My tepin and hawaiian sweet hot are loaded with buds, but every time one blooms.. a day or two later it starts turning brown.. eventually falls off stem and all. I noticed these really tiny tiny almost caterpillar looking bugs that crawl out of the flowers, but couldnt find anything about them anywhere. their front half is dark red and back half is dark grey/blackish. Closest thing I could find was thrips.. but these bugs seem a lot smaller and dont look like they have the little wing things. been spraying plants with dish soap and daves insanity sauce mixture, which kills the bugs if it touches them but they keep comin back. If its not the bugs, maybe lack of phosphorus? I admit, I used miracle grow, not knowing any better.. but they seem to have grown fine, only problems the flowers. I'll try to get pictures if necessary.
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bloom browning
- Thread starter Chilli Child
- Start date
Chilli Child said:
If they look like this - or similar but with an orange/red section - then don't kill them, they're ladybug larva.
Otherwise, it's normal for some buds and flowers to drop if conditions aren't quite right for fruit set.
Is there any other damage to the plant?
I think they're thrip larvae.. look very similar but I haven't seen any adults. Very little leaf damage.. it's seemed to stop since I've been spraying but there's a massive blister beetle infestation here. Not good for my tomatos apparently.