I am in the same situation down here in Sugar Land. We had 11" of rain in one night last week. ONE. NIGHT. I thought for sure I would wake up to a bunch of dead plants, but my fears were unfounded. The wind had only knocked one plant over so I propped it up with a couple of sticks jammed in the...
The link that Joyners posted shows the variety of assassin bugs common in Australia. Here are some assassin pictures I took myself in Houston. These are early instars. As they mature the color gets darker, the butt grows longer, and the two little brown spots at the waist eventually turn into...
Honestly those look more like leaf-footed bug nymphs to me due to the cluster of individuals and the flattened, bulbous rear end. The problem is that there are dozens of species of both assassin and leaf-footed bugs and the nymphs have similar appearances. Until you are familiar with the...
They also suppress root-knot nematodes (and some other bad nematodes) in the soil. They have a chemical in their roots that kills the little buggers when they try to feed :flamethrower:
Also, marigolds are pretty, are not invasive, are easy to grow from seed, and can self-seed so you can...
That plant looks leggy. Needs more light. Also, it is early in the growing cycle and the plant isn't that large yet. The plant will only keep as many fruits on it as it can support. Dropping flowers and dropping baby set fruits at this stage of the season is pretty normal in my experience.
Actually the bag is from HEB, but same thing really. The bag has taken some severe weathering, there is no way I can move it without the whole thing falling apart. I have never OW in a container before. I usually grow in ground and just wait for all the leaves to drop (usually early december)...
F2 overwinter! I started this plant very late last year and I thought it was lost to thrips. This sat neglected outside all winter. 3-4 weeks ago I noticed that it was still alive and trying to put out some new leaves so I top dressed the container with some nice ferts and then promptly forgot...
For me, it depends on the pepper. For Thai types, completely green pods have one use, and fully red pods have another. Same with Jalapenos (though I prefer fully ripe red!!). For all chinense, I prefer pods to be completely ripe before consumption. Tabasco (frutescens) are a special case; they...
I'll +1 the clumping strategy. I like to put plants of the same variety in ground in a triangle about 1' on a side. The trio of plants can better resist the wind and the mini clump puts out more pods than a single plant in the same spot would.
Year 2 is normally a bumper crop. If you are in a place you can keep plants alive in the ground (with or without a cold frame), you eventually will experience the down side of overwintering. When your plants are depressed in winter, they can sometimes become susceptible to disease and pest...
Some things I have used on and off:
* Mosquito dunks or some other handy source of BTi
* Compost tea (make sure the base compost is of good quality...garbage in, garbage out)
* Pyrethrin based insecticide spray (for acute aphid outbreaks)
* Worm castings (for transplanting especially, but...
Those are the shape of what I call a chiltepin (or chili tepin). They are spheroids ranging from slightly oblate to slightly prolate, 4-8 mm in diameter. I grew chili pequins while I lived in Roswell. They have the longer shape and I did not think they tasted the same at all. Just as prolific...
I put them in the compost. The take a very long time to break down, but I apply compost to the beds 2-3 times a year and grow in the same spot for multiple years. Before they have completely broken down, the little jagged shell pieces are good for the soil texture and provide great places for...
That plant is in Sugar Land, Texas. I have also seen plants growing wild in similar sheltered environments in Galveston. I grew tepins a couple of years ago harvested from a wild plant growing on a river bank in Bastrop.