Every year, I attempt to grow peppers, but I encounter a recurring issue where the new growth is destroyed. The increased rainfall this year has likely caused overwatering. When I examine the underside of a leaf, I don’t see an obvious aphid infestation like the ones commonly found in Google searches for “aphid infestation” However, there are definitely some small critters present. Should I treat for these? The underside of the leaf is shown in the video.
by nplattii
5 Comments
https://preview.redd.it/lt8ne0yi2uvg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9671c751017f1fe601962f2951207c7415c63e38
Here is an image of an entire plant for context.
It looks more like some kind of thrips, or mite, rather than ye good ole’ aphid. I wouldn’t want them on my plants anyways, so my suggestion would be to treat them like you would with any other pest: Squish the ones you can see, and then do some soap water or neem oil (or something similar) treatment.
Thrips would be my guess. Lost Coast or Sufoil-X.
I think the fast ones are actually predatory thrips. They eat the pest thrips.
Neem oil neem oil neem oil!
Doesn’t matter much what the problem is. Neem oil is the natural solution.