Meet Arthur

[AnotherFairportfan]

Meet Arthur.

(Some people here might be old enough and have a good enough trivia memory to get that.)

Arthur is a habanero pepper plant i bought at Kroger a couple months ago.

When i was watering it, a few days ago, i noticed blossoms. Today i was giving it a dose of MiracleGro, and i decided to take a couple of pics of the blossoms with my phone. (Pepper blossoms - at least habaneros - are "complete" - they have both male and female bits.}

And then i noticed.

I'm a daddy!







I count seven of various sizes (and an evil Japanese Ladybug) plus a couple more blossoms.

So we'll see how many peppers i get this summer - i might get a couple more plants if Kroger still has them {i haven't looked} - and then bring Arthur and any siblings inside and see if they survive the winter indoors...

[TazManiac]

but, but, but- don't Ladybugs predate on plant pests?

[AnotherFairportfan]

but, but, but- don't Ladybugs predate on plant pests?

Japanese Ladybugs bite humans, too.

The native North American Ladybugs don't. Let them sit on you hand; eventually they just fly away.

Let a Japanese Ladybug sit on your hand, it takes a sample to see what you taste like.

[Dave]

That was my first reaction, too. However, a bit of reading turns up the news that the Japanese ladybug is extremely invasive, is crowding out a lot of native ladybugs, bites people, and bleeds foul-smelling fluid (which stains) on even slight provocation. There was also something about a tendency to play Justin Bieber music at earsplitting volume levels but that may be a different species.

They do predate aphids and other pests, but it seems that they are not an unmixed blessing.

[Typeminer]

Nice capsicum!

Hey, I remember Arthur! That furshlugginer turned up everywhere!

[AnotherFairportfan]

Nice capsicum!

Hey, I remember Arthur! That furshlugginer turned up everywhere!

An avocado, actually.