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overwintering Overwinter plant subjected to aphids?

Hello all,
 
So I know I'm being sentimental here, but I have to ask. I have 3 pepper plants, all datils. The plan was to try to "hibernate" one over the winter to regrow next spring, and turn 2 into bonchi. 

I had cut back on visiting my plants, going over every 2-3 days, with the cooler weather and rain. A couple of days ago, I went over and 2 of my plants were looking great. The third, one I'd intended to become a bonchi, looked like it hadn't been watered in ages, even though it was exposed to recent rains and had moist soil. When I looked at the leaves, they were COVERED in aphids. There were also ants all over the plant. That's the night I learned that fire ants (which I know my friend's place has) are aphid farmers.  :( 

I harvested the last of the peppers, all but 1 of which were ripe, and did a big chop-job on the plant. I figured the chop job could kill the plant as easily as the ants/aphids, but at least I could cut off their food source and maybe hurt their numbers. This particular plant has been through hell - she got extra wilt-y 5ish times this summer, didn't set peppers until much later, but still produced a small crop.

I really hate to lose this plant, but I've also read the horror stories of people overwintering and dealing with aphids. I would rather lose one plant now than infest 3 with aphids (my 3 peppers are in 5 gal buckets, about 20-25 ft apart, and I haven't seen aphids on the others . . . yet) and lose them all over the winter. But with the big hack job, maybe it's easier to rinse/clean/spray down the plant. Anyway, what are your thoughts? Should I leave this plant out to face the first freeze, whenever it may come, or give it a chance as a bonchi?
 
Dewd, fight the fight. I had a dozen OWs last year, all but one Aji Largo Rocoto survived the chop jobs and mechanical pesticide (squish!).

This year I got 26 to work with, aphids EVERYWHERE. It's a challenge, but the bounty scored by survivors is worth it.

2 cents spent...
 
I'm normally a huge proponent of using Neem, but unless you are actively growing - and I don't consider OW to be that - you'll want to not go that route.  You may want to look at some other pest control method.  If there's not going to be any food produced off of them for 6 months, you should be fine to use a more harsh eradication method.
 
solid7 said:
I'm normally a huge proponent of using Neem, but unless you are actively growing - and I don't consider OW to be that - you'll want to not go that route.  You may want to look at some other pest control method.  If there's not going to be any food produced off of them for 6 months, you should be fine to use a more harsh eradication method.
I haven't done the research on systemic pesticides yet, but I've definitely got a situation that merits consoderation....
 
stettoman said:
I haven't done the research on systemic pesticides yet, but I've definitely got a situation that merits consoderation....
 
If you have plants that are small enough, I have a weird method that actually works...
.
I once did an experiment with gas.  Specifically, CO2.  If your plants fit into a garbage bag, you can get a 5lb size - even better if you are a home brewer - put your plants in a bag, fill the bag with CO2, and leave them in there for 15 minutes.  Sounds silly, but it actually works.  You might have to do it a couple times if eggs in a colony hatch, but it's cheap and effective, and won't harm plant growth.
 
Well, she's pretty small now. I pruned her down to about 12-18" that day, and now she's about 8-9". Went back to my friend's place today. Turns out the ants were living in the 5 gal bucket, so I ripped her out of there and just committed to the bonchi. Frost is nowhere in sight, so I have some time to see how things go before I commit to bringing her inside. Since she's chopped up, there are no leaves for the aphids, and none in sight. I've spotted a couple of ants post-chop/rinse/repot, so there's still the opportunity for something to go wrong.

Where do you get CO2?
 
Home brew supply, local welding gas shop, farm supply stores, in some cases.  Might even be able to get smaller bottles at an Ace hardware.
 
It's a weird solution, but it's a good one.
 
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