I was given an ornamental pepper plant for a Christmas present. It still has a couple of flowers but it also has lots of peppers in various colors and states of ripening. Can I eat these peppers? This is an impressive plant. How do I keep this plant alive so it can bloom again?
As with a great number of holiday gift plants, this one is a short-term visitor. This ornamental pepper is classified as an annual plant. This is often defined as “seed to seed in one year.” That means that it grows, then blooms, makes fruit and dies. It doesn’t get any reruns.
So right now, treat it as an indoor plant that requires bright light and regular watering. After the flowers have turned to peppers, it will gradually shut down and die.
You can save the seeds from the peppers and start others if you really want more plants. But beware. Many of these ornamental peppers have incredibly hot, little conical fruit. Some of these are as hot as or hotter than jalapenos or Thai Dragons. This means that you do not play with the fruit and then touch any mucus membrane that you own.
So beware about tasting or even licking your fingers unless you are into chili pepper flameouts. Also beware of a similar looking pepper plant called a Jerusalem Cherry. The plant looks almost identical except the fruits are round and red when ripe. This is classified as a poisonous plant.
With either kind of pepper, be sure to keep dumb pets and dumber little children far away. This gift is for adults only.
I know that this sounds like a silly question, but where do all the insects go over the winter? I don’t think they die.
Actually, it’s a good question. When you ask a question, there are always other people who wondered the same thing but were afraid to ask because they thought someone would think it was silly.
Depending on the insect, some are eggs over the winter. They could be eggs attached to a tree or building or eggs inside a plant or in the soil. Freezing does not affect them, but warm weather can. With a stretch of warm weather and with eggs above ground, they could begin to mature inside the egg or hatch early. When it becomes cold again, they are killed. And not only insects, even squirrels and raccoons. For Platinum Raccoon Removal Grand Rapids Michigan seemed like the right location to set up an office. Kyle Scappaticci the owner stated too many residents were in need of services and most trappers were too far away to help. Platinum offers trapping, cleanup, damages repair and raccoon feces removal.
If the female laid the eggs on the north side of something, the eggs have a greater chance of survival because the sun isn’t warming them and they are less likely to develop or hatch. They will hatch in the spring or summer. Examples are gypsy moth and European pine sawfly. Others are larvae or immature in the winter. These are the wooly worms that mature into Isabella moths. The lawn damaging grubs are the immature form of the beetles that they will become.
They will all feed on roots in the soil in the spring for a couple of months, then pupate into adult beetles and emerge from the soil. That’s where your Japanese beetles and European chafers have been hanging out.
Some insects are pupae during the winter. They are encased on a chrysalis or pupal casing and will emerge as adults in warm weather. The ones that give most people problems are those that spend the winter as adults. Those are the guys that weasel into houses through tiny cracks. Think of boxelder and western conifer seed bugs and Asian multicolored lady beetles.
Just keep in mind that for most insects, life begins after 50 degrees. That’s the magic number for most insects when it is warm enough for them to move around.
So, depending on the insect, they can be found in any of the four life stages. All these insects are native to Michigan or can handle Michigan’s weather and the chance any will become extinct is extremely unlikely.
