Holes in Chilli leaves???

[rary]

Hi all,

Got back from a couple of days away to find two habeneros with same problem. Little green caterpillars about 3mm long eat holes like a shotgun has shot the leaves only affected my two habeneros (so far) out of 18 Chillis of various varieties. Has anyone got a suggestion to spray with something?

I have some holes on the leaves of my peppers and I have sprayed them with a diluted solution of water I had steeped garlic in and the same of water and added a squirt of liquid eco soap, the plant looks ok and have had no more holes in the leaves, evidently if anyone tries this they should try it out an a sacrificial plant first and I don't know if it will effect the taste of any crop.

[Jungle Jane]

I had holes & caterpillars on a couple of my my sweet pepper plant leaves last year,I didn’t do much just checked the leaves occasionally. They sometimes tunnel into peppers,when you see a little mark on the skin,you cut it open you’ll sometimes see a little caterpillar inside,they can be washed & eaten still,they don’t leave any germs. One of my peppers last year was getting a bit old in the kitchen,I cut it open to use it but there was an actual moth inside about to fly away,I didn’t eat that one the moth dust & cocoon blackness put me off.

[Mitzi]

I've got caterpillars on my overwintering chilli plants in two rooms. OH thinks I should chuck out all the plants. I might bin some but I'm emotionally attached to some of them. I was thinking cut them right back (removing all leaves), give them a good shower, and ferret around in the compost to look for pupae. Then put them all in one room (making space by throwing some out) to isolate them from seedlings, and keep a magnifying glass to hand to keep a close eye on any new leaves that grow.

Does that seem reasonable? Or do I really need to lose all my precious plants?

[Jungle Jane]

What about using some neem oil or something watered through the compost & over the leaves,no risk to other insects as they’re indoors,it would be a shame to lose the plants?

[Snoop Puss]

Me, I'd just squash every caterpillar that appeared on a daily basis till they stopped appearing. I'd be worried about removing all the leaves - the source of energy for plants - and wouldn't want to totally drench the soil either. Nothing to be gained by chucking them out.

How many caterpillars are we talking about?

[Mitzi]

Me, I'd just squash every caterpillar that appeared on a daily basis till they stopped appearing. I'd be worried about removing all the leaves - the source of energy for plants - and wouldn't want to totally drench the soil either. Nothing to be gained by chucking them out.

How many caterpillars are we talking about?

I don't know because they are very hard to see and I've only found two so far but there could be hundreds! The plants have gone from slightly tatty looking to shredded in a seemingly short period. I don't think I should worry about removing all the leaves because the caterpillars will do that all by themselves if I don't deal with them.

[annie8]

There are lots of expert chilli growers on this site that should be able to advise. Based on that I think you could cut back and remove most of the leaves. You could also repot into fresh compost if you though that might help. I’ve cut right back on the watering too.

[Scarlet]

What are the temps outside near you?
I would take them outside, repot, taking as much compost off the roots as possible.
And leave outside for the day, bring them indoors overnight and back out in the day. The cold should get rid of the live ones. A blast with the hose wouldn't hurt either.
Trimming them down now isn't a bad idea. I often do a prune in feb ( usually end of ) to give them a good shape and get rid of straggly growth.

But I'm not sure it's worth the risk of possible problems on your new plants right at the beginning of a season. It's a bit different if you are just trying to save your crop.

[Scarlet]

Can you post a photo of the plant and a close up of the leaf?

[Mitzi]

Here is a leaf and a caterpillar. The latter is about 1.5cm long.

[Mitzi]

Surely temperatures that are cold enough to kill caterpillars will also kill my chillies?

[Scarlet]

Well older plants can cope with cooler temps...just not freezing. They caterpillars are hatching due to the temperasure inside, I think messing around with their cycle - hot/cold etc would help and giving a blast with a hose should dislodge more than you would get indoors.

[veggiechicken]

Has anyone identified the caterpillar yet?

[Scarlet]

Tomato moth I think....so out of season

[Scarlet]

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...nts_94313.html

Worth a read - not sure if the link is still working

-# maybe not that one then! Just read the size of the caterpillar. Mitzi's is a bit too small...