Some of you may have noticed as you strolled through the Gardens at Witherspoon a unique purple plant “peppered” throughout the grounds. All puns aside, this small addition of Black Pearl Peppers to the rose garden packs a huge punch in controlling the spider mite population that tends to sky rocket as the weather heats up.
Spider Mite damage begins to appear when we enter the driest portion of the summer as roses are heat stressed already and mite populations explode in the heat. These mites live on the undersides of the leaves, live by sucking nutrients and moisture out of said leaves, and build a wonderful protective webbing over themselves while they snack on your roses. Mites are difficult to see with the naked eye, but the yellowing
dried up leaves will give them away. Because of the protective webbing they build around themselves, conventional insecticides are rarely effective at controlling the spider mite population. Over the past few years, Witherspoon has implemented the use of predatory mites as biocontrol agents for controlling spider mite populations in the gardens we service as well as our own garden. We wanted to go a step further and create an environment which naturally hosts beneficial insects that will work with us to keep our gardens healthy and beautiful. Enter the Black Pearl Pepper.
Want to add Black Pearl Peppers to your garden?
All companion plants, including
Black Pearl Ornamental Peppers, will be
Buy 1 Get 1 FREE June 15-29, 2016!In store only – Free plant of equal or lesser value
i enjoyed reading your article about black pearl peppers. i had no idea they were good for keeping spider mites in check. thank you so much for this info.
and by the way, if one saves a few of the peppers, they are easy to start from seed early in the spring indoors before moving out. or one can just bust open some of the old pepper pods that lasted thru the winter and make shallow holes or just throw them around on top of the soil and mess it up a bit. i’ve had this plant for many years and think it is just delightful. also the peppers are edible smushed up and put into sauces or for a very few, they pop them in their mouth. i think those friends are crazy. .
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Thanks for reading! Yikes!I guess it’s not ghost pepper level, but it’s still impressive! You and your friends must have taste buds of steel.
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What ratio of black pearl pepper to rose bush do you recommend for mite control?
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The numbers that I am aware of are for a production space. That ratio is 100 pepper plants per 1 acre of production space. Most residential gardens are not going to have that volume of roses, so I would venture to say that a nice grouping of 3-5 plants or a few containers spread around would be sufficient to provide the Orius a nice place to come home to at the end of the day. Sorry I don’t have a specific rose:pepper ratio, but I hope this gives you an idea!
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