[dmforcier]

Hornworms suck down peppers like little green black holes. Yes, peppers do get aphids -- wherever there are aphids. And yes, they do get all (most?) of the diseases that tomatoes do.

There are three major differences that I can think of: 1) the stems of peppers are more woody (lignitic?), 2) the leaves have a smoother, almost waxy surface, especially the upper, and 3) the capsaicin content, if any, protects the pods from the depredations of mammalian varmints. (Birds can't taste capsaicin.)