No, not the Grim Reaper! After getting myself a Carolina Reaper plant from my local gardening store late last year, I've been watering, feeding and waiting for it to grow me a chilli. At the beginning of this year something attacked it, and was sucking the life out of it, one leaf and stem at a time. It looked like this: ![20200315_182100.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/bmj/c52J6zX8-20200315_182100.jpg) Underneath most of the leaves was a white fungus-like substance, with what appeared to be little green bugs. ![20200315_182126.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/bmj/j3hAEeft-20200315_182126.jpg) So, I sat one day with a cotton tip swab and soapy water, and cleaned every leaf and stem, making sure none of the bad bugs were still there. Two months on, amd my tree has thrived from being a stick with a few leaves, to this: ![20200315_181939.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/bmj/B77HWVwN-20200315_181939.jpg) Some of the flowers are still falling off here and there, and Ive been keeping an eye on them to see if any of them will grow into a chilli. On Sunday, after cutting the gras, I was sitting on the lawn and turned to look at the chilli bush, and there it was! The first chilli is growing! ![20200315_181921.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/bmj/X6goBqTV-20200315_181921.jpg) It's ugly and beautiful at the same time! I'm looking forward o seeing it turn bright red and ready to harvest. Notnsure I'm brave enough tonhave a taste though! Have a great day.... and I'll be seeing you on Hive soon! https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmdT4PgeVC6eEcMb38VA4AACQpJWjYSumxp2B1evqPC6mx/_bmj_teamaustralia_2_1680x8400.png https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/0gaizMq.png https://steemitimages.com/DQmTyTyFm3Dcxsd46TJCDJkvRydbQckswmEcfZXxSP7owhu/alliance.png https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmamjUKSbxSqXoS5yGuHpt8zmhHsRUZQTpebea7pCwmJ6F/image.png ^{Team Australia, Team South Africa, and The Alliance banners by @bearone} ^{My Awesome Upboks by @ryivhnn}