I HATE TEXAS - pepper weevils/maggots!!!!

[Chuck]

Thank you, Chuck.

[Edit] Would you mind being "on call" 24-7? Seeing those creepy things inside the pepper was like a sci-fi movie inside a nightmare. Stunning that none of what I was able to read about them was as clear and concise as your post. Thank you very much.

PS. I just happen to have a shaker of Sevin dust that I have not used because, I can't figure out if it actually safe to - the text on the fricken can is so small its hard to read...

When you have lived and gardened in Texas as long as I have you will have personally met a lot of these denizens of the garden at one time or another. I like insects and have studied them for a long time so during that length of time one has to learn a little. About Sevin. It is a toxic chemical and the EPA says it is "Likely to cause cancer". It's runoff is highly toxic in a marine environment . Years ago before good organic pesticides were available Sevin was the go to insecticide/pesticide. Back then it was made with the same active ingredient, Carbaryl, as it is today. But back then the inactive ingredients probably killed more insects than the active ingredient. That inactive ingredient was Diotomaceous Earth. It may still be DE, I don't know. Spinosad is a much much better insecticide/pesticide than Sevin and totally safe.

 

[The Zen Master]

Thank you, again, Chuck! I will check out Spinosad.

 

[Chuck]

Thank you, again, Chuck! I will check out Spinosad.

It won't help with the Pepper Maggot. Nothing will. But it works great on just about everything else.

 

[The Zen Master]

There are some strange looking "everything else's" out there, sir!

Everything really IS bigger in Texas...

 

[The Zen Master]

Well - I was going to revise the title of the thread but it is too late, no edit option.

I don't hate Texas but gardening here does take some gettin used to...

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

 

[Meadowlark]

I have to admit, the thread title was very much counter to my personal beliefs.

I Love Texas. I love everything about it, including the challenges of growing terrific veggies in our climate.

 

[The Zen Master]

It wasn't a 'personal' attack against anyone and I don't think anyone should be taking it that way - but its a free country.

There should be, at the least, an internet link on the labels of these plants to help new gardeners have a clue about what could happen, how best to prepare for it, and what to do if it happens - but who am I to say.

I've lived in a lot of States in this Country and there aint no perfect one.

Had to work in Seattle for a year back in the day - met a girl and started hanging with her - she swore Seattle was the best place on Earth, and talked about every other place there was as if they were poison. One day out of the clear blue sky I just happened to ask her what other States she's visited, hoping to get her to talk about something nice about it - she said she'd never been out of the State.

Stopped hanging with her.

I've seen beauty and ugly - every place I ever lived.

Back to gardening!

 

[Chuck]

Well - I was going to revise the title of the thread but it is too late, no edit option.

I don't hate Texas but gardening here does take some gettin used to...

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

Didn't bother me none. It's the truth. If it can happen it will and more often than most folks believe.

 

[TomatoNut]

Well - I was going to revise the title of the thread but it is too late, no edit option.

I don't hate Texas but gardening here does take some gettin used to...

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

I live in Texas, and I'm not fond of my area either....especially my backyard!! So, join the club!

 

[The Zen Master]

Honestly - what ticked me off was reading about these horrible creatures in the pepper, and finding almost NO sensible information about them, leaving me thinking that all the peppers were toast (you can't kill the creatures once you have them) - I was pretty - you know...

I've grown hundred of bell and hot peppers in my life before moving here - NEVER seen anything like the ET's in that pepper.

Don't get me started on the humidity!

 

[Chuck]

Honestly - what ticked me off was reading about these horrible creatures in the pepper, and finding almost NO sensible information about them, leaving me thinking that all the peppers were toast (you can't kill the creatures once you have them) - I was pretty - you know...

I've grown hundred of bell and hot peppers in my life before moving here - NEVER seen anything like the ET's in that pepper.

Don't get me started on the humidity!

Not to worry. Wait 5 minutes and the weather will change.. If you think the humidity is bad where you live you should move to Houston. I lived between Houston and Galveston for a few years and tried to grow sauce tomatoes commercially. I finally sold out. The humidity is so bad there that fungus is a MAJOR factor. I learned about fungus though.

 

[The Zen Master]

Geez I went to Houston once and almost died from the humidity - I guess I tried to forget it!

Maks me wonder how on Earth the early settlers survived - no A/C, no running water (no shower), no refrigerated water... But now I know why the Comanche were so... good at what they did.

 

[Chuck]

Geez I went to Houston once and almost died from the humidity - I guess I tried to forget it!

Maks me wonder how on Earth the early settlers survived - no A/C, no running water (no shower), no refrigerated water... But now I know why the Comanche were so... good at what they did.

Ever heard of the Karankawa (sp)? The Comanches were terrified of them and with good reason. They were cannibals. They ate their captives. And they lived on the coast.

 

[The Zen Master]

Ever heard of the Karankawa (sp)? The Comanches were terrified of them and with good reason. They were cannibals. They ate their captives. And they lived on the coast.

I've actually done quite a bit of reading about the Comanche and definitely read about the Karankawa and Comanche hatred of them for their cannibalism. Kinda funny when you think about the Comanche would sometimes tie a captive to a spit and slow roast them till they popped and then laugh their butts off about it...

The stories I read of settlers that became Comanche captives - and one story in particular of a woman shot through the chest with an arrow, played dead, Comanche abducted her son, then a Comache came back to 'make sure' she was dead and "wiggled the arrow around a bit to see if she flinched" (she did NOT), and she lived and walked a bunch of miles to a neighbor's house with an arrow sticking through her.... geez.

They weren't teaching us about that in elementary school...

 

[Chuck]

I've actually done quite a bit of reading about the Comanche and definitely read about the Karankawa and Comanche hatred of them for their cannibalism. Kinda funny when you think about the Comanche would sometimes tie a captive to a spit and slow roast them till they popped and then laugh their butts off about it...

The stories I read of settlers that became Comanche captives - and one story in particular of a woman shot through the chest with an arrow, played dead, Comanche abducted her son, then a Comache came back to 'make sure' she was dead and "wiggled the arrow around a bit to see if she flinched" (she did NOT), and she lived and walked a bunch of miles to a neighbor's house with an arrow sticking through her.... geez.

They weren't teaching us about that in elementary school...

I wonder if any female today could do that? They didn't teach us anything truthful about the Indians.