Thursday 17 May 2012

Padron Pepper and Fungus Gnats

The Padron Pepper we are growing from seed is doing ok. We have planted it into a bigger pot and with a covering of sand it's looking quite tropical and is currently being visited by some tourists - ('Tourists' by Duane Hanson 1970 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2003/jan/16/art.artsfeatures )

To be honest though, the sand is not for aesthetic purposes, it is to try and combat a massive infestation of Fungus Gnats affecting most of our plants. We were spending hours every day trying to get rid of all the pesky flies. If we had an outdoor space it wouldn't be so bad, we could encourage other wildlife and let nature deal with it organically. Of course that's not an option here but a good layer of sharp horticultural sand which was a tricky and messy job appears to have made a vast improvement. 

2 comments:

  1. Yellow sticky cards help control the gnats also.

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  2. Thank you Eddie. They're less pleasing to the eye so hope the sand does the job.

    ReplyDelete