June 1, 2011 - Pesky Pests

All the plants are in (again). The week following my last post, after all the plants were in, it rained continuously for about a week. A day after a break in the weather I went down to check on the garden.  Turns out they did NOT like all the rain.

The leaves had turned black/brown, some curled, others just fell off completely.  The pepper plants seems to be most affected by this condition, and one or two of the tomatoes also suffered enough to make me wonder if they were going to make it.  I suspect that all the moisture led to some fungus issues, so I purchased a fungicide from the local hardware store. This was on the Tuesday (May 24).  By Friday I was convinced that I would have to replace most of my pepper plants.  With the planting season already getting late I was worried the market would no longer be carrying new pepper plants after this week so I made sure to get there early on Saturday morning - fortunately there were plenty.

That afternoon I began to replace the dying pepper plants only to find that they all were starting to look better.  The black leaves had mostly fallen off at this point, but new healthy leaves had become to sprout.  I found myself unable to trash them so the new plants got moved past the tomatoes where some flowers had grown last year and was overgrown. Only two were permanently removed after buying six more.  At the same time I also planted the sunflowers I had started.  It'll be interesting to see how fast they grow relative to the peppers. 

I'm still unsure if the fungicide or the change in the weather made things improve, but I don't really care as long everything is doing better-a week on and everything SEEMS to be looking better!  No trace of the discoloration and all the new leaves that have emerged all have a healthy look to them.  Take a look at the difference in the above photo.

In addition to the weather/fungus issues, I've been battling a nasty garden pest: the Colorado Potato Beetle.  I've found it on my eggplant and tomatoes in adult, nymph, and egg stages.  Last time I tried growing eggplant it was a flea beetle problem that killed them, this time it's this little fucker.  I'm keeping a close eye on all my plants, but I would consider it a huge coupe if I could actually eat a home grown eggplant this summer!

Colorado Potato Beetle (not my pic, but I've seen them)

Close up of the nymph and their damage to a tomato leaf:

Close up of the eggs: