Moss Test

Okay, since the aphid problem is under control now, I decided to move in to the next stage of testing.  I've been growing some fern like moss for the final display, but I wanted to mess around with the stuff and see how well it would survive.

So, first step was to go harvest some more of the moss to avoid killing what I've been tending all this time, and mix up some mud.

I didn't think to grab the camera while I was mudding up the surface of the soil, but I think you can figure out "put a thin later of mud on the top of the soil and gently press the moss into it".  I did think to grab the camera after I muddied up the skull itself though.  Idea here was to get the fine mud all over the skull, push some moss into it in strategic places, and then wash it off by simply pouring rain water over the top of it.

Now, do I know if this is all going to live (the moss, that is)?  Nope, I honestly don't.  However this moss grows wild out in my back yard at the treeline, so I figure it should be pretty hardy.  The main issue is going to be that moss likes being damp, and the pepper doesn't.

So, I'm going to use this as a chance to test how much drying out the moss can take before it shrivels up, and if a hearty misting will perk it back up without keeping the soil damp for the pepper.

It also serves as a great excuse to see how the finished thing will look, and that bottom picture there looks pretty damned awesome, if I do say so myself!

The Final Cut

These are the final cut for the peppers that are getting overwintered.  The Project Reaper, the Zombie Reaper, and the best producing/best shaped backup Reaper.  Oh, and the Cumari.

Update on the aphids, the sevin nuked 95% of them, but did not knock them all out even after repeated sprayings.  So, I took more drastic measures and pruned the growth buds off the Project and Zombie Reapers to get rid of most of the ones that were left and then hit everything with a good coat of neem oil.

For those not familiar with neem oil, its not actually an insecticide like the sevin, it won't kill anything right away.  Instead what it does is mess with neural pathways and causes long term damage to soft bodied insects (like mites and aphids) that stop them from growing and reproducing.  It'll take days or even a couple weeks, but it'll get the job done.

Basically, nuked most of the little buggers with sevin, pruned off their favorite living spaces, and then covered everything in bug birth defect spray.  But, after all of that, I shouldn't have to worry about aphids or mites for the rest of the winter.  Or if I do, I had better learn to live with my new aphid overlords, because they are clearly immortal highlanders who will come at me in the night with their wee little swords to extract revenge on their fallen brethren.

Nuke It From Orbit, Its The Only Way To Be Sure

Okay, its been several weeks since we moved the Reaper into it's container and I re-positioned some roots.  Time to do some pruning!

There was lots of pruning.

Two kinds of pruning happened.  First kind was the kind I've talked about before, cutting out the small stuff to encourage the bigger stuff to get bigger, and removing bits that are just cluttering the place up.  The second kind is the less enjoyable kind.

Namely I went around and gently tugged on the various roots.  Ones that are solid are golden, they're doing their jobs.  The ones that easily lift out aren't actually doing anything because the bottoms are dead, and eventually the entire root will wither away, so best to just prune those now.

Lost some roots I wanted to keep, but kept some I was afraid I was going to lose.  So, par for the course really.  None of the lost ones were project ending, so onwards and upwards!

And now, if you are particularly astute, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with the post title.  The answer is this:

Aphids.

Luckily this isn't on the project Reaper, they're on the other one, the Zombie Reaper.  Either way, there are aphids in the grow box, and its only a matter of time before they spread.

Now, as a beekeper as well, I tend to not really endorse the "spray broad spectrum insecticide on everything!" because, well, bees are insects too and I don't want to kill my bees.

However, this is indoors now.  In my grow cabinet.  There are no insects of any kind that I want to be in there, so screw it.  I'm went nuclear!

I covered everything in there in a white glaze of Sevin.  Even the walls got a soaking of the stuff.  I wanted to be absolutely sure that there was no safe harbor for them anywhere.  And today?  No aphids.

Nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure.