This week in the garden, some people who bought or raised pepper plants from seed are getting different types of peppers than they anticipated. They call this Jalapenogate, Peppergate, or the Great Pepper Mix-up of 2023. This happened when a seed supplier mislabeled pepper seeds and then distributed the seeds to vendors and consumers. Various pepper varieties were affected especially jalapenos, poblanos, and some bell pepper varieties.
With the moisture, chiggers are back hiding in the lawns and gardens. They are tiny mites that you cannot see but leave an itchy red spot on your skin. Chiggers will attach to your skin and feed for up to four days then drop off and become adults. They do not burrow under the skin and lay eggs. The adults will lay eggs in overgrown vegetation or debris. There may be 2 or 3 life cycles depending on the weather. Jiggers will burrow and lay eggs under the skin, but jiggers are found in the Caribbean and Africa, not in the United States. Prevent chiggers from getting on you as you would do for ticks, wear protective clothing, and use a Deet-containing product, and shower after being outside.
Iris can be dug and divided now because they are dormant. Leave 4 to 6 inches of leaf area on each plant with 4 to 5 leaves. When you plant the rhizomes, do not bury the top of the fleshy root, leave exposed.
If your fruit trees have suckers coming up from the ground, remove them because they take energy from the tree itself. While you’re doing this, remove any sprouts growing straight up from branches. They are called waterspouts which will never bear fruit. Avoid any major pruning till next spring.
A couple of people were wondering if warm-season lawns would do well in our area. You will find a few Zoysia or Bermuda lawns east river in places like Sioux Falls, they are not hardy for western South Dakota. The one that will grow is Buffalo grass. It is very drought-resistant, slow-growing grass forming a dense sod requiring fewer mowings. It has been growing east of my house for years. The cons of the grass is the seed is more expensive, it does not green up until the temperature warms up, and it will not grow in the shade. The variety ‘Prestige’ matures at 4 to 6 inches.
Angular leaf spots are more common on cucumbers now. Usually, this bacterium is not a problem since many cucumber plants are at the tail end of their production. The only remedy is to avoid overhead watering. There are resistant varieties like Diva, Fanfare, Marketmore, and many others.
My problem this week is the number of flies outdoors and indoors. I do not like to use sprays indoors. As for the sticky tapes or pads, if you ever had a dog attached to one of these, you will never use it again. I have been seeing indoor bug zappers ranging from around $40. I am going to order one and see what happens.