I'm not sure where you live, but I have a few peppers in the ground, and they get attacked big time by leaf miners and spider mites. Spider mites are easily dispersed with a blast of water. Leaf miners are tough. They don't hurt the plant, but they make the leaves look pretty ugly. They leave trails all over the leaves. Thrips are also a problem. I'm not such a believer in organic. I really hate those pests, so I use Bayer Advanced systemic pest control often, and it works well. We also spray with an orchard spray purchased at Home Depot. The soap water works well for aphids. I use that a lot on my roses and peppers. No aphids.

I don't really get the square foot garden mixture. I don't think peat moss and vermiculite offer much in the way of nutrients, and in high concentrations are going to dry out fast. I've been filling my beds with what a local quarry calls "veggie mix", which I think is a mix of top soil and compost and maybe something else. But a reputable quarry in your area is going to provide the best soil mixture for growing, IMO. I top my beds off with it every couple years. Alternate years, I throw in composted steer manure, and I continually turn it into the clay soil underneath to get the mixture deeper and deeper every year. Rarely do I fertilize during the growing season, I only water every few days, even when temps get up in the 90's, and I get good results. When it comes time to top off your beds with new soil, I would really consider trying something different. You might find you don't have to water so much and will get better results.

Well....I'm hoping I did not get a little overzealous in my cleaning activities. Tonight I brought a bunch of new plants inside since it's going to be cold and very wet tomorrow. I peeked at the pepper to see how it was doing. I am on a 3rd floor balcony. Looking down on the leaves I thought that my leaves were full of holes! :-/ Upon further inspection, I was actually noticing several spots where the leaves had gotten thin and I was seeing the lights from the apts below mine. I don't know if this was as a result from the bugs, or from me lightly scraping all the bugs/carcasses/casings off using my fingernail, which may have allowed some soap to enter into the leave and damage it. Hmmmm.....hoping I didn't cut off my nose to spite my face here. We'll see what happens. Will post a picture in the next day or two.

unfortunately yes...a horrible flashback. as it turns out, those are eggs. insecticide soap was helpful in washing them off. the soap dehydrates them (see previous blogger). what's most important is to find out which insect is laying those eggs. i went from white pellets (eggs) to tiny black bead-like structures. careful, this gets out of hand quickly. after multiple, daily sprays (which can get expensive) i took some leaves in to various nurseries. interesting, the black beads transferred to my white paper towel and they/ i was able to suddenly see tiny red spiders/ mites moving around. they all advised chemicals (sevin or malathlion) and although i purchased them as a backup, decided to make one more try and ordered a garden pack of beneficial insects (for full coverage. it was that bad. nearly lost several plants). most of the ladybugs flew off, however some stayed and worked on the mites allowing the greenwing larvae to hatch. the nemotodes were watered in and the beneficials for whiteflies worked it's magic (it was like a domino effect). i have to say, that i spent much less in comparison for the multitude of sprays i invested in and "all" of my plants look great (i was sure i would lose my rarest). of all the insects, the green lace larvae was the most effective. they're still flying around the plants. they're tiny and non-bothersome. take that from a no bug tolerance type person. it's best to try the beneficials first as chemicals kill good and bad insects and will inhibit the effectiveness of the beneficials. you'll be amazed. i was. as it stands, the chemicals are still stored in my garage, unopened. here's the link i ordered from. they were realiable and guaranteed delivery of live beneficials. i found them to also have the best prices. good luck and let us know how it works out. http://www.buglogical.com/index.asp great site by the way.