KK Ng, Sterilizing your soil is possible. Use moist soil covered with CLEAR plastic. You have to trench around the bed and bury the edges so the heat does not escape. You leave the plastic in place for approximately 3 months. Do this during the hot part of your growing season. You should also leave a garden hose or soaker hose under the plastic so the bed can be made moist again if it dries out during the time that the plastic is down. This will kill bacterial organisms as well as insect pests or organisms such as nematodes.
Thanks Carolyn, that is something I believe I can do if need to, I will definitely keep that in mind.
Since we are in Texas we have no problem with chili`s !! They do best with a hot/fairly dry climate such as we have in the summer !! Have you considered changing varieties of chili`s ?? Some are more resistant to disease/pests than others !! Looking at that spot on yours makes me think it may be getting too much water or perhaps just not drying out enough between waterings !! I get similar spots when we have a lot of rain !!
Sorry Mart, I think the problem is just some real tiny pesky juice sucking pest. The plant is doing real well now and I am getting about 4~6 red chilies daily. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.
Great ! Just keep that recipe you used to spray with. It might be your goldmine for the crawling critters. Might work on others too. I use most of our chili`s green. What do you make with yours ?
I was just wondering, Do any of you grow serrano peppers? I grew some for a friend last year and the red ones had NO heat to them when I went to use them for salsa. Do your chilies stay hot upon ripening to red?
No I do not have serrano peppers. The chilies I grew I have no idea what species they are. I got the seeds from the chilies my wife bought from the supermart. Yes they do stay hot upon ripening.
