Creepy crawlies on my bell pepper?

TexasTycoon · April 29, 2016

Bugs are out in full force with the heat and rain we're getting, so expect more posts like this from me.

Can anyone identify these larvae found under my California a wonder bell pepper leaves? Also pictured is the top of a leaf showing how they are affecting the plant, not to mention blossom drop.

TexasTycoon · April 29, 2016

Cropped tighter to zoom in a bit

Worth1 · April 29, 2016

Kelly I am going to start looking at your questions all of the time.
I didn't notice no one answered this for you.
It is a mealy bug kill kill kill.

Worth

TexasTycoon · April 29, 2016

I thought maybe but it doesn't have that powdery appearance? We had mealybugs last year that killed our sage and this looks a little less fuzzy/powdery. Also what about the second picture? They're hard to see but there are these little skinny squirmy bugs. I'll circle them, hang on

TexasTycoon · April 29, 2016

Circled in orange

Worth1 · April 29, 2016

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasTycoon

Circled in orange

The first one is a mealy bug and the second looks like a leaf miner looking for a mine.

TexasTycoon · April 29, 2016

That makes sense since I know I have leafminers on the hollyhocks. Dangit. Ordering some yellow sticky traps like Marsha suggested soon.

Worth1 · April 29, 2016

If has been a bad year for bugs and everything else.

Worth

TexasTycoon · May 4, 2016

After seeing more and more of those little squiggly guys and no leafminer damage to the leaves (and more and more dropped blossoms) I think I figured it out...I think it's thrips. I'll upload some more pictures in a minute to see if anyone can confirm.

ginger2778 · May 4, 2016

Thrips are attracted to the blue sticky traps. Kelly, you do not want thrips, they spread viruses. Heartbreak if you raised them from seed.

TexasTycoon · May 4, 2016

I didn't raise it from seed, the plant was bought at our favorite local nursery. When I look at the pictures of thrips on this page (https://www.plantvillage.org/en/topics/pepper-bell) and compare with the picture above where I circled the bugs, they look pretty similar. I didn't manage to get good pictures of them tonight but those clusters of black dots are on lots of the leaves...thrip eggs maybe? The plant looks shiny because I sprayed it with a diluted permethrin insecticidal soap.

AlittleSalt · May 4, 2016

Kelly, I had no clue as to what they were. Everyone who had mild winters this year will be chiming in about extra bugs in the garden this growing season.

I had two big healthy looking pepper plants until yesterday. Grasshoppers ate them into. It looked at lot like cutworm damage does but it was eaten off a foot or so high. I sprayed insecticide this evening and there were large grasshoppers everywhere. They're already the size they get to by mid-June.

April 29, 2016	#4
TexasTycoon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Round Rock, TX, Zone 8b Posts: 1,157	I thought maybe but it doesn't have that powdery appearance? We had mealybugs last year that killed our sage and this looks a little less fuzzy/powdery. Also what about the second picture? They're hard to see but there are these little skinny squirmy bugs. I'll circle them, hang on __________________ -Kelly "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn Bloom where you are planted.

April 29, 2016	#7
TexasTycoon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Round Rock, TX, Zone 8b Posts: 1,157	That makes sense since I know I have leafminers on the hollyhocks. Dangit. Ordering some yellow sticky traps like Marsha suggested soon. __________________ -Kelly "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn Bloom where you are planted.

May 4, 2016	#11
TexasTycoon Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Round Rock, TX, Zone 8b Posts: 1,157	I didn't raise it from seed, the plant was bought at our favorite local nursery. When I look at the pictures of thrips on this page (https://www.plantvillage.org/en/topics/pepper-bell) and compare with the picture above where I circled the bugs, they look pretty similar. I didn't manage to get good pictures of them tonight but those clusters of black dots are on lots of the leaves...thrip eggs maybe? The plant looks shiny because I sprayed it with a diluted permethrin insecticidal soap. __________________ -Kelly "To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow." - Audrey Hepburn Bloom where you are planted.

April 29, 2016	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Kelly I am going to start looking at your questions all of the time. I didn't notice no one answered this for you. It is a mealy bug kill kill kill. Worth

May 4, 2016	#10
ginger2778 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10 Posts: 9,283	Thrips are attracted to the blue sticky traps. Kelly, you do not want thrips, they spread viruses. Heartbreak if you raised them from seed.

May 4, 2016	#12
AlittleSalt BANNED FOR LIFE Join Date: May 2014 Posts: 13,333	Kelly, I had no clue as to what they were. Everyone who had mild winters this year will be chiming in about extra bugs in the garden this growing season. I had two big healthy looking pepper plants until yesterday. Grasshoppers ate them into. It looked at lot like cutworm damage does but it was eaten off a foot or so high. I sprayed insecticide this evening and there were large grasshoppers everywhere. They're already the size they get to by mid-June.