Well, earlier I brought all the plants outside for a better examination in the weakening sunlight. I noticed on all the plants, there were a couple "problem" branches and/or leaves and the occasional aphid or two at random locations on the plant, so I sprayed each plant that I want to keep with the insecticidal soap as completely as I could. Tried to squeeze the bugs too to make sure they're dead, or at least wipe them off the plant (it can be pretty hard to do with their tiny size). The plants weren't absolutely horrible though... except my second look at the habanero plant. Yikes! Those things are having a field day on there! Entire stems have a bumpy look because they're covered with a layer of the little bastards. Yep, I'm definitely not going to try to rescue that plant... from now on it'll be outside on the porch and the next garbage day it's going to the curb. It was a good, strong plant, produced tons of peppers, but I'll be damned if I try to annihilate an army of aphids of that size! The plant fell off the porch due to the wind in the summer and landed in the grass where it stayed until I later found it there, I wonder if that incident is what caused such an outburst of the little sap-suckers.
By the way, on the previously-mentioned subject of growing from seed--I did later find out that, in fact, the light bulb I was using sucked. It was a compact fluorescent in the red spectrum and not really that bright. I had that light right down to the plants and they just grew tall and spindly. Had no idea of its specifications, but I figured it would be "good enough". I only know it was in the red spectrum because, well, after firing up the new light bulb I bought specifically to replace it for future growing attempts I noticed just how much bluer/whiter and more natural all the objects in the room looked (not to mention the bright whitish color of the bulb itself vs. an orangish hue of the old one). So I now do have a light of proper strength and color temperature, but not the other tools and equipment necessary. Plus, it's a CFL, so I doubt it would take the plants very far before needing larger lights. If I try growing anything this year, I'm sure it won't be serious, maybe a couple seedlings to see if my luck is any better and learn some things for a time in the future that I might consider seriously attempting to grow from seed. I doubt that I'd be able to keep a plant alive and healthy up until late spring when it is safe to take it outside. I want to make sure I have a decent light setup and all proper materials before attempting seeds again.
By the way, on the previously-mentioned subject of growing from seed--I did later find out that, in fact, the light bulb I was using sucked. It was a compact fluorescent in the red spectrum and not really that bright. I had that light right down to the plants and they just grew tall and spindly. Had no idea of its specifications, but I figured it would be "good enough". I only know it was in the red spectrum because, well, after firing up the new light bulb I bought specifically to replace it for future growing attempts I noticed just how much bluer/whiter and more natural all the objects in the room looked (not to mention the bright whitish color of the bulb itself vs. an orangish hue of the old one). So I now do have a light of proper strength and color temperature, but not the other tools and equipment necessary. Plus, it's a CFL, so I doubt it would take the plants very far before needing larger lights. If I try growing anything this year, I'm sure it won't be serious, maybe a couple seedlings to see if my luck is any better and learn some things for a time in the future that I might consider seriously attempting to grow from seed. I doubt that I'd be able to keep a plant alive and healthy up until late spring when it is safe to take it outside. I want to make sure I have a decent light setup and all proper materials before attempting seeds again.
