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Vegetable Gardening

Holes all over my pepper plant leaves

8 years ago

Hello guys, I started getting into growing vegetable/fruits around 6 months ago, I really have no prior experience in gardening other than your basic flower plants.

I have a single pepper plant which seems to be getting holes in the leaves, I have had this pepper plant for around 4 months but this issue only started happening last month, I don't know if bugs are causing the problem, We have had a lot of rain in the last couple of weeks but i don't think that would be causing the damage, I have some other plants including a small orange tree which seem to be unaffected.

I am hoping you guys can identify what is causing the problem with the pics i am posting, I am currently germinating some Caribbean Red Peppers and don't want them to have the same problem when i move them outside.

Featured Answer

daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

8 years ago

Could be flea beetle damage. They are pretty small (1-2mm) mostly dark colored bugs that hop around, and will hide out in the soil until conditions are right. Unless the populations are high, they really don't do serious damage to plants. Your peppers don't look that bad. They overwinter in soil and become active when it gets warm. If your pots are inside, that'll do it. Using unsterilized soil in pots is a good way to get them. You should look carefully at the pots and stir the soil gently to see if you can rouse any. If you don't want to use pesticides, sticky traps might help.

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Comments (7)

Denny Ulpierre
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I was thinking it could be slugs but i haven't seen any around and i also haven't seen any beetles, The plant has holes across most of the leaves so i imagine there must be several of them chewing on the leaves, I will check tonight and see if i can spot any.

I went out and bought some MiracleGro Slug Pellets and will soon find out if the problems are slugs or some other bug, For now the plant seems to be holding up and is producing several peppers, whatever the bastard that is chewing the leaves doesn't seem to care about the peppers themselves.
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Steve...we all need to be mindful that a certain amount of 'damage' to our plants is normal and expected. We should all learn to be tolerant of a few holes, spots, etc. And we need to become informed about these critters or pathogens that are causing the damage. The more we know, the better able we are to make responsible decisions. FOR EXAMPLE! Leaf cutter bees are very valuable native bees and are bushy pollinators. They are also solitary bees and don't build communal nests or hives. As a matter of fact, you'd be very hardpressed to be able to locate the nesting chambers of even one of these bees. I'm going to ask that our original poster adopt this attitude about this damage : "Oh look! We've got some leaf cutter bees somewhere nearby. How cool is that? " :-)
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Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
Flea beetles make large amounts of tiny holes. I do not think that is flea beetle damage.

You should keep scouting to see if you can catch the culprit.
Denny Ulpierre thanked Peter (6b SE NY)
Denny Ulpierre
Original Author
8 years ago
I think i found the culprit, Can you help me identify what this is?

I also saw this which was near the plant but not on the leaves:
zzackey
8 years ago
Caterpillar. Very tiny one, but they can be just as destructive as the larger ones.
Peter (6b SE NY)
8 years ago
Bt (i.e. Thuricide) is a good treatment for caterpillars.
jean001a
8 years ago
Depending upon how many affected plants you have, search-and-destroy by squishing is a very satisfying activity.

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