OT : Paging the Chiligroweristi

I've got three plants in the conservatory and two plants in the kitchen.
(Habenero, Hungarian Purple, Birds Eye, Summat else and summat else).

The two plants in the kitchen appear to have been invaded by some sort of
fly.

The fly appears to be v.small and brown coloured when young, and leaves lots
of white (eggs or carcasses) everywhere all over the plant.

Any hints suggestions on what I should do ? I don't want to lose the
Habanero as its sprouting about 40+ chilis at the moment.

(Apols for any typos & grammar - this post has been sponsered by Dr
Carlsberg & my newly installed Perfect Draft system currently dispensing
Jupiler).

 

Good, perhaps they'll die and you and your poxy chilli pepper pollen can
**** off and stop spoiling the sweet peppers in your locality.

99% chance it is an aphid of some sort.

Grow sweet peppers and if you want heat use something with some taste
like proper peppercorns.

A soap solution or nicotine spray may help, as would Derris dust but
ladybirds would be best.

 

Care to expand old man?

Umm, good chillis do have their own flavour. It's not just about heat.

 

Cross pollination innit. Proper gardeners will want to save seed from
successful pants and who in their right mind wants something that should
be sweet and tasty contaminated with chilli pepper DNA.

<snigger>

I have this suit you can buy, magic it is.

You haven't heard all you chilli fancier types witter on endlessly about
it have you? You ought to listen to yourselves sometime, "My chilli is
hotter than your chilli". Pathetic is what it is. Just for once I
would love to see a chilli grower say how sublime the FLAVOUR of their
chillies are but I ain't gonna live that long.

Did I mention I was strongly biased on the subject?

 

Ahh, gotchya.

whilst still damp, or once it's crusty?

Coo, now imagine that, a nice big, thick walled, juicy red pepper with
a bit of a bite to it. yum.

No, really.

Well, there is something to say about heat, but, when I'm cooking, I
do so for flavour. Nowt like a good chipotle, heat not necessary.

Apparently so.

 

Mature is good, mature is your friend. As far as I am aware once the
fruit has started to colour, before this the seed may be too immature.
The easy way to test it is to take some early in the season and see how
readily they germinate, if they don't then wait for a more mature fruit
and try again.

Don't use the ones from Tescos they will have been selected to grow best
under intensive commercial conditions with lots of added chemical food
supplements. To begin your Very Own Strain buy seed aimed at the
amateur grower from a reputable seed merchant or, as I do, get plants
from the garden centre.

A bit would be nice but not so much that anything with a functioning
central nervous system dies if comes within 6 feet. Mind you, having
said that the terms central nervous system and ukrm don't sit very well
together in the same sentence.

This I am aware of. DNC burgers are yummy burgers.

Going back to be bed now.

 

Indeed. Alas, my question was anything but.

no, I mean just a bit of a tingle, but with the crispy juicyness of a
bell.

Far too long since I've had the opportunity.

eww.

 

I've found that my plants attract aphids, blackfly and whitefly. A
going-over with an organic spray for such things has sorted it out. I'd
check your local garden centre for a suitable insecticide, bearing in
mind you're going to eat what you grow.

I tried finding ladybirds to sort it out, but the few I encouraged onto
the plants weren't having any of it and didn't eat a single aphid.

FWIW, mine (8ish Apache, grown from one chilli from last year's plant)
have started flowering, but no fruit coming yet. I'm hoping I get some,
as the chilli vodka it makes is good.

 

They won't, it is their larvae that do the eating, ladybirds do shagging
which leads to larvae

 

Not sure why you need to ask such a question really. There are plenty
of food-safe insecticides available. You could start with the
'organic' types, but IME they only kill what's there at that point and
won't wipe out an infestation, so I'd go for some decent strong
chemical stuff from the start.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

As good as sounds, whiling away my hours watching ladybirds boffing, I
don't think it'll have the implied amount of lesbianism. The squirty
gun option is much quicker.

 

FFS.
1. Because I know fek all about gardening for a starter.
2. I know other urkm folk have also been growing chiles and peppers.

Ta. I didn't know what they were, and if there was some sort of old wives
remedy, rather that insectisides.
These are luck more than judgement = <Lets see what happens if I leave some
seeds in this pot>.

 

There are plenty, the simplest of all being a dilute soap (or
washing-up liquid) solution, that simply kills most insects by
sufocating/drowning them, but most suffer from not also killing the
eggs/larvae, so they're only really effective if you're happy to
re-apply every couple of days.

Often the best way. Sometimes you'll get results that are nothing like
the 'donor' plant, due to x-fertilisation and sometimes hybridisation
of the bought chillis. We've finally managed to kill all of our chilli
plants - some of which came with us from the UK, so must have been
about 7-8 years old - mainly due to my lack of attention and ability
(or desire) to lift watering cans around over the winter/spring
period. We'll plant some more just as soon as I feel I'll be able to
give them the attention they deserve.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

<Rage against the machine mode on>
**** you I won't grow what you tell me.... ;-)
<RATM mode off>

HackShirley I do have a Choco F1 and Jingle Bells plant on the go at the
moment.
I guess by your passionate posting thast I shouldn't have them in the
conservatory with the chilis then ?

Ta - General concensus appears to point towards a decent insectiside that's
safe for food plants.

Thanks Steve, Christofire & Bruce, your wisdom is appreciated.

 

My passion is more on the lines that a chilli plant is a waste of a good
opportunity to do some useful photosynthesis.

 

Can't knock that, I enjoy oxygen as much as the next man.

Each to their own.

 

Do you really think Steve gets close enough to other people to try
theirs?

 

Trophy trousers?
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

Instant death to small stuff is a nicotine solution. Get some dogends or
a whole fag and leave it soaking in a jamjar overnight at least or two
days for preference. Mix one teaspoonful of this liquor into a half pint
of water. Load a hand sprayer with the solution and attack the bastards.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.