i prune that santa rosa like crazy- the more i prune it, the quicker it grows back. I prune it 2-3 times ayear by about 50%. unlike my european plum trees that grow with 10 or so major limbs, this tree has about 3-4 limbs and hundreds of 2-3mm diametered stems growing off the main limbs. truth is, i think im gonna get rid of it. it was an impulse buy from a local nursery. I have had it for about 3-4 years and only get about 60-80 blooms and 1-2 plums per year- this year i got no plum set at all. i have a bavay gage tree in a large pot and it needs a ground home and i have zero room. so i think this crazy growing non fruit producing santarose plum has to go and the bavay gage will take its place.

I'm a westerner educated in the west, but with the 200' view and no leaf detail, looks like some sort of viburnum from here (happy to be corrected). Take a live caterpillar to your best non-BigBox nursery and purchase a consumer BT product for that critter and spray. Should do the trick in a week or so. Get moving and maybe take off from work early tomorrow. Dan

you can buy ladybug and lacewings online to take care of your aphids, ladybugs and their young are the best as they are aphid eating machines but there are some ants that farm aphids like cattle. the aphids give the ants a sugary food and the ants protect the aphids even move them to better plants. the lacewing looking bug I agree looks like a type of mayfly. then there is the hoverfly, the spider is a what we call in the states a daddy longlegs the small ones do eat aphids and other bugs, the little wasp is also a good guy he hunts for spiders and larve of things like moths. as far as your peppers go I have friends that plant them in pots in colder areas so they can take them inside when winter hit and also grow them in their gardens with much success. my grandfather grew hot peppers every year he started them inside sooner then normal like in December or January by the end of summer his pepper plants were 4 ft. tall and about the same size round and full of peppers

Spraying off aphids with a water hose gets them off the plants temporarily, but it does not kill them. They usually just climb back up. I have controlled aphids finger squashing, but when there is a lot like you are saying, that is tough to get them all. If it were me I would probably consider an insecticide. If you wanted to go organic, I knew a guy who would buy chewing tobacco, soak it in water, add a little Ivory soap and then spray the water on the plants/insects.