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edenfallingWarning: this is a long and very image-heavy post! I am therefore putting most of it behind cuts.
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First, the Better Bell pepper that Mom gave me, hereinafter referred to as Mom's pepper. You may recall it was decapitated by a marauding squirrel back in late June, but managed to recover from the shock enough to grow new leaves and even put forth some slightly misshapen flowers.
Well, around midafternoon on August 11th, it got beheaded again. :-(
This time I held onto the severed leaves and dropped them in the empty pot (which was empty because another pepper had been completely murdered earlier in July). Then I went away on vacation for a week. When I got back, the leaves were inexplicably not dead. O_o I think they may be in the process of dying now, but they’re acting as a squirrel distraction so I guess the sacrifice is not in vain?
Also, the roots and remnants of Mom’s pepper are trying to regrow from ruins a second time. I doubt the poor plant will make it to the flower stage again, let alone produce actual peppers, but even so. I am VERY impressed by its tenacity!
On August 10th, flourishing
On August 11th, alas! :-(
On August 27th, signs of new growth
The decapitated part, August 11th
Somehow still alive, August 20th
Now acting mostly as squirrel bait, August 27th
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Next up, my bonsai pepper!
I first put it outside around July 25th, whereupon it was promptly mauled by a squirrel. I got it rerooted before it could dehydrate and shrivel, and brought it back indoors to recover. Then I put it back out in early August.
It survived my vacation in style and continues to grow despite some incidental scuffling with the local squirrels. It’s still tiny, and still running behind the other peppers -- it’s at least a week or two away from flowering -- but hey, it’s cute. :-)
Indoors, August 1st
Back outdoors, August 10th
In the rain, August 20th
Slightly chewed but growing strong, August 27th
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And the rest of the peppers! Generally speaking, the ones in the terracotta pots have done better than the ones in the plastic pots. The one in the squarish gray-blue pot, however, is doing excellently, and the one on the far left just in front of the onion seems to have been badly affected by the pesticide I sprayed back in early July, since its leaves went all funny at the top and it never developed buds at all. (And it was bent in half by a squirrel last week; I’m not sure it’s recovering well from the shock.)
As you can see, some of the plants have begun to bloom, and a few of the flowers have even dropped off to reveal the beginnings of actualfax peppers! There would be a lot more of these, but, as always, SQUIRRELS. In fact, the tiny baby pepper in the final photo is no longer with us, having been chomped off sometime before this evening. *shakes tiny fist of rage*
I have purchased some animal-be-gone spray and will attempt to apply it tomorrow. The trick is, I can’t spray it directly on the pepper plants since they are meant for human consumption. But I can spray the mulberry tree, and the porch railing, and the porch floor, and the garage roof, and so on. Hopefully that will be enough to set up a perimeter of safety.
On August 11th (the dirt is the aftermath of the attack on Mom's pepper)
On August 20th (droopy at the tail end of a massive rainstorm)
On August 27th (yes, I rearranged them a bit)
A pepper blossom, August 27th
An itty bitty baby bell pepper, August 27th (sadly now residing in the belly of a squirrel)
---------------
First, the Better Bell pepper that Mom gave me, hereinafter referred to as Mom's pepper. You may recall it was decapitated by a marauding squirrel back in late June, but managed to recover from the shock enough to grow new leaves and even put forth some slightly misshapen flowers.
Well, around midafternoon on August 11th, it got beheaded again. :-(
This time I held onto the severed leaves and dropped them in the empty pot (which was empty because another pepper had been completely murdered earlier in July). Then I went away on vacation for a week. When I got back, the leaves were inexplicably not dead. O_o I think they may be in the process of dying now, but they’re acting as a squirrel distraction so I guess the sacrifice is not in vain?
Also, the roots and remnants of Mom’s pepper are trying to regrow from ruins a second time. I doubt the poor plant will make it to the flower stage again, let alone produce actual peppers, but even so. I am VERY impressed by its tenacity!
On August 10th, flourishing
On August 11th, alas! :-(
On August 27th, signs of new growth
The decapitated part, August 11th
Somehow still alive, August 20th
Now acting mostly as squirrel bait, August 27th
---------------
Next up, my bonsai pepper!
I first put it outside around July 25th, whereupon it was promptly mauled by a squirrel. I got it rerooted before it could dehydrate and shrivel, and brought it back indoors to recover. Then I put it back out in early August.
It survived my vacation in style and continues to grow despite some incidental scuffling with the local squirrels. It’s still tiny, and still running behind the other peppers -- it’s at least a week or two away from flowering -- but hey, it’s cute. :-)
Indoors, August 1st
Back outdoors, August 10th
In the rain, August 20th
Slightly chewed but growing strong, August 27th
---------------
And the rest of the peppers! Generally speaking, the ones in the terracotta pots have done better than the ones in the plastic pots. The one in the squarish gray-blue pot, however, is doing excellently, and the one on the far left just in front of the onion seems to have been badly affected by the pesticide I sprayed back in early July, since its leaves went all funny at the top and it never developed buds at all. (And it was bent in half by a squirrel last week; I’m not sure it’s recovering well from the shock.)
As you can see, some of the plants have begun to bloom, and a few of the flowers have even dropped off to reveal the beginnings of actualfax peppers! There would be a lot more of these, but, as always, SQUIRRELS. In fact, the tiny baby pepper in the final photo is no longer with us, having been chomped off sometime before this evening. *shakes tiny fist of rage*
I have purchased some animal-be-gone spray and will attempt to apply it tomorrow. The trick is, I can’t spray it directly on the pepper plants since they are meant for human consumption. But I can spray the mulberry tree, and the porch railing, and the porch floor, and the garage roof, and so on. Hopefully that will be enough to set up a perimeter of safety.
On August 11th (the dirt is the aftermath of the attack on Mom's pepper)
On August 20th (droopy at the tail end of a massive rainstorm)
On August 27th (yes, I rearranged them a bit)
A pepper blossom, August 27th
An itty bitty baby bell pepper, August 27th (sadly now residing in the belly of a squirrel)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-29 10:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-29 05:31 pm (UTC)The thing about the gray plastic pots is that they retain more water in general, which slows plant growth, and then the smaller plants also use less water and so dry out even more slowly. It's a positive feedback cycle in the wrong direction. Ah well, hopefully the fertilizer will help, and I will continue helping them shed excess water after heavy rainstorms. (I think the lack of that additional drainage while I was gone was not good for them.)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-31 12:37 am (UTC)That should wash off easily enough if it gets on the fruit, and presumably wouldn't harm the leaves any since, y'know, it's a pepper plant leaf!
"Anti-squirrel" birdseed is treated with cayenne pepper/capsaicin to keep squirrels from eating it, so it seems reasonable that it would also keep them from chomping your plants, and it's nothing more than what the pepper plant is already producing (albeit in the wrong location, i.e. the seeds).
Might be worth buying a little spritzer bottle and trying!
(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-31 02:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-31 06:00 am (UTC)I... was thinking more along the lines of spray bottle + warm water + hot pepper flakes. :D "Cheap" is my operative word when trying new approaches, heh. I actually will be trying this next year on my tomatoes, because the squirrels have helped themselves this year and killed a lot of green ones, which makes me rather angry at the fuzzy little vermin.
I'm glad to hear, at least, that the Ortho stuff has done a decent job so far! And yes, it would be unkind to spray the mulberry at that stage. (I wish I had a mulberry tree! Luckily, there's one in my neighbourhood along the walking path. Year before last, I really racked up a lot of mulberries; this year I missed the fruiting season.)
(no subject)
Date: 2014-08-31 06:08 am (UTC)Hmm. Do pepper flakes dissolve well? Or would a hot pepper oil mixture be more practical?
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-02 01:18 am (UTC)Pepper flakes shouldn't dissolve, but the heat should leach out of them pretty well; that's basically what happens when you put them in food, so. :D I don't think oil would work, because it would keep separating from the water (or, if you just put the oil mixture in the bottle, it might be too thick to go through the spray nozzle, and/or glob up on the leaves) but it might be worth a try if you already have some. Maybe pepper-water on the leaves, and pepper-oil on the fruit? It might stick better to the rounded shape of a tomato than water would...
(no subject)
Date: 2014-09-03 01:37 am (UTC)