Growing Chili – Bugs and Pests

chili pest control

So, you’ve bought (or saved) your Chili seeds, carefully planted them and provided the optimum growing chili conditions. However danger lurks in every corner of the garden with a whole host of beastly pests and diseases ready to indiscriminately strike down your plants at a moment’s notice. These pests include insects, bacteria, fungi and viruses.

chili pest control

Slugs or Snails

Slugs and snails love to dine on a chili bush. They will nibble away the leaves and minimise the health of your plant. Fortunately slugs and snails are not too hard to prevent or remove.

Hunting down snails and slugs and disposing of them can be a highly satisfying exercise particularly if the little blighters have already struck your prized plants. There is also some chemical solutions for treating your chilli plant from pests. They are listed below.

Aphids

Aphids are the little green creatures you see on your plants. They are very sneaky and camouflage themselves to the stem or leaves and suck the sap from the trees veins. They too are easy to control.

Spraying them with a very diluted soap solution, about one teaspoon of liquid pure soap (as near to 100% fatty acids as you can get – avoid antibacterial, perfumed, & detergent based soaps) to a couple of liters of water.

Chili Plant Pest Control Products

There are various products available for pest control.

Copper is known to repel slugs and snails because it produces a very slight electric charge that they hate. You can purchase copper rings to place around the base of plant pots or can place copper tubing or piping round you raised beds. The slugs and snails can’t stand it so much they avoid crawling over to get to your chilies and will head off elsewhere in search of food. The downside to this is that copper piping or rings can be expensive, however once purchased it should last you for years.

Home Remedies to use are egg shells sprinkled around the base of your plants. Slugs hate crawling over the shells. Another method is to sprinkle used coffee grounds around the base of the plants. This is not only a snail deterrent but it helps add much needed nitrogen to the soil, aiding your pepper plants growth.

Homemade Spray A tried and tested spray made from 100g of fresh garlic, crushed and fermented for 2 days in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons of liquid soap or soap powder. Strain into a garden sprayer and dilute 1 part to 50 parts water. Garlic acts as a repellent to further Aphid attack.

Chemical Control There is a range of chemical treatments that you can get from your local garden center or hardware store. Below is the top control product we have found.

 

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Growing Peppers – Tabasco Pepper

Tabasco Chillies

One of the world’s most recognised chillies is the Tabasco. It’s no doubt that Tabasco is most famous for the sauces that these chillies are made into. This is possible because Tabasco peppers are not dry, the inside of the fruit is wet. Tabasco chilis rate between 30,000 and 50,000 on the scoville scale.

The Tabasco plant is quite distinctive as its very bushy and unlike most chilis the Tabasco fruits grow up rather then hanging down from the stems.

The Tabasco peppers grow to about 4cm and change colour from light yellow and green to orange then eventually ripen at a bright red colour.

Characteristics of the Tabasco bush
Plant height – 4-5 feet
Stem color – Green
Leaf color – Green
Leaf size – medium
Fruit color – light yellow and green to orange and bright red at maturity
Fruit shape – long and conical
Fruit length – 4cm
Fruit width at shoulder .5 cm
Fruit surface smooth

Tabasco Planting tips

Tabasco chillis like most other chillies grow best in warmer weather. People in colder climates should plant the seeds indoors in a warm spot during the winter month. The seeds will germinate and start to grow. When the winter is over the plants can be moved outside ready for the spring and summer months.

When potting Tabasco plants make sure that there is good water drainage. They also like sandy soil conditions so don’t be afraid to add in some sand.

Regular watering is required and if ensure the Tabasco plant has good sunlight and daily watering you should see fruits appear in about 120 days.

Once you have some Tabasco chillies try to make some Tabasco sauce. A simple recipe is provided.

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Homemade Tabasco Sauce

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh red Tabasco peppers, chopped
2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 clove garlic (optional)
Directions:
Combine the chiles, garlic and the vinegar in a saucepan and heat. Stir in the salt and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool, and place in a blender. Puree until smooth and place in a glass jar. Allow to steep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Remove, strain the sauce, and adjust the consistency by adding more vinegar if necessary.

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Growing Chili Secrets – Fish Emulsion Fertilizer

Fish Emulsion Fertilizer

One of the biggest aids we have encountered when growing chillies is fish emulsion fertilizer.Fish Emulsion Fertilizer

We recommend fertilizing the chili plant every 2 weeks up from the time of germination to when the plant just starts to fruit.

How to Use Fish Emulsion Fertilizer

For best results with the fish emulsion we would suggest these steps.

  1. Ensure that the chili plants had a very good watering the previous day or that morning as we will cut down on water over the next 2 days.
  2. Mix the fish emulsion as per packet instructions.
  3. Water the chili plants at the base with the liquid. Ensure a generous amount is used as this is the plants only drink for the day. Also make sure that the liquid soaks through he soil to the roots so they can consume all the nutrients.
  4. The following day water the plant lightly trying not to disrupt the soaked in fish emulsion mixture under the soil. Feel free to give the foliage a good spray with water though.
  5. Resume normal watering daily.

As said we would only suggest doing this every few weeks. Results we have noticed is the following days after fish emulsion is added that the plants really wake up and grow, they appear greener and fuller and vibrant, it’s amazing when you go outside and notice it.

Do not fertilize while the plants are fruiting.

Also note the fish emulsion has a foul smell, try not to get it onto your hands where possible.

Fish emulsion fertilizer can be purchased from local gardening stores, larger supermarkets and retail stores with gardening section. You can also purchase fish emulsion from Amazon which we would highly recommend.