Curse the mites!

Beautiful peppers, though!

Josh

I'd have a lot more if the mites dissapeared.

Last year they got this one.
Pods were messed up by the time they dropped or ripened.I only got a few seeds from the plant.

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Maybe if you skipped one year? I wonder if that would work.

Rudy

Skip a year. That will never happen I hope. Mike I feel your pain and wish I could give you a solution but it sounds like you have tried everything. Nice looking 7 pods though. Keep on keeping on!

I've noticed mites LOVE my cukes, beans, marigolds and vincas. They attempted a go at my serranos but I think I beat them off this year.

Speaking of taking a year off...I've wondered if I just grew ornamentals for a year and treated them with those expensive miticides to wipe out any population if I'd have better success with cukes the subsequent year.

What my problem is,is that I grow my stuff at a place where I can't mess with the other plants on the lot.
So even if my plant starts out mite free I get mites from other stuff growing on the lot that I can't mess with.
It sucks getting 12 pods off a plant that should put out 40.
The miticides I tried only somewhat worked-mites hibernate when hard times come around.
Also the miticides I tried make the plants put out seedless,miss shaped pods.
Any so called ORGANIC miticide was just part neen.
I use pure neem concentrate mixed as directed or stronger.
A spray with the hose every day does as well-drownds mites or spreads the around more.

Once the leaves are gone the pods cook in our S. Ca. sun.
No mercy.
I can only keep the mites at bay,when things get tough for them they send a few egg laddened females to hide out and hibernate.
I cleared off my grow racks and after a month I'm still getting mites comming out looking for plants to eat.
I found my hydro juice bottles covered in mite webs yesterday with a bunch of dead mites in the webs.
Mite webs comming out of my shop lights etc.
They hibernate everywhere.
I just hope the die before mid Dec.
I'll ship my winter crop and not keep anything but my rare stuff this winter.
I have a Galopago Island pepper plant,Rocopica(ulupica),and my trees that I'll keep.
The rest goes away this seasons end.
I'm going to spray the lot down with everything in the book after harvest to see if I can hurt the mites at least a little.
So far , about 2 times a day I see the mites line up for their dayly showers.
They line up with their little bath brushes and Luffa sponges every morning and evening.
I spray them down in the morning with soap spray and at night with Neem(snake oil).
The soap cleans them up really nice and the neem makes them smell good and look nice and shiney.
I then apply Boric acid and Diatomacious earth powder so their little butts don't get a rash from the humidity of the baths.
Now they are ready to go out and troll for the babes-all nice and clean and shiney,horney as heck too.
After a long night or day of fertilizing eggs they get really hungry and chow down.
Now they are ready for another shower...

That is sad but at least you are taking it well. Phildeez is having the same problem and I think he lives pretty close to you. I would say it is only a Cali thing but we know better. After looking at your pics I am starting to wonder if a couple of my Datils don't have them. Here is pic. They have been like this since birth.

Could be a calcium problem.pics not that good...
Try mixing some Dolomite lime in some vinegar and mix it up and let it work overnight.
Don't cover it tightly,it'll pop the top off.
That makes Calcium Acetate.
Dolomite Lime also has Magnesium in it too so both are good for the plant.
Use as a folier spray or water in the soil.
I add a couple oz. to a gal. of water.
I keep a quart yogart container full of it and just keep adding vinegar to it every time I use it.
I put an inch or so of Dolomite lime in the container and just keep adding vinegar.
Can't hurt...Promotes HEAVY budding fast.
Calcium acetate is what blossum set is in the little spray bottles.
Plants are supposed to be able to obsorb it unlike just powdered lime that has to break down first.
You should see a diiference within a few days if you have a Calcium or mag. problem.

I have been spraying with cal.mag and added granular dolomite lime but very little change. I will try using the vinegar technique and let you know what happens. Thank Mike!