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

[The Zen Master]

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

I wonder if ANYONE today could survive that?

Empire of The Summer Moon - fantastic book.

Plenty Coups - Chief of The Crow - one of top 3 books I've ever read. He was one seriously wise person. I highly recommend.

 

[Meadowlark]

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.

...

Let me get this straight...you want an internet link placed on every veggie plant you purchase telling you what could happen and how to prepare for it? LOL. Imagine what that would cost

LOL!

 

[The Zen Master]

A link to a web page with a brief but concise "outline" would not take much effort, and would not cost very much. I am sure they could get experienced gardeners to help in the effort for very low cost. If Google can map the entire world, the plant companies could do it...

 

[DirtMechanic]

Let me get this straight...you want an internet link placed on every veggie plant you purchase telling you what could happen and how to prepare for it? LOL. Imagine what that would cost

LOL!

Just imagine the accuracy! A yes no answer to two conditions where each condition has a yes or no is 2x2=4 outcomes. The multitude of soil conditions x the climatactic choices x nutrition x plant variation alone would require @Chuck to overexert hisself.

 

[The Zen Master]

Who in the F ever heard of a pepper weevil before moving to Texas? Or Pierce's Disease or the fact that your only safe choice for grapes in Texas is Muscadines, or that it is foolhardy to try and grow blueberries here because the soil is in no way acid enough and trying to make, and keep it so, is a losing proposition?

But you're right - it's better to let the plant-sellers walk off with lots of unsuspecting folk's $15.00 lest the plant-sellers have to go out and get a job at Walmart...

Maybe we stooges should just forget gardening altogether and just write a $200 check to an entitled gardener eery time we get the urge to grow something in a new location?

 

[Chuck]

Lets talk tomatoes and what can affect them. Now all of these are just off of the top of my head and not nearly all of the problems one might encounter. Anthracnose, early and late blight, mildew, mosaic virus, tobacco mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, potato virus, leaf roll virus, spotted leaf wilt virus, canker, bacterial speck, bacterial spot, aphids and the diseases they carry, leaf hopper and their diseases, white fly, thrips, mites, caterpillars of all kinds, pin worms, maggots, stink bugs, beetles, wilts, both fusarium and verticillium and the list goes on. Other vegetables have other diseases and other insects that attack them
I feel @The Zen Master frustration but I don't think a link is the answer and I also don't know what is. There is just so many things interacting with each other such as temperature and moisture that would make any link immaterial.

 

[The Zen Master]

Thanks Chuck - you are correct about the frustration! According to some of what I have been able to find - lots of folks, in fact, plant hot peppers around the perimeter or very close to their tomato gardens, because pepper weevils LOVE hot peppers!

My initial readings led me to believe the entire crop was toast - not that I have a "crop."

PS - the cannibals were the Tonkawa, not the Karankawa! Cracked open one of my books last night to confirm. Comanche hated them very much for their cannibalism and would dismember them and toss the still living stumps in a bon fire and watch them try to worm their way out and all that...

You can read about Tonkawa cannibalism here: http://nativeamericanindianstories.com/tonkawas/

 

[Chuck]

Thanks Chuck - you are correct about the frustration! According to some of what I have been able to find - lots of folks, in fact, plant hot peppers around the perimeter or very close to their tomato gardens, because pepper weevils LOVE hot peppers!

My initial readings led me to believe the entire crop was toast - not that I have a "crop."

My dealings with the Pepper Maggot is that it is a short term problem. The fly is only around a fairly shot time span, in the spring. In the spring peppers are just getting started, especially hot peppers. The fly may affect a couple of peppers on the plant but it cannot affect peppers that are not there yet. I also find that they like sweet peppers too. Us old tough Texans just eat around where the maggot has been. He really doesn't eat all that much.

 

[The Zen Master]

My dealings with the Pepper Maggot is that it is a short term problem. The fly is only around a fairly shot time span, in the spring. In the spring peppers are just getting started, especially hot peppers. The fly may affect a couple of peppers on the plant but it cannot affect peppers that are not there yet. I also find that they like sweet peppers too. Us old tough Texans just eat around where the maggot has been. He really doesn't eat all that much.

Whew - for a minute there I thought you were going to say that you tough old Texans just EAT the maggots!

 

[Chuck]

Whew - for a minute there I thought you were going to say that you tough old Texans just EAT the maggots!

Naw, the only one that gets eaten is the corn ear worm. Real sweet.

 

[The Zen Master]

What kind of hot sauce do you drown them in?

 

[Chuck]

What kind of hot sauce do you drown them in?

For that little protein just a little Tabasco. You don't want to drown out the sweetness

 

[The Zen Master]

Ok I will reserve the Carolina Reapers for another use...

Thanks for your understanding, and all of your help!

 

[Chuck]

Ok I will reserve the Carolina Reapers for another use...

Thanks for your understanding, and all of your help!

I love hot peppers but do you really eat Carolina Reapers. I can barely eat habeneros

 

[The Zen Master]

I can eat a Habanero but not a Carolina Reaper - they are fricken hot... But I like to make homemade hot sauces!

A few months ago I made some Diablo hot-sauce (Chile de Arbol) and brought some to a breakfast meeting I used to go to. I offered samples to some folks - most declined - but one young fellow from Texas said he liked hot and asked to try some on his scrambled eggs. He was smart, he didn't go overboard, and half way through his eggs he - took a break from eating - but he did finally resume and finish his breakfast, with a little sweat on his brow.

As I was about to leave, this guy from California walks in (everyone knows him), and he asked about my hot sauce and whether he could try some - I said "sure, but its very hot." He acted like mehhh, no problem. I said "are you sure?" He said yeah...

So I opened the jar and he sunk a teaspoon in and covered his eggs in hot sauce. I was like 'WHOW - DO YOU THINK YOU ARE SUPERMAN OR SOMETHING? THAT STUFF IS HOT!!!" He brushed me off and went and sat down. I screwed the cap back on and stood there and watched...

I wish I had a camera. The look on his face when he took his first fork full - I have to be honest, it cracks me us just writing/telling the story even now. He must have thought it was Pace Picante sauce but when it hit his mouth it looked like he ate plutonium. Then, of all things, he picks up his cup off hot black coffee and tries to wash it down. Only a Californian (no offense to anyone - but if you knew the guy)...

He stood up, picked up his plate, started walking to the garbage can with it and says to me as he walks past, "Why would anyone make anything that hot?"

I said "hey, I warned ya."

I cut a Carolina Reaper in 8ths last year, then cut a piece in half and ate it - I'll never do that again, but they do make some kick-butt hot sauce!

Hot sauce is good for your heart and circulation - raises metabolism. Learned to love it when I lived in Hawaii and had some Cambodian and Thai friends.