Hi,

Can someone please help with a problem ?

I have just started growing my own vegetables and my first experiments are with Chilli plants on my balcony here in Hong Kong. I grew the plants from seedlings and now they are about one foot high.

Some chillies have already started to appear. They are green at the moment but I assume that they will ripen to red ? When is the best time to pick them and how exactly should I do it ?

Also, I have noticed an increasing number of what look like regular black ants crawling on the plants. There also seem to be small clusters of small black 'dots' on the undersides of some of the leaves. I did read on the internet somewhere that ants can 'farm' aphids or similar as food on certain plants. Is this is what is happening to my chilli plants ? I can try and post pictures if people need more visual clues ? Am I still able to eat these chillies ? They currently don't look affected.

I did buy some Neem oil from the gardening shop although I have not used it yet. Is it safe to use on fruits and vegetables which you will be eating ?

Any help would be appreciated.

We have discovered through previous discussions that Cinnamon seems to work for Ants. And there were some other organic methods as well.

Ha ha! Found it, according to greendude; ants also hate mint so plant mint around you garden to detur them.

Just keep in mind that mint can be incredibly invasive so, if you do plant it, you'll want to keep on top of it and pull up (including all the roots) any offshoots.

Mint will even take over you lawn if you are not careful. But, it is manageable.