was wilting and dying despite my diligence.

The last batch of peppers was finally a fiery angry red. They are now drying in the oven and filling the house with an acrid aroma. I had to throw away the pair of gloves I used when cutting them, although I will need another to grind and place them in storage when they're done.
ghost3.png
I always leave the seeds in when processing. They are bitter, but so am I.

A fine final harvest.
 
If I prune my kanagroo foot will that help it grow better or nah?
 
AnOminous said:
I was planning on trying to overwinter the ghost pepper plant. I don't think it's going to happen, but I will water it a few more times indoors and see what happens. It was wilting and dying despite my diligence.

The last batch of peppers was finally a fiery angry red. They are now drying in the oven and filling the house with an acrid aroma. I had to throw away the pair of gloves I used when cutting them, although I will need another to grind and place them in storage when they're done.
View attachment 3764444
I always leave the seeds in when processing. They are bitter, but so am I.

A fine final harvest.
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Are you going to keep the seeds from these and start from them next year?
 
WanderingFarmer said:
Are you going to keep the seeds from these and start from them next year?
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I considered it but I'm probably just going to get a plant from the nursery like I usually do. I don't really have a place to germinate them. It's a fairly standard plant, so far as I can tell. If I get one that takes off and starts producing bright red peppers from the start instead of only at the last batch, I might.

I'm pretty sure it got nowhere near the million or so Scoville units that the high end can be, not that I really need that. Even with this batch, and wearing vinyl gloves, and washing my hands three times in hot soapy water afterwards, and a shower this morning, I still managed to mace myself by rubbing my eyes. I'd need something like a Hazmat suit for the full heat pepper.

The final result of this batch:
ghost4.jpg
 
AnOminous said:
Congratulations at actually being good at taking pictures of produce. I'm usually too ashamed of how shitty my pictures are to post them.
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It's stressful! I had to check each apple in case there's a reflection in it showing how fat, gay and ugly I am.

Generally, the soft autumn morning light does all the work.
 
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