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Ant's and Tobasco Peppers?

hotpepperguy

hotpepperguy

Hello all :) Haven't posted on here on a while and the truth is I've been to busy this year to actually make a g-log but i have about 25 pepper plants growing this year, all in pots and all mixed varieties. If you seen my previous posts i mostly grow super hots but with a couple Cayenne's, Lemon Drops and Bell Peppers in between. This years harvest has been overwhelming but bountiful and i've been making hot sauces with my harvests as i plan to sell some of my super hot sauces online. Overall it's been great and after growing peppers for over 10+ years it never gets old and i love it :)
 
I did however get some Tobasco seeds this year, after waiting forever i finally found some. I got three Tobasco plants growing all with a tremendous amount of pods. The plants are just covered in pods and they are now finally starting to ripen. I went out today and notice some of the pods were mutilated and even looks like some got picked off the plants. I looked at one pod and noticed it was covered in ant's. I took it off the plant and they were all inside of the pod, coming out as i took it off. Now these are those little tiny black ant's and i've seen them on my other plants but never had a problem with them eating any other pods, only the tobasco pods.
 
I'm not even sure if they are eating them or not, they could of just rotted out on the plant so they went to clean up the mess but i want to know if anyone has grown Tobasco Peppers and if they have the same problem. I looked online but couldn't find many people growing Tobasco plants. I also know that the pods are susceptible to birds picking them off as well but haven't really seen birds around my plants, i'm also not out there to watch them 24/7 as well. I do have ant spray that is safe for plants but i want to keep my plants as natrual and organic as possible. Any help would be highly appreciated as i usually don't really have to deal with pests.
 
Thanks guys happy growing :)
 
The simplest explanation for me, is that your plants have been gnawed at by either birds or rodents, and the ants are opportunistically scavenging, in the aftermath.
 
solid7 said:
The simplest explanation for me, is that your plants have been gnawed at by either birds or rodents, and the ants are opportunistically scavenging, in the aftermath.
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Yes your right i had a roomate tell me that he seen birds on my Tobasco plants so i moved them on my front porch which is elevated and i've never really seen birds come up on it. Only problem now is they'll only have 2 hours of direct sunlight so i'm going to have to find a better solution. Thanks for your reply!!
 
I don't think you're going to lose them for only 2 hours direct sunlight.  Might want to just see how it goes.  That can actually be really beneficial, in certain cases.
 
solid7 said:
I don't think you're going to lose them for only 2 hours direct sunlight.  Might want to just see how it goes.  That can actually be really beneficial, in certain cases.
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Ok i'll leave them up there for a while and just try it out i guess. I got even more pods being produced which is crazy seeing how they are already covered in pods, the Tobasco plant is a mega producing plant and the only other plants in my garden that produce as many pods are my Lemon Drops. I got Reapers, Ghosts, a couple cross bred super hots, Cayenne's, Carribean Reds, Red Hab's, all in all about 20 plants lol.
 
Thanks a lot for your help :)
 
My contention is that if you get enough light to meet the bare minimum requirements, and you never see plant wilting in the hottest part of the day, then that's about as close to perfect growing as you can get.
 
You're welcome, and good luck.
 
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