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Old July 23, 2017   #27
b54red
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
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Originally Posted by Starlight View Post
A learned lesson for next year from you. Next year I will prune my bells. I got some sweet peppers, but not as many as I hoped. I pulled off the ripe ones, finally got some ripe, and now shaded plants are growing again.

What really made me sad as I didn't notice til too late, that the hornworms made major destruction of the pepper plants. They ate leaves and peppers like crazy. My fault as with the plants being in shade, I didn't have to water them very often and was too busy killing hornworms on the tomatoes and saving them.

I think next year, I might also do a set-up like RedBaron's. Instead of just shade on top, will cover the sides too. Darn pests will be back next year like always and this time maybe I'll be ready for them.

Maybe since the hornworms did some major pruning, I'll have some bigger plants. I can see new leaf growth and more blooms coming on, so hopefully I'll have plenty by the time frost comes.
Are you sure it was hornworms on your bells? There is a foliage worm that gets on almost anything and feeds first from the bottom of the leaves and it can leave bell peppers almost nude if not stopped quickly. The first thing you notice with these worms is a thinned spot on the leaves and usually lower on the plant at first. If you turn the leaf over and look close you can see hundreds of tiny and I do mean tiny worms but in a few days they will grow and eat like goats. They will eventually when they are larger feed on the fruit also. I have had them so far this year on my squash, beans, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Bt if applied when they are small will usually slow them down and sometimes stop them but if they get bad I will use Sevin which will wipe them out in a half hour. They are voracious feeders and you have to keep an eye out for them because they grow so fast and spread like wildfire if you leave them to their business for more than a couple of days.

Bill
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