Last autumn, I had a problem with my capsicums (green bell peppers.)
In some, there was a small hole, perhaps half- centimetre or so diameter. Seeming to lead to shrivelling at a small fruit size.
Cutting one open revealed something that looked rather like a slug. It was already dead at that point. It was larger than the hole, so I figure that it bored in, and then grew for awhile inside.
This happened on at least half of the capsicums.
Was that really a slug? And, thus, would regular anti- slug measures ("Slug-go," etc) prevent this? Or was it something else?
il Fri, 17 Dec 2004 03:49:52 -0600, Auntie Em ha scritto:
nah, too many. 100 centimetres (cm) in a metre (m) a 1000 millimetres (mm) in a metre. so that makes ... ummm... er... 5 mm! a tad smaller than 50. Did you know builders don't use cm's? They just go from mm to m .
After all the discussion regarding measurements, there doesn't seem to be an answer given. As there were half a dozen sweet peppers in my garden with the same issue, I was hoping someone would answer.
il Mon, 20 Dec 2004 11:33:26 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@pmug.org (Glenna Rose) ha scritto:
The only way to really know is to let a slug grow. I had larvae wandering around my ceiling and into my dry food. It was by looking at the parents that I realised I couldn't be so tolerant of moths coming in at night. (That and using jars rather than packets).
So what flies around your garden? I've seen small slugs in sweet peppers, I suspect they get in at the flower stage, but I just wash then out if there's little damage. if you're in Aussie then your bugs are different to ours (nz) and the horrifically numerous critters in the americas. My Yates books talks of protecting from "slugs and snails and caterpillars"
Sounds like you are talking more about some kind of caterpillars?
The thing I found inside the capsicum did *not* look like a caterpillar. I am 95% sure that it was a slug or something related. It seemed to already be dead, so hard to tell details like antennae.
In addition to the bees, I have a few miscellaneous flies, a couple of small swarms of gnat-looking things (gone now, probably due to the weather), and a fair number of those white butterfly-type things. Those might technically be moths.
I had an actual holes in the capsicum itself (one in each affected fruit.)
I seem to recall an idea that slugs and snails refuse to cross a copper wire(?) So perhaps I should get some copper wire, and make a loose spiral around the base of each capsicum plant(?)
And maybe "Slug-go" in a circle around the inside edge of each container?
I am in NZ (Wellington.)
Yes. Last season was my first for gardening. Aside from this capsicum problem, my only other pests were Cabbage Loopers. I am expecting them to arrive again, and will try Spinosad (Yates brand "Success") as soon as I see the first one.
I have some slugs and snails around, but I'm not getting overrun or anything. I try to gently pick them up and re-locate them. I don't like killing things, so I am more concerned with repulsing them.
il Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:52:02 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer ha scritto:
Mine looked like larvae, The moth is a small non descript one, but common as muck. Caterpillars have legs, don't they? These were pale with a black mouth and tiny. I used to let them live when they came in but after I had all this wildlife crawling around the kitchen, I thought I'd have to be more particular.
Slug it is then.
Those whitefly have a small green caterpillar. Although the ones on dahlias tend to go pink or yellow to match the flower - or is it their diet...
Ok my list of bugs has: codling moth, bronze beetle, weevils (they like roses) as some that may fit the bill. Do the ones that eat tomatoes also eat peppers.
You'll have to go out with a torch in the wee hours of the night to see what is crawling over everything.
I suspect the slugs are branching out in their diet.
Crushed eggshells or gritty sand is what I heard.
yep, if you find slugs out on a wet day, they may be your culprit.
LOL a neighbour. Probably a bug blown over in the wind from Aussie. I'm in Hastings
So far this has been a rotten spring for hot weather plants! But some of my peppers are doing nicely under cover. I thought they were jalapeno but seem to be a variety of the yellow banana one I collected seeds off some years ago. Maybe they crossbred, or more likely I mislabelled the seeds.
"The most common cause of holes is heliothis attack, but eggfruit caterpillar and potato tuber moth can also cause them. Low temperatures at time of setting can cause splitting in the end of the fruit."
No idea what heliothis is. The info comes from Queensland
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