CHILIPEPPERS – Capsicum frutescens

General

Chillies are widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics and originate in South America where they were early cultivated. They were introduced to the rest of the world by the Spaniards and the Portuguese. The ripe fruit has insecticidal properties and the effective substances are highest in the skin and in the seeds ;

Effective Range

Stomac poison

Insecticidal repellent , antifeedant , fumigant , viroid.

Trouver une photo de chili  (Capsicum frutescens)

Target Organisms

Ants                                                          - general

Aphids                                                               - general

Caterpillars                                                        - general

Colorado beetle                                       - Leptinotarsa decemlineata

Imported cabbage worm                                  - Pieris rapae

Rice Weevil                                                       - Sitophilus

Warehouse pests                                             -  general

Cucumber mosaic virus                                    - Pieris rapae

Cucumber ringspot virus                                  - Pieris rapae

Tobacco etch                                                    - Pieris rapae

Tobacco mosaic virus                                      - Pieris rapae

Tobacco mosaic virus                                      - Pieris rapae

Methods of Use

From kenya good results are reported o n the control of aphids in home vegetable gardens.

Hot chillippers are finely ground, stirred in water and allowed to stand overnight. After filtering through a cloth the solution is sprayed onto the plants , or if no syringe is available sprinkled with a whisk of twigs or grass.

A similar method is reported from Papua New Guinea where chilipepper is used as repellent

Finally ground chillies are covered with water and soap either as flakes or liquid. The mixture is well stirred and sprayed over affected plants.

Chilli spray preparation are also well knonw in the philippines :

100 g chillies, water, soap solution :

The chillies are finely pulvrised in a mortar, vigourosly shaken with 1 litre of water and filtered through a cloth. One part of ths concentrate is diluted with five parts of soapy water before spraying. It is effective against aphids and many other vegetable pests.

Too strong a concentrate causes burning of the leaves, so the right strengh should be found by testing.

Care should be taken because the solution irritates the skin.

Virus inhibition

MCKEEN reports that the young leaves of cowpea were rubbed with virus-infected sap expressed from chilli leaves the colour change was markedly reduced. Mostly there was even none. (The change of colour is regarded as an indicator of a virus infrection). When the experiment was repeated wuth the sap from virus-infected tobacco leaves the cowpea leaves underwent a strong colour change,  but when the tobacco sap was mixed with 5 % of chilli sap the number of leaves which changed colour was reduces by 95 %.

The efectivness of the virus inhibition depends on the host plant. It is probable that members of the same plant familly do not  work infallibly on one another virus inhibitors. Further tests showed that the virus-inhibiting ingredients is present in all parts og the chilli plant. However, extracts from the leaves and flowers showed the highest concentration and the roots are lowest.

In practise, it is important that chilli sap should be applied as a preventive measure before the virus infection affects the plant. Once the virus has taken hold it cannot be effectively controlled.

This is information is all derived from scientific sources. The writer has no results taken from practice in the field.