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pests Unidentified chilli pests

MrChilli

MrChilli

Hi all,

I am having a big problem with some unidentified pests on my young chilli plants. They are sap drinkers, extremely small (0.5mm-1mm) cream-coloured with two large eyes and two antenae. They almost look like eggs until you close up with a magnifying glass. I am assuming they are the larvae of something and I haven't seen whether or not they turn into a flying creatures, but they can multiply at a great rate of knots!! I've looked at fruit fly, aphids etc. and have googled images for chilli pests, but so far have not found anything like them. I live in South Africa and so it is possible that they are indigenous here. I'll try and get a picture of them and post, but in the meantime if anyone has any ideas I would most welcome them! I can google-image suggestions and let you know. The one thing that seems to stop, or slow them is "garden ripcord", of which the active ingredient is: Cypermethrin (Pyrethroid).

Thanks all in advance, and I'm glad I found this site for like minded chilli fans :-)
 
Howzit MrChilli!

What you are describing does sounds to me like White Fly. When they mature, they fly about like fruit flies but are much smaller and white. Look under the leaves or shake the plants and you will see them fly off. I am fighting the blighters at the moment here in Joburg and its a little tricky. They multiply fast and sit under the leaves. Making it quite difficult to spray them.

I am using Margeret Roberts Organic Insecticide. It works quite well and is out of the system in 48hrs. You just have to keep at it until the White Fly problem goes. You need to use a sprayer, its best to create a fine mist that catches the buggers as they fly off.

The damage is quite visible after a few days. They suck the sap from the leaves leaving holes in the leaves where they have been sucking.

Good luck, hope this helps!

PeriPeri
 
Thanks Guys, but it aint whitefly either! Whitefly is a scale type pest, and these blighters are more like whitefly without wings - look very similar. Problem is that I harvest and sell very hot chilli seeds, and these things can wipe out my seedlings very quickly. They also don't leave holes in the leaves, rather they just seem to suck the sap. The seedling often gets attacked at the base, then falls over and will die 99% of the time. I'll try take some pics tonight.

I also found a load of them on my wild rocket seedlings and sprayed them yesterday.

A bit off topic, but I have a couple of nice growing solutions on the web site if anyone is interested. www.mrchilli.co.za
 
Lol, what a coincidence. What's your name? I usually remember my customers. I have 2 Morouga Reds growing and a few Fatali's growing, but they are slow.
 
I sent you an email... Lourens... I bought from you last month lol I think I may even have given you the name of this site...

I have to say I have had miserable luck with Fatalii's. This is my second batch and still no luck. There's guys growing them in mid winter and here in native Africa we are struggling - lol - go figure!
 
OK all. I tried to upload pics, by following the help file, but I can't seem to find that elusive "upload" button. Perhaps clearer instructions would help newbies :)

Anyhow, here they are (linked, so I hope this works) - and it does!

If anyone can advise I would appreciate it. they are not whitefly, as whitefly larvae is like scale. they're also not aphids - unless I've spawned some gruesome hybrid!!

pests_0003_crop.jpg


These are all having fun on my rocket seedlings

pests_0008.jpg



the next one is on styrofoam

pests_0012.jpg


the next 2 are on match heads, so you get the idea of size..

pests_0014.jpg


pests_0020.jpg
 
Omri said:
Aphids, and one heck of a camera.
Click to expand...


I'm shocked... and very embarrassed :mouthonfire: I've google'd these many time before and they looked nothing like the same. Then I scrolled down a little more (stupid me always assuming the 1st few images are defacto!) and then they look the same. thanks guys.

Canon EOS550D - but with a poor lens (my nice L series got smashed up) and some nifty photoshop work :)

Thanks!
 
That's a REALLY impressive camera. nice. :)

As for the aphids, I would only use neem oil, and only by spray. after all, you are growing edibles.
 
megamoo said:
I just want to add that ahpids are horrible things. Good luck with exterminating them.
Click to expand...
They are extremely harmful, but quite innocent. if you put food in front of them, they'll eat it.
Ants that farm aphids, on the other hand, are pure evil.
 
Omri said:
They are extremely harmful, but quite innocent. if you put food in front of them, they'll eat it.
Ants that farm aphids, on the other hand, are pure evil.
Click to expand...

The ants that are everywhere in my garden don't farm aphids on any of my plants. For this I am grateful.
 
Funnily enough (and I guess REALL luckily) I don't get Aphids in the garden. If I take these infested plants outside they disappear - or maybe I just happen to have a garden full of Aphid eaters! I did build a Ladybug house by the chillies - on advice from another website. Perhaps the Ladybugs have moved in! I used to have big problems at my previous house with my Guava trees. they were always full of scale, which attracted the ants like crazy - and with it all the sooty mould!

Problem though with taking the plants outside is that I live in an area that is notoriously windy - all summer long, and the young plants really don't like this.
 
Hey Mr Chilli, The Bio range at lifestyle have neem oil... works well. And if you use it as a regular preventative... it keeps future aphid outbreaks in check.

Also, the way I understand it... to keep aphids in check, you need to keep the ants in check. They are the ones harvesting and maintaining the aphids. It's best to spray for ants around the perimeter of the chillies if possible. I did mine about a month ago and haven't seen an ant since... touch wood.

PS: Impressive macro pics... poor lense? Good enough for me!
 
PeriPeri said:
Hey Mr Chilli, The Bio range at lifestyle have neem oil... works well. And if you use it as a regular preventative... it keeps future aphid outbreaks in check.

Also, the way I understand it... to keep aphids in check, you need to keep the ants in check. They are the ones harvesting and maintaining the aphids. It's best to spray for ants around the perimeter of the chillies if possible. I did mine about a month ago and haven't seen an ant since... touch wood.

PS: Impressive macro pics... poor lense? Good enough for me!
Click to expand...

Hi PeriPeri I must look into Lifestyle - not sure if we have one near me - do you perhaps have any weblinks? There's a local (Hermanus) guy selling pure, cold pressed, Neem oil for R120 / litre - but this seems a little expensive to me... Also, does anyone have any info on how to apply the oil?

P.S - thanks for the pic complement, but I am a semi-pro photographer also, so I need good lenses :-)
 
You don't need a lot of oil. you need to dilute 5ml-10ml of oil in a liter of warm water and spray it on the plants. repeat the process once a day, and in little time the aphids will either leave on their own or stay and die. start with 5ml for a couple of days, and if that doesn't work, increase the dose. neem works mainly as a repellent, even though it kills insects. this is a good thing, because it will get rid of them all. just make sure you wash your chiles really good before you eat them.

Break a leg. :)
 
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