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Nature is Pretty Cool

Binganero

Binganero

If anyone read through my grow log page, you would know that I have had some serious problems with earwigs eating my plants (several entire plants worth of cucumbers and golden squash as well as peppers) since they have been outside.

Since I have started harvesting peppers last week, I have noticed that a few (maybe 6 out of about four dozen) have holes in them. I spotted some birds around my peppers last week and I scared them away, so I assumed it was them.

Today I am observing a group of black birds walking in and around my pepper plants. Trying to catch them in the act, I start to observe. After a few minutes I finally can see what they were doing... scouring the ground and picking out EARWIGS... and they were FEASTING! The birds may still be responsible for the bad peppers, but its a good tradeoff in my book...

I suppose its only a matter of time until nature takes its course and everything settles down.

Very cool.

Thanks for reading!

Bing
 
If you got stoned on a little bit of acid and watched it, it would make even more sense on many more levels. Well, expect when the tree next to you starts to eat the sky...that never maskes sense when it happens.
 
There are other critters that can make small holes in your peppers and they are not beneficial. I think it's called a pepper maggot. Make sure you go over the holy ones real good.
 
Buy sticky fly traps and wrap them around the trunk of the pepper plant sticky side out, it should catch all sorts of non flying bugs that try to climb up!
 
patrick said:
There are other critters that can make small holes in your peppers and they are not beneficial. I think it's called a pepper maggot. Make sure you go over the holy ones real good.
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I had these on my thai oranges last year. They wer crazy to watch! They'd eat a hole right next to the seeds and eat the seeds. I could watch them wriggle from the outside, eating the placenta and seeds as they went. Couldn't figure out how they could stand the heat!
 
FiveStar said:
I had these on my thai oranges last year. They wer crazy to watch! They'd eat a hole right next to the seeds and eat the seeds. I could watch them wriggle from the outside, eating the placenta and seeds as they went. Couldn't figure out how they could stand the heat!
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Are any animals except mammals affected by capsaicin? We now birds are not. I saw an episode of Mythbusters where they tried to fight of sharks with fresh chiles with no success but I've been afraid to try to give my catfish the parts I discard from my chiles. Maybe they would really like it?
 
According to that 'bastion of accurate knowledge', wikipedia, Capsaicin is an irritant only to mammals.

However, digging deeper, as a good gumshoe, I found this:

Can Capsaicin Affect Birds, Fish, or Other Wildlife?
Most wildlife will avoid capsaicin because it has such a strong odor and taste. However, birds cannot taste capsaicin and will not be repelled by it. Capsaicin is toxic to bees and other benefi cial insects. Researchers believe that capsaicin and similar compounds protect the seeds inside the peppers from fungus.

Source: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/Capgen.pdf

Ooooh, and I found some more info from the same people!

http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/Capsaicintech.pdf

Fish should be ok, but pet otters are a definite no-no
 
Army of one... cell pic,sorry.;)
Armyofone.jpg
 
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