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is this damage from a hole boring insect?

luvmesump3pp3rz

luvmesump3pp3rz

i noticed 2 pods with this same exact hole on the pod but it doesn't appear to go all the way through the wall of the pepper. does anyone recognize this damage? the area around the hole is spongy but the rest of the pepper is firm. i have read here about hole boring critters but can`t recall what the culprit is. is there an alien facehugger critter inside? 
 
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To my knowledge, blossom end rot always starts at the blossom end and then spreads.
 
I get a similar bug damage on my ripe Chichimeca jalapenos. Sometimes they eat a hole all the way though the wall. I think it's the roly polie bugs (pill bugs) even though they normally eat dead stuff.
 
A lot of my peppers this year had similar damage.  Some of them had a hole instead of just the mark like you show.  All were in the same general area, being at the top of the peppers.  Never any further down.
Some ideas on here were earwigs and pepper maggots. 
I cut open many and never did find any "critters" inside but I did find a web inside one of them.
I took several to my local agricultural co-op extension office and they said to them it appeared to be slug damage.  They thought the web was secondary with possibly a spider taking up residence in a convenient hole.  I was pretty sure I didn't have slugs because I never noticed any slime trails but there were some leaf damage I thought might be caterpillars (although I never saw them either).
I made a late night trip to the plants with a good flashlight and lo and behold I had slugs on and around the plants.  I bought some slug bait to scatter around and would go out again late night and find them eating the bait. I did pick off the ones I found on the plants and killed them but the bait worked after several days.
I haven't found anymore damage like that so slugs appear to have been the culprits.
Take a late night trip and look around.  They are kinda hard to spot at first, at least for me.  Old eyes I guess.
Good luck.
 
Tybo said:
A lot of my peppers this year had similar damage.  Some of them had a hole instead of just the mark like you show.  All were in the same general area, being at the top of the peppers.  Never any further down.
Some ideas on here were earwigs and pepper maggots. 
I cut open many and never did find any "critters" inside but I did find a web inside one of them.
I took several to my local agricultural co-op extension office and they said to them it appeared to be slug damage.  They thought the web was secondary with possibly a spider taking up residence in a convenient hole.  I was pretty sure I didn't have slugs because I never noticed any slime trails but there were some leaf damage I thought might be caterpillars (although I never saw them either).
I made a late night trip to the plants with a good flashlight and lo and behold I had slugs on and around the plants.  I bought some slug bait to scatter around and would go out again late night and find them eating the bait. I did pick off the ones I found on the plants and killed them but the bait worked after several days.
I haven't found anymore damage like that so slugs appear to have been the culprits.
Take a late night trip and look around.  They are kinda hard to spot at first, at least for me.  Old eyes I guess.
Good luck.
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I'm currently dealing with this ongoing issue as well. I caught an earwig inside one today.. But the hole was already there. I've been suspecting crickets or slugs. I've found a ton of leaf damage, as well as the holes which are always withing a half inch of the top of the fruits. I bagged some the other day and there definitely appears to be some small trails in the condensation on the baggie today. This really has me leaning towards slugs, as I find an unbelievable amount of them in the back yard. I also have no shortage of crickets.. Yet I rarely find one in the pots.
Also, all of this damage occurs in my back yard, and not on the driveway.

Note the trails
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The earwig
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Damage to foliage that may or may not be related
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I've done some "Googling" on this kind of damage.
 
The Internet has been know to lead me astray sometimes, but here's what I've gathered so far:
 
When you have a hole bored all the way through towards the top (stem) of the pepper, it can be pepper weevils.  They're actually boring out after hatching inside your pepper.
 
The Earwig/Pincher bugs will move in after the pepper weevils have broken out.  So, the Earwigs aren't the original pest causing the damage.
 
Controlling the pepper weevils is difficult.  By the time you see the damage, they are long gone.
 
If you're going to try to control them with an insecticide, you need to do it early in the year.  Once they're inside your pepper, the insecticides won't reach them effectively.
 
DontPanic said:
I've done some "Googling" on this kind of damage.
 
The Internet has been know to lead me astray sometimes, but here's what I've gathered so far:
 
When you have a hole bored all the way through towards the top (stem) of the pepper, it can be pepper weevils.  They're actually boring out after hatching inside your pepper.
 
The Earwig/Pincher bugs will move in after the pepper weevils have broken out.  So, the Earwigs aren't the original pest causing the damage.
 
Controlling the pepper weevils is difficult.  By the time you see the damage, they are long gone.
 
If you're going to try to control them with an insecticide, you need to do it early in the year.  Once they're inside your pepper, the insecticides won't reach them effectively.
Click to expand...
I'd consider this if the damage were always completely thru.. The problem is that, about half the time, it's not all the way thru and originates on the exterior of the pod, not the interior. Also, exiting borers leave a fairly consistent shape hole, in my experience with them. That and I have not caught one weevil in my yard this year. Flea beetles, crickets, slugs, wasps, aphids and ants are the bulk of what I see. I haven't ruled out armyworm either, but I feel like slug rings pretty true. You can't turn over a rock, board or pot in my backyard without finding them. 
Pepper weevils are pretty small too, and not very common this far north.. Also, I find little to no damage/waste on the actual interior of the pepper that would correspond with larvae living in there for a duration.
 
DontPanic said:
I've done some "Googling" on this kind of damage.
 
The Internet has been know to lead me astray sometimes, but here's what I've gathered so far:
 
When you have a hole bored all the way through towards the top (stem) of the pepper, it can be pepper weevils.  They're actually boring out after hatching inside your pepper.
Click to expand...
 
Did any research provide info on how the immature weevil got in?
 
CraftyFox said:
I'd consider this if the damage were always completely thru.. The problem is that, about half the time, it's not all the way thru and originates on the exterior of the pod, not the interior. Also, exiting borers leave a fairly consistent shape hole, in my experience with them. That and I have not caught one weevil in my yard this year. Flea beetles, crickets, slugs, wasps, aphids and ants are the bulk of what I see. I haven't ruled out armyworm either, but I feel like slug rings pretty true. You can't turn over a rock, board or pot in my backyard without finding them. 
Pepper weevils are pretty small too, and not very common this far north.. Also, I find little to no damage/waste on the actual interior of the pepper that would correspond with larvae living in there for a duration.
Click to expand...
 

If the hole is not all the way through, than it doesn't sound like pepper weevils.
 
Normally, pepper weevils would have a hard time with Wisconsin winters.  But, in recent years, commercial year-round green-houses have become so common that even Canada is having trouble with pepper weevils.
 
DontPanic said:
 
If the hole is not all the way through, than it doesn't sound like pepper weevils.
 
Normally, pepper weevils would have a hard time with Wisconsin winters.  But, in recent years, commercial year-round green-houses have become so common that even Canada is having trouble with pepper weevils.
Click to expand...
 
In all my time here, I've never seen a pepper weevil.  Hope to God you keep them wherever you have them...
 
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