Exactly so, nativemel. Any snake bite can get infected, but if you know for sure you've been bitten by a venomous snake, get professional treatment as fast as you can to avoid complications. Don't attempt any first aid yourself, except to keep the limb below the level of your heart. Some folks now recommend a compression wrap (like with an Ace Bandage) but NOT a tourniquet. But most experts say the best thing is just to get to a medical facility pronto. Most snakebites are NOT fatal, but they can become very nasty wounds, and the sooner you receive proper treatment, the better the chances that you won't have any longterm effects. Tom, your picture is of a baby cottonmouth and you are very right that it could be mistaken for a copperhead by someone who doesn't know snakes. Of course, ALL of you folks here who read my posts on ID-ing cottonmouths would recognize this one immediately by the dark cheek stripe. Copperheads do not have this, btw. It is diagnostic for the Florida cottonmouth. There are many things this lady's snake might have been, some venomous, most NOT, but a copperhead really isn't very likely. Of course, since none of us saw her snake, we could argue the point forever and it wouldn't change her mind a bit. But for future reference to most of the folks on this group, you aren't likely to be menaced by a copperhead in Florida, unless you live in the area shown on the range map above. Nativemel, glad you dad survived the experience without permanent injury or disfigurement. I'm sure it wasn't fun, though. Be careful out there, folks. No need to be in a state of alarm, unable to enjoy your yards & gardens. But keep your eyes open and don't do silly things (like reaching under logs or rocks without looking first.) Marcia

Did they look like little gnats? I have them too and yeah, they are just annoying. What I did was take an idea from a Canadian product called Stiky Sticks... I took a craft stick and wrapped fly paper around it a couple times then stuck them randomly in the cups. It's less obvious you have fly paper everywhere and the bugs go right to it. I will say.. it's a very, very sticky project and be mindful of where the sticks are placed.. lest one gets caught in your hair as you are tending to your plants. Not that it happened to me of course.. someone I know ;)

Dorothy, I'm sorry to hear you had a bad pepper year. Peppers are subject to some of the same diseases that affect tomatoes. If your pepper plants were a healthy green and then quite abruptly wilted while still green, then it might be bacterial wilt. If your pepper plants had a lot of foliar spotting that caused some defoliation before the plants wilted, it likely was one of the fungal diseases. Southern blight is a possibility. Usually southern blight occurs during a period of high humidity/wet soil (and especially if it is slow-draining clay) but I'm not going to say it can't happen with high humidity and fairly dry soil because I'm not sure. With southern blight, after the wilting occurs the plants often develop a white growth on the lower stem of the plant with little round brownish sclerotia growing on them. The sclerotia look kind of like the early stage of the little adventitous roots that develop on tomato plants, but whereas adventitious roots aren't a bad thing, the sclerotia are a bad thing. Phytopthera can strike peppers in several different ways and can manifest as a root rot (even as damping off in young plants) or as crown rot and in other ways. I've linked the Cornell University Vegetable MD Online Pepper page about Phytopthera for you. Since you're unsure of what it was that killed your peppers, your best best would be to rotate your 2011 peppers to a different area where no peppers grew in 2010 and try to do the same in 2012. Then, by 2013, the soil where the 2010 peppers died should be okay again for peppers. However, insects often vector diseases so there's no guarantee on that. Maybe Jay will have some ideas. He's a pepper pro and knows a lot more about growing them than I do. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Info on Pythopthora From Cornell Veggie MD Online

In addition to the overwintering and hardening off info, just thought I'd mention that for getting fruit indoors, you need lots of light and a way to achieve pollination. Most folks here overwinter peppers just to keep them alive and get a head start next year. Using floros very close, you can get flowering / fruiting, but, it'll be slow and lower production than using an HID light or outdoors. Sunlight through modern windows will keep the plant alive, and stretching like crazy for more light, but, fruiting will be pretty sparse. Light is only half the battle indoors. Once you have flowers, you need to pollinate them. Shake the plants, fan blowing on them, paintbrush, q-tip...all methods I've heard mentioned here. Good Luck!