It is very painful to wake up one day and discover bite marks from some common pepper pests on your peppers or pepper leaves. It hurts. Nobody loves that. So the first question that comes to mind when a farmer or gardener sight this kind of situation is always: What is eating up my pepper and pepper’s leaves at night while I sleep?
My Experience With Common Pepper Pests
I know you have seen or experience this before, right? Yeah, I know. I have experienced it too. In 2023, I lost almost 30 stands of my chili pepper to common pepper pests. It was so annoying recording this huge loss after putting in the time, money and long days of labor in my farm only to have some tiny creature eat them up.
Just like you, I was confused and couldn’t tell what was eating up my plant at the beginning. But as time progresses and I began to observe my farm closely, I discovered the possible culprits and also found out they were actually common pepper pests that attcks and eats up pepper. Not just that, I also found out how to prevent or eliminate them. So, I no longer ask: What is eating up my pepper and pepper’s leaves at night while I sleep?
In this article, I will be revealing to you what this common pepper pests or culprits are and how I prevent or entirely eliminate them from my farm. Let’s go!
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1. Horn Worms:
Hornworms are one among dozens of other common pepper pests or culprit eating up your pepper and pepper’s leaves. This worm is wicked and can destroy your entire pepper plant a few days. It is a caterpillar. It is called Hornworm because of the horn like stuff at the end of their body.
It doesn’t eat up only pepper; it also feasts on tomatoes and cabbage. It focuses on the edge of your crop leaves and eats your crop leaves from the top downward.
It is not scared of you and what you can do as it leaves an evidence of it black droppings saying: I am Hornworm; I eat your crop leaves and even pooped on it. Do your worst”.
Well, hornworm has dared you to do your worst. Now, let me tell you what to do.
Remedy for Hornworm:
Pick them by their horn off your plants and crush them with your toe. It sounds funny right? But this is the best organic way to control hornworms. If your pepper farm is big, you can introduce predatory insects such as ladybugs. Ladybug feeds on their eggs, and predatory wasps will feed on the grown hornworms.
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2. Beetles
When I lost about 30 plant of my pepper in 2023, Beetles were the highest common pepper pests contributor to my loss. They don’t just eat pepper leaves, they much away on it.
How do you know if its beetles that are eating up your crop:
You will find tiny holes on scattered all over your pepper plant. They are not focused. So, instead of eating just one part of the leaves, they jump around boring tiny holes on all parts.
Remedy for Beetles:
Get a bucket of water, add some detergent to it and spray it on your pepper plant. Beetles just like other popular garden pest dislike soapy water.
3. Cutworms:
Whenever you notice an overnight damage to your pepper plant, think of Cutworms as one ofcommon pepper pests or culprit. It is a night worker. It is always active at night when you are busy sleeping and disappears in the morning before you could come to your garden.
How do you know that Cutworms are destroying your plant:
They focus on the stem of your plant and munch away. So, whenever you come to your farm or garden and find your pepper plant falling over, cutworm is the culprit. It can also feed on the root and the leaves of your pepper plant.
How to stop Cutworms from damaging your crop:
Just like other garden pest, handpicking cutworms is the best remedy to use. But if major area of damage is your plant stem, you could consider creating “plant collars” for the stems of your plants with either a cardboard, foil, or plastic to create a small collar for your vulnerable peppers. Most importantly, weed your farm.
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4. Snail & Slug
Snail is a major common pepper pests or culprit of garden destruction. It is gladly followed by it younger brother: the slug. In fact, they’re usually the first pest to come to mind. Their focus is always on young seedlings. They love to much on very tender leaves.
How do you Know that Snail or Slug are Destroying Your Crop?
Once you see slime trail in your garden, on your pepper leaves or large, ragged holes in leaves or fruits. Slugs or snails are to be blame.
How to Stop Snail or Slug from Damaging Your Crop:
Snails are edible. So, you can handpick at night and rear for consumption. As for slugs, find some coffee or caffeine and spray around your farm or garden. You can also try creating a simple beer trap by burying a cup or can in the ground and filling it with beer. The slugs and snails will be attracted to the yeast in the beer and will crawl in, only to drown. There are also snail and slug bait you could buy. They are rich in phosphate which is naturally toxic for snail and slug.
5. Earwig
Earwig just like cutworms are active at night and hides during the day in small crevices or under your garden mulch. It is one common pepper pests that lover eating up tender fruits and leaves. They are one of the worst nightmares of every gardener or farmer.
How do you know that Earwig is destroying your crop?
You will see small tiny ragged holes in leaves or on your pepper. Just like that of caterpillars.
How to Stop Earwig from Damaging Your Crop:
Dispose all old and decaying materials around your farm like old mulch.
Beyond the solutions I have mentioned above, here are six basic approaches you can use to detect and control pest in your farm or garden:
6 SURE WAYS TO DISCOVER & TREAT COMMON PEPPER PESTS WHAT THAT ARE EATING YOUR PEPPER PLANT AT NIGHT.
1. Visit your Garden Often:
Visiting your garden often is a sure plug way to scare away common pepper pests. Pest and other crop destroyers are always scared and mindful of human presence. Early detection of pest is one best way to prevent nighttime pest and this is only possible to achieve when by being present in your garden and reacting to pests quickly before they have time to multiply.
2. Be observant:
Being observant while in your garden is one of the easiest ways to find out what common pepper pests might be feeding on your plant. So, when next you are in your farm, inspect your crop, dust them and look under the leaves. I love this because it is a nonchemical method of plant protection and pest management which reduce or eliminate the need to spray.
3. Identify the pest:
Now that you have seen what common pepper pests eating up your crop, it is time to identify them. Note that seeing is not same as identifying. You should be able to say what type of pests that attack plants and understand the pest biology. This will help you determine scouting methods, equipment selection, timing, and other pest management solution to apply.
4. Assess Volume of Damage:
How many of your pepper plant did these common pepper pests eat, and what is the level of damage? You should know this. Then, use thresholds to determine if action is necessary. For small garden, isolating and applying remedies to affected plant might be all you need to do. For large farmer, there some more question to answer after the one above especially if you are looking at applying chemical solution. So, will the plant survive? Will yield decrease or will the appearance be compromised beyond your threshold level? Here are some questions you must answer.
5. Implement your Solution:
Now that you are done with your assessment, apply the right solution that will work for your farm.
6. Evaluate Outcome:
Once you have implemented your solution, evaluate your solution performance to determine effectiveness of your decision and make changes if needed. Keep records of pest problems and actions taken this will help you make an informed pest management decision in the future.
OTHER COMMON PEPPER PESTS NOT COVERED ABOVE:
1. Aphids
Aphids is one of the most common pepper pests that gardeners deal with are aphids. These are small, soft-bodied insects that like to stick to the underside of your pepper leaves. The list of plants that are not impacted by aphids is pretty short. Peach aphids is the kind of aphids that mostly attack pepper.
2. Pepper weevil
This beetle feeds and lays eggs on pepper plants. This pest is always aggressive in their attitude toward chili peppers. In fact, they infest and destroy all known types of pepper. The mature beetles have long, curled, reddish-brown or black snouts, and their bodies are covered with yellowish-colored hair.
3. Spider Mites
Spider mites typically reside on the undersides of plant leaves, where they can create protective silk webs and pierce plant cells to feed. Spider mites are very common but most of us don’t notice them until we start to see symptoms or delicate webs around your pepper plants, particularly the leaves and stems.
The Best Insecticide for Pepper
- Belt Expert Insecticide
- Neem Oil
- Laraforce Insecticide
- Confidor Insecticide
- Tihan Insecticide
CONCLUSION:
Have you seen any of these common pepper pest in your garden before? Which one was it? How did you handle it? What level of damage has it done before you discovered them? Tell me in the comment section below. I would love to read from you.
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