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pests What pest is this?
- Thread starter B17Rex
- Start date
I have had some leaf damage, but what I have read on the hornworm, they tend to go for the foliage first. I don't have THAT much damage! I have gone over my plants top to bottom left to right and I do not seeing anything like a worm, caterpillar, or anything else like that crawling in the foliage. Are they active maybe in the middle of the night? Was super bummed as it was my first reaper pod that was ripening and looking forward to trying it. Oh well, I have plenty of other pods growing. One plant has upwards of 30 peppers on it already!!!
-Brian
-Brian
A grasshopper? And, yes, hornworms are active at night. Some people say you can see them glow in the light of a black light. You usually see their "frass" and their destruction before you see them. Look for black poo pellets lying on top leaves. If you see them, and snipped off stems, you've got hornworms. The bigger the worm, the bigger the pellets. I saw pellets 1/4" across yesterday. 
Never seen it that big before.
Never seen it that big before.So I went out early this morning to take a look, and yup. It is hornworm! Found this bugger on the underside of a leaf:
And people aren't joking when they say they can be hard to find! Going to go out tonight hornworm hunting. I am sure if there is one there are more. What are the recommendations to prevent them in the first place?
-Brian
And people aren't joking when they say they can be hard to find! Going to go out tonight hornworm hunting. I am sure if there is one there are more. What are the recommendations to prevent them in the first place?
-Brian
Bt. Powder, spray. Works for most caterpillars. If you find any with some white "rice-like" things on it, don't kill it. Leave it. They are the larvae of a parasitic wasp that's actually a caterpillar killer, eating it from the inside out. Talk about a horror flick! You can't make this stuff up!
i've heard that the moths try to lay one egg per plant, but idk if that's true.
i found only one hornworm in my garden. i wonder how the moth missed laying eggs on all my other plants. maybe predators ate the larvae when they were young?
anyway, the worm was feeding on my largest tomato plant, and i didn't even notice until it was at max size and just about ready to pupate. i kept it as a pet and ultimately let it turn into a moth. fed it sugar water even. they're like the insect version of a hummingbird.
not my video, but here's one eating:
cool creatures, but of course i didn't release it back into the wild.
here's pics of the one from my garden. i show the larva in 5th instar, pupa, and imago (adult moth):
i found only one hornworm in my garden. i wonder how the moth missed laying eggs on all my other plants. maybe predators ate the larvae when they were young?
anyway, the worm was feeding on my largest tomato plant, and i didn't even notice until it was at max size and just about ready to pupate. i kept it as a pet and ultimately let it turn into a moth. fed it sugar water even. they're like the insect version of a hummingbird.
not my video, but here's one eating:
here's pics of the one from my garden. i show the larva in 5th instar, pupa, and imago (adult moth):
nmlarson said:
Yeah that is what I am afraid of. I found another one this evening when I got home from work, so that is 2 for about 36 pepper plants so far. Going hunting here in a little bit now that it is dark. Gonna order some BT spray as well. Shocking when you walk outside and see entire leaves gone!
First year ever growing peppers (hell growing ANYTHING), so definitely learning as I go. Love the info from this forum.
-Brian