Chilli Plants Goes Chop Chop!

Tall and lanky chilli plant, it is not doing good at all. 

There are however, lots of chillies, but they are not turning red like they are supposed to, not like the last few months when I have gorgeous red chillies to harvest daily.

Most of them are rotting and wilting instead of turning red, eventually they will dropped off.  And all thanks to the mealybugs! They are killing the chilli plants, sucking the life out of the plants. 

Mealybugs...found them under the leaves of the chilli plant, and the whole plant is infested. I really hate these little creatures. Mealybugs can cause severe damage to plants by sucking the juice from the plants, and eventually the leaves will turn to yellow and drop off. The fruits and flower buds will prematurely dropped off too, and that was exactly what happened with my two chilli plants. The leaves dropped off with the slightest touch. Same thing with the chillies, obviously the plants are getting weaker.

I have done all the necessary, used the organic neem spray and other organic sprays. I sourced from the internet on ways to get rid of these insects, and even made my own sprays, none of it work! I have even resorted to clean the leaves, manually with water, it works for a while, but I got tired of cleaning the leaves one by one, it is a tedious and time consuming job. 

I can actually see them flying around in my garden when I was watering the plants, and have spotted them at my tomato plant, which I quickly wiped them off from my precious tomato plant!

The best thing to do is to cut off the chilli plants, making sure the stems that are left behind, are free of these bugs and hopefully the plants will thrive again, though I have not made up my mind whether to rid of these plants entirely. Most likely, I would get rid of them and use the pot for other plants. For the meantime, I have given these plants another round of neem spray, and I'll leave them as they are until I decide what to do. 

sigh.....!!!

The last of the chillies! Now I got to buy my daily dose of chillies from the market!

Happy Gardening !

Pest!

Squash lady beetle larvae, the insect that destroys my bitter gourd plant in a matter of days! Found out from the internet that it actually circles the leaf area in which it is going to feed!

The leaves have a web-like pattern after being eaten by these pests.

They have a rather spikey body!

It moves quite fast too!

I was having a hard time getting a clear photo of this pest!

Finally, a clear shot! See the interesting pattern of the leaves after being eaten by them. These insects looks kinda cute and yucky too! Have you seen this creepy pest in your garden?


Happy Gardening !!!

Thank you, my friends for your concern!

Firstly, I would like to thank you for your concern and all your advices on my previous post. That being said, I feel that is only right that I do a post on this instead of replying in the comment section. I just cleaned up another mess at my backyard! Another pot of okra seedling has been destroyed. The spring onions pot of container on my previous post which has been attacked, I have since placed 5 overturned pots in the container to cover the soil. Guess what, they stupid cats poo on the containers! Cats, by nature, are supposed to dig in the soil, do their business, then cover it up, right? Well this stupid bunch of cats just do it on containers, on stones and even on the cement walkway, how stupid can they get? Sorry, you cat lovers out there, I'm just letting go of my frustations. You would not want to know what is on my mind if I catch hold of them! Now why are they stupid, because their owner said so!

In reply to all your comments :

Hi Food So Delicious : 

I'm glad that I don't have rats in the garden. But then again, I would be able to trap them without feelng guilty to the owners! Plastic containers seems like a good idea, but in order to keep off the cats, the containers need to be very high,at least at a certain height. Would be great if you could keep us updated when you do decide to use these containers, it will be interesting to see how this will help in keeping them away. Thank you!

Hi milka :

Lucky you, to have a big doberman, like a guardian angel to your veggies and plants! I do not have a dog nor intend to get one. 

Hi One :

It is stressful! I go to bed thinking about whether will I be seeing buzzing flies around any of my pots in the morning! Talking to the owner will definitely not helped at all, she has promised to look into the matter and it seems that she has not done a single thing about it. Thank you for your suggestions, I will have to try the orange peel method. Will the coffee ground in any way damage the plants, as my plants are all in pots, and when it rains, all the water will flow right into the roots. I need a big tiger, not the poops, to scare the cats away and hopefully the owner will move too, somewhere, far, far, away! And I could not possibly have some words with the cats, they are stupid! The exact words from their owner's mouth "Binatang, mana ada kepala otak!".  Yup, she said it loud and clear, over at her kitchen window so that I can hear her! 

Hi Bangchik and Kakdah,

Thank you for your technique! It made me smile...! I did that a few times, but then the stupid cats, probably do not understand...!

Hi Diana,

Thank you for your concern and thoughts! The sawtooth  coriander can grow to quite a big plant, they need  quite a space to grow and very prickly, it will deter them away, but it will be a problem for me to get to my plants, I did cut a few leaves from the sawtooth coriander and scatter them over the pots, no idea whether they works! Most of the young seedlings are destroyed, there's no  established plant except one or two. My neighbour did have a patch of soil behind their house, according to the owner, only the mother cat has been toilet trained! I do not understand how can  she cook in her kitchen when the cats' poo are directly outside her kitchen window. Imagine the flies that are flying around in her kitchen! Urgh! I did put some leaves around the pot last time, but it doesn't help either. Did not try with serai leaves, as I do not have any serai plants.  Will give this a try. Thank you, Diana.

Hi Shidah,

Thank you for your suggestions too. It is difficult to install a wire netting as my garden is at the back lane. I'm staying in an intermediate lot and there's no private entry at the back, it is like a common back lane. I did thought of this before, and it is quite impossible to do, still cracking my head over this! 

Hi petite nyonya,
I need your serai leaves! Thumbtacks is a really good idea! I'm tempted! Ha! Ha!

Hi Autumn Belle,

Yes, I agree with you, talking to the owner doesn't help at all. They have much to learn about being responsible as pets' owner. I always sprayed the area where they poo before, but they still come back if not to the same place, then the next! I have not tried the method with the empty Nescafe pack. It will be sometime when I will need a fresh pack. Can I instead use a teaspoon of Nescafe, dilute it with lots of water and pour this into the pot? Will it damage the plant as they are all in pots.  The mineral bottle method sounds interesting. But if they did it during the night, which they usually do, then it won't keep them away! Sigh...!

*************

Thank you, friends, for being there to listen to all my frustations! I was actually thinking of  'closing up' my back garden, and I'm not ashamed to admit that, the thought of doing that and seeing nothing from my kitchen window almost leave me in tears! LOL! So, my next plan is to plant bigger plants like pineapple and serai over at the back and some veggies over at my front porch.  I have a small porch and do not have enough of space, so careful planning is required. 

I am done with placing stones, sticks  and whatever that I can think of to protect the plants, the only solution is I'm hoping that they will move away, even that is out of the question! And I'm not one to hurt an animal, no matter how angry I am, I'll just ignore and be done with them, stupid cats and irresponsible owners.  I'll just use my energy into putting my plan to action. In fact, bought two pineapples yesterday, for a start!

Meanwhile, I will try the few methods suggested, until my front porch is ready. Thank you everyone! I really appreciate all your thoughts and suggestions! You are the best!  :)

Garden Pest Strikes Again and Again!

What am I to do??   My neighbour's cats are continuing harassing my garden!

I planted this okra in a round pot, protected by a smaller pot with cut-out bottoms and surrounded with wooden chopsticks.   

This is another pot of okra seedling. I did not surround the plant with chopsticks, cause I have run out of them, so many pots to protect, and I have yet to buy more! Look at what the cat did!   I think that I should get more sticks that are much longer and place them around my pots like a protective shield! All the inconvenience, just because the owner is irresponsible!

My container of spring onions, which I placed some sticks across and around. Look at it now!

The owner is getting irritated with me for complaining again the last time. Ever since my last post on the cats' mischief, they have been doing it again and again for at least a dozen time. Most of the time they did their "little bussines" in the pot! I would not like to pick a quarrel with a neighbour over some cats, but I am at a loss over what to do!  These are not the only pots of plants they destory!

I could not plant my veggies without the thought of finding ways of protecting my plant! This is stressful gardening! Hobbies are supposed to be stress free, and joyful, in my case, it is exactly the opposite! I have this fear of my veggies being dug out and would constantly check my veggies each morning to see whether are they in place as they should be. And would check for any disgusting smell! Now this is  SGS, Stressful Garden Syndrome! So I have not been planting my veggies as much as I would love to!

Obviously talking to the owner again is out of the question now! I think that she is ready to pick a quarrel with me anytime now!

Do you have a cat or problems with cats in your garden?  How do you overcome them? Would love to hear any advice, please! 

Beware Of the White Beetle!

My curry leaf plant has been infested by this uncommon leaf beetle, for the second time. The first time when it happened,  I did not  recognise this insect or bug, all I know is, the larva is really, really disgusting! I did a search from the web and almost all the info on the web states that curry leaf plant is practically pest-free as most pests do not like the rather strong smell of the leaves! Upon further search from the web, I've found out the name of this pest is Tortoise Beetle.

Excerpt from What's That Bug in reply to a query by someone in Malaysia who found this bug on her curry leaf plant too :

This is the larva of a Leaf Beetle in the family Chrysomelidae, possibly a Tortoise Beetle.  Providing the name of the food plant, curry, should make the identification easier.  We found a Local Beetles’ Battles page of the Asian Entomology Collection and Studies website, that pictures a Tortoise Beetle, Aspidomorpha deusta, and the quote:
“IN 1994, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia entomologist Prof Mohamed S. Mohamedsaid noticed strange white beetles on curry leaf plants. Careful study revealed that the beetles came from a genus restricted to Sri Lanka where it is represented by one species, Silana farinosa, commonly known as the tortoise beetle.
‘The occurrence of Silana farinosa feeding on curry leaves in Malaysia is probably a very recent introduction. It has never been reported before in the country,’ he says.
‘Aspidomorpha deusta’ is a common tortoise beetle east of Java. This foreign species was found on a beach off Kapar, Selangor. –
‘It’s very unlikely that its presence would have gone unnoticed, for the host plant is also an important crop,’  he explains, adding that the leaves of the plant are an essential ingredient in Malaysian cooking, especially curries.
The taxonomist, who works with UKM’s Centre for Insect Systematics, reckons the creatures might have been feeding on dry curry leaves when they were unwittingly packed into someone’s luggage and brought into Malaysia from Sri Lanka.
‘They are real pests as these popular plants are endangered by them,’  he says, adding that the curry leaf plant had never before been attacked by insects as it emits a powerful smell.
More recently, another species of foreign tortoise beetle was found on our shores.
‘In all my years of studying beetles, which included combing the beaches of Malaysia for tortoise beetles, I have never encountered a specimen belonging to the species collected in March last year,’ he says.
According to Prof Mohamed, Aspidomorpha deusta is common from Java eastwards to Papua New Guinea and Australia.”
We then found photos of larval Silana farinosa on the photomalaysia website, and they appear to match your photos.

This is the Tortoise Beetle

The larva are usually found at the underside of the leaves.

This is only from one stalk of leaves, more than half of my plant has been infested.

They are extremely yucky! Just by looking at them, gave me goose bumps! I have never seen any yucky larva like this before!  The only way to get rid of them is by removing them manually, this was the information I got from one of the sites which I read when I was browsing for the information months ago. I've even printed out the article but I lost it somehow.  Remove them manually? I shudder just looking at them! So I cover the whole top with a plastic bag and just cut the stem off, since the plant has already been infested rather badly! When the plant was infested previously, I did try to get rid of them by spraying with organic spray and even homemade ones, but without any success at all.  

Cut the whole top away

After about a week, new shoots have started to grow. When it happened the first time, I was careful and always on the lookout for this beetle. There was one of two every now and then, but I always managed to get rid of the matured beetle before they started to breed. But then, due to my  lack of attention after that, by the time I checked, I was too late! The plant has been infested by these yurky larva again. And my poor plant has got to be 'chopped off' again!

 Photo taken this morning, about a week from the above photo.

Look at what I've found under one new leaf this morning!

Have you seen this white beetle before? This is one beetle that you would not want for your garden! Remember, get rid of them before their larva destroy your plants!

Happy Gardening !

Four-Legged Garden Pest! Caught Ya!

Cats generally are very cute, adorable and extremely "free-running". You may own a cat, and in the case of my neighbour, seven cats!, Cats can never be locked up in the house the whole day and expected to stay indoors without ever venturing anywhere they so desire! Except, of course, if you keep them lock up in a cage and of course, it is not a right thing to do! They come and go as they pleases! 

Look at these little kittens. There are actually four of them. An orange one is not in the picture. Aren't they cute? Do not let their cute faces gets to you, they are really a nuisance to my garden! I do like cats, when I was young, our family had a cat, a dog, a guinea pig, 2 ducks and a chicken as our pets! 

Three older cats, relaxing at the back of the owner's house.

One of the kitten, hiding behind the pot of curry leaf plant when it saw me. Guess what he did before that ..... 

It overturned my pot when it tried to climb onto it! This pot is half full, so it is not very heavy! It's okay, little one, there's another pot or two for you.... take your pick! 

Wanted to go into my pot of chives, I caught him sleeping on my chives one afternoon! I then poked all around the pot with 'satay sticks'. He did put a paw in, intended to go into the pot, look around at the sticks, put a tip of the chive into his mouth, and changes his mind....

well, this looks like a nice spot to sunbathe! Into my pot of curry plant he lies! ...... 

But not for long, decided to get away from this human creature who is staring at him, clicking away with some black instrument! But that chives is really tempting, couldn't help it,  push one down and sniff... got to go... that human creature is after me!

My new kangkung seedlings! One of the cats dug a hole and I guess you know why! It "poo-ed" and of course, the flies had a party! I sprayed with water-based aerosol and later, scoop it up to dispose of it, and guess what, little crawly maggots are underneath! Yucks! Yucks! Yucks!  Sprayed again, and a few hours later, did the dirty job of disposing it off. Sprayed one more time, left the pot in the sun for two whole days, covered with some bamboo sticks, just in case the little cuties thought this is their private potty pot! Threw the kangkung away, that was one whole packet of seeds! 

There's more ....

I have two little yam seedlings planted on the ground. One of it was dug out and guess what they did again? The flies had another party!

My french beans plant which was growing well, wilted within a day. Upon inspection, I noticed that the bottom stem has been snapped in two! How could this be? I then remembered that the day before, I saw the kittens was climbing on my belimbing tree, when they jumped down from the tree, they landed near my french beans, but I thought nothing of this! They must have snapped the stems when they landed!

They love my kitchen too! A piece of mackerel fish gone missing, a packet of unopened anchovies bought from the morning market mysteriously has traces of holes and tear marks on the plastic with some anchovies sticking out.  A large piece of promfret (luckily it was still in the packet) was found on the floor at my kitchen door, because the packet was too big to go through the holes at the grill.

The last straw was when I took some meat from the freezer, put that packet in a bowl filled with water to defrost, close it with the food cover, and went outside to hang out my laundry. When I came into the kitchen, guess what I found, a wet kitchen floor, the bowl and cover in one corner, but the packet of meat still intact on the floor. They did not manage to take that away in time! Saw the culprit outside, it was a stray cat!

Because of these cats, do I have to close my kitchen door all the time? I like bright sunny kitchen with nice ventilation! I should really buy some wire mesh to protect my pots, and send the bills to the owner! I had a 'chit-chat' with their owner, who says that she doesn't have the time to care for so many cats and intend to send the kittens either to the SPCA or to give away to some friends, keeping only the older ones. I told her what her cats did, I know that she is not to be blamed for what her cats did, but as the owner, she is responsible. She laughingly told me to buy a cat spray (what is that?), supposedly to keep cats away if sprayed at that particular area!  Maybe I should and pass the bill over to her! Well, I did told her that I will shoo them away with water and elastic sling! Guess what? I have her blessings!

Not to worry, I won't use the elastic sling, I'm not that cruel, maybe extremely mad, but not one to hurt any pets! Besides, I don't own any elastic sling!

I have a gun in my kitchen now! My son's toy water gun has some good uses after all!

And yes, my neighbour and I, we are still friends!

Happy Gardening !

Unwanted Guests

Found some unwanted guests in my potted garden !

This cute little grasshoppers has been eating the leaves of the ladies fingers plant and lime plants. I have caught over 30 of them and there are still a few more lurking around.

This little one is enjoying the lime leaves!

Found many little beetles on the leaves of my bitter gourd plant. Could this be their larvae? Many of the leaves are eaten with a "spider web" look. How do I get rid of this beetle? I'm avoiding the chemical spray in my garden.

Couldn't recognize this insect. Whatever it is, I think it is up to no good, at least where the leaves are concerned !