CHILLIES 2020

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by ARMANDII, Jan 18, 2020.

  1. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Can you post a photo please? We would then be able to give a more definitive answer.

    They're not likely to do you any harm and the usual thing is to wipe them off. A picture would be best.
     
  2. redfeathered

    redfeathered Apprentice Gardener

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    Sorry my camera isn't very good but I've taken a picture of one of the bugs and another picture of the cotton wool type things. Hopefully you can make some sense of it

    Thanks! IMG_20200715_201310245.jpg IMG_20200715_201239017.jpg IMG_20200715_201310245.jpg IMG_20200715_201239017.jpg
     
  3. shiney

    shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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    Although it's unclear it looks like greenfly to me.

    image greenfly - Google Search

    Whether it is or not it is almost certainly an aphid. A common problem on chillies and lots of other plants. They definitely won't harm you but are difficult to control. We had them on our chillies and washed them off regularly and wiped (squished) them off where they wouldn't wash off.

    A lot of people usual chemical means but we don't. A non-toxic way that is recommended is to spray them with a very dilute solution of washing up liquid. You would need to research the dilution. The detergent is a surfactant and breaks down the surface of the aphid and attacks it.
     
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    • noisette47

      noisette47 Total Gardener

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      Looks more like whitefly to me. Whichever, there used to be predator insects available by post which were truly effective.
       
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      • redfeathered

        redfeathered Apprentice Gardener

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        Oh god I don't fancy getting more insects to solve the problem I'm afraid! Thanks though, just a bit of a wimp when it comes to insects :smile:

        I'll hose them down gently and wipe off any remaining ones and then I'll wipe the leaves with diluted washing up liquid as you said Shiney. Hopefully in a couple of days everything will be back to normal! :blue thumb:
         
      • shiney

        shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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        It's best to spray the leaves using a hand sprayer but you need to check online for the dilution factor. If the mix is too strong then it can damage the plants as chillies tend to be averse to stronger mixtures.
         
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        • redfeathered

          redfeathered Apprentice Gardener

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          Thanks for letting me know, I'll check today after work :smile:
           
        • Webmaster

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          I've suffered badly this year from aphids, stunting the growth on many plants, and I even have one plant died....

          I had a delivery of Ladybird larvae last week from www.GreenGardener.co.uk ..... They really are doing the trick
           
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          • shiney

            shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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            We had trouble with aphids early in the season but transplanted ladybirds from other parts of the garden :blue thumb:

            We've sold about 50 ShineyHybrid plants so far (not bad seeing that we couldn't have our open day) and they're all doing their usual prolific chilli production. :blue thumb: So far they have been giving 50-100 chillies per plant and should carry on until Christmas - unless that gets cancelled as well!
            P1490453.JPG

            The Nagas have been growing big and strong and, as usual, not producing chillies until much later. I thought most of the plants were only now just producing their flowers (plenty of those) but I rummaged through the undergrowth the other day and found they're doing OK. :blue thumb:
            P1490451.JPG
             
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            • CanadianLori

              CanadianLori Total Gardener

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              I have also found that having fans cycling regularly has discouraged them from digging in. Not had an aphid problem since I set up my dc fans/solar powered back about 7 years ago. Prior to that, I was constantly in battle stations. Also, I had issues with spider mites. The fans seemed to stop that nonsense too. There could have been other postive factors involved but the fans seemed to be the big delineator between pest and pest free years. :)
               
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              • steevjp

                steevjp Gardener

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                I posted this in the wrong forum so reposted here.

                Hi

                I have a Zimbabwe Black and a Scotch Bonnet growing on our balcony. The Scotch bonnet has about 6 chillies on it although they are fairly small and green. The Zimbabwe Black has a couple red chillies but the majority are black. The ones that are red are very small.

                How do I know when i can start to harvest/use these chillies?
                 
              • shiney

                shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                Chillies can be eaten at any stage. The riper they are the hotter they become. :blue thumb:

                Naga chillies are the favourite of the Bagnladeshi community but they usually prefer to eat them when they are green and have not yet ripened to red. They're not quite as hot when green and the flavour is different. The red ones are used to make Naga pickle.

                My own variety are bred to produce hot chillies with a fresh flavour. The plants are kept smaller (kept in smaller pots) to produce an abundance of fruit that can go through different colour stages from green to yellow to red - but sometimes developing purple stripes before going red.

                As long as they are kept warm and fed regularly they will produce fruit right through to Christmas. :) Most of them will produce over 100 fruit.

                P1490479.JPG

                P1490484.JPG

                P1490485.JPG
                 
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                • steevjp

                  steevjp Gardener

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                  Thanks. keeping warm is the challenge here now that the hot days are... well not so hot.
                   
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                  • CanadianLori

                    CanadianLori Total Gardener

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                    As a side remark, I pick my hot chillies at various stages as I also use them for making bread and the different colours speckled within the bread looks nice. No regard for heat, just appearance. :)
                     
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                    • shiney

                      shiney President, Grumpy Old Men's Club Staff Member

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                      Current temperature is fine. They're quite happy at anything over 15C once they have got going.
                       
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