Aulani, I would except that is a photo from yesterday. This year I have La Rouge Royale in that slot. I am a firm advocate of knowing cultivars that one plants. Taste is in the mouth of the taster. If you find one you like, then you can grow it again. If you go to a nursery and buy a banana pepper, it could be one of several dozen cultivars with the only commonality an elongated shape and banana yellow color. I like sweet pepper fried, stuffed, and raw. BUT I use different cultivars for each purpose. Hot peppers I prefer to dry and use for seasoning, so Long Slim Cayenne is my favorite, altho I use Jalapenoes for pickles and used raw in soups and stews. This year I have Satan's Kiss, which I use primarily for chili poppers.

Good topic. I think about this every day for the same reasons. I started my garden this year as well, and the aphids are a problem. But, they started on my peppers, which were in pots in the deck, located next to 2 aspen trees, which have aphid problems every year. My garden is located out in the open now, not near any trees, so next year will be the test. Unfortunately for me, the lady bugs and asian beetles don't show up until fall, because they are in the soy fields all summer long. That leaves me with no predators. I haven't seen anything else really, but something IS munching on my cucumber leaves, from the edge in. I suspect either slugs or grasshoppers. But, how would a slug have traveled across the hot, sunny, dry grass, to find my veggie garden out in the middle of the yard? Baffling isn't it? Joe

Yep. He did say plants, didn't he. Gotta read more carefully. If these are small seedlings, it can be difficult to get all the factors in perfect balance. The Pro Mix I use, which is wonderful stuff, has no nutrients added. That's good, because I don't want any until the seedlings have one or two sets of true leaves. I try to resist getting impatient and feeding heavily. It's better to err on the light side. It doesn't take a large amount of any mineral to overcome a deficiency. The text book pictures you see that illustrate various mineral deficiencies required careful preparation of the growing medium to almost totally exclude a given mineral. Otherwise the symptoms would not be obvious. It is important to remember that an excess of some minerals can interfere with a plants ability to make use of other minerals. A plant can suffer from a magnesium deficiency, for example, even when there is an abundance of magnesium in the soil when potassium is excessive. I've recently learned that urea based nitrogen can hinder seedling development. I don't understand it fully, but I do know that urea is a big component of the popular soluble plant foods. I have on hand a bag of calcium nitrate, so I'm using that, sparingly, on my seedlings now. They need some nitrogen for vegetative growth. Other nitrates can be used. Also, since my seed starting mix doesn't provide it, I add a little magnesium in the form of Epsom salts once the seedlings get started. Chlorophyll, which is the foundation of photosynthesis, has an atom of magnesium at the center of its molecule. So I figure I need to provide some magnesium too, sparingly of course, to make chlorophyll. Plants need some sulfur and Epsom salts (MgSO4) has that too. Controlling mineral concentrations in the tiny amounts of medium we use to grow seedlings is tricky. But I am not trying to raise them to maturity in that situation. So, if I can give them a reasonably good start, they will do fine when set out in the open ground, where the chemistry doesn't fluctuate so drastically. That's a long winded dissertation on my amateur thinking thinking about seedling nutrition. The highly educated horticulturalists who produce seedling by the millions do better than I. I bought a six pack of tomatoes yesterday that are a little huskier and have slightly darker color than mine. But I'm gaining on them. Jim

I would leave them in the ground. it is too easy to break off the roots and really mess up the plant trying to put it back into a pot. Your habanero is huge for this time of year. they grow slow. However, it would have been best to keep them in pots. I am zone 5 and my habs are in pots. most are smaller than yours. the big advantage is that in the day time the sun warms up the pot and the roots and the plant can grow much better. I really think you are going to be OK and will get habs. next year with experience. keeping the plants in pots so the roots warm up in the sunshine. you should do even better. I was at a big fruit stand today, and thy have habs half your size for $3 each in tiny pots. that habanero you have is going to do just fine. but these first weeks are going to be hard on you and then it will get hot and they will shoot up. you will get peppers on them so sit back and enjoy. now you will always remember. plant peppers last. they need lots of heat. tomatoes like it warm but will grow better at a cooler temperature than will peppers. Peppers want it hot and sunny. and they want the roots good and warm.