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Need Help Identifying a Pest on Pepper Plants

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Hi Everyone,

Some pests are affecting my pepper plants and I need some help identifying them. I was hoping for some help.

The pests are incredibly small. To the naked eye (with good vision), they look like they are just a tiny white dot. About a pinhole in size.
Under 40x magnification, they look like a semi-transparent white bubble. It looks like they have 6 legs plus two long antenna in the front. Because they are so tiny, they might have 8 legs.
The bugs move very fast given their size. There aren't many of them, but they are quite active when I find them--usually one or two at a time.
The bugs don't seem to fly away when you shake leaves. They don't appear to have wings.
I'm only seeing the pest on the top of the leaves--not on the bottom.
I'm seeing no sticky sap associated with aphids. I'm seeing no white pinholes in the plant leaves from spider mites, however the infestation might not be bad enough to see such symptoms.
The pest is damaging the tips of the leaves, but not so much the base of the leaves. I see white specs (possibly eggs) at the tips of the leaves on top.

I'd love to hear what kind of bug you think this is!

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Comments (4)

PRO
The Logician LLC
8 years ago
The front pair of legs of spider mites could appear to be antennae. You may have to refrigerate some and take a magnified photo for better ID. Applying horticultural oil or soaps will likely deter whatever it is.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years ago
I suggest that you remove some of the affected foliage, put them in a Ziploc bag and take them to your local county Extension office. Sounds like you need a knowledgeable expert on the end of a microscope.

As small as you indicate these things are, we can rule out aphids and thrips, both of which are easily seen by the naked eye. Spider mites or even the extremely minute eriophyid mite can cause that dimpling we see in the picture.
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So apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to the weather--we had another heat wave and the plants are heavily wilting in the afternoons. It's hard for me to say if the leaf damage is the result of the heat or the small bug--I'm guessing it's the heat. I'm going to keep watching this and see how things develop. I also looked up our County Extension office and might head over there as well.
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Thank you for the reply, sonni1. I think you are right, its summer and its just too hot and humid down here for these plants to stand a chance against the elements and pests. To be honest, i just moved into my first home in april and was SUPER excited to plant and grow things so i may have gotten a bit ahead of myself.. Like i said originally, i am new to gardening and i am starting to realize i started at the wrong time of the year. Given my zone (SE florida) at what time of the year should i start my peppers and tomato plants in order to have a successful outdoor yield? Right now i have about 8 pepper plants, 3 tomatoes and 2 fig trees. The figs are doing amazing, theyve grown a ton in the past couple of months and one of them has 16 figs and it is looking good to ripen, if weather plays. But i was really hoping to get some peppers and tomatoes, should i just kind of give up, save my sprays and fertilizer and restart the peppers and tomatoes again come august/September? Most of my peppers are from home depot, the smallest size (3$) but i also have some bell pepper and pepperoncini plants i started from seeds. And if i do "give up" for now, is it okay to leave the soil in the raised bed until later in the year? do i cover it, or just let it get rained and sun on it?
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newmexmike
Original Author
8 years ago
Hi Everyone, I appreciate the input. So apparently I wasn't paying enough attention to the weather--we had another heat wave and the plants are heavily wilting in the afternoons. It's hard for me to say if the leaf damage is the result of the heat or the small bug--I'm guessing it's the heat. I'm going to keep watching this and see how things develop. I also looked up our County Extension office and might head over there as well. Thanks again!
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
The curled leaf tip damage is similar to what you see with chilli thrips in the beginning and they do love peppers thus their common name. Chilli thrips are not to be confused with flower thrips which are much larger. Chilli thrips can barely be seen with a 10 power loupe. However, they don't look like a transparent bubble. While pale in color they are elongated in shape. Check out the link and see what you think.

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