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Finding hole in bonnets

Tybo

Tybo

Yesterday evening I noticed a small hole in one of the small MOA bonnets.  My wife and I inspected the entire plant and couldn't find any pests.  I picked the pepper and cut it open but didn't find any pests at all.  This morning we looked at the plant again and sure enough another young pepper has a hole in it.  
 
Any idea what culprit is causing this any what might I spray with to put a stop to this?  
 
We had aphids a while back but a couple sprays of neem seems to have taken care of them.
 
Here is a pic of the bonnet still on the plant.  
 
IMG_1825.JPG
 
Pepper maggots? Check if you see any green worm, maybe not so easy to spot it, it blends in the green of the plant.
 
Pepper maggots!  Oh that sounds gross.  Especially since I ate the pepper after looking for anything suspicious.  Hopefully these pepper maggots are big enough to see good.
 
I am on the other side of the planet and upside down so not sure of the pests you get over there, but a hole like that over here would be from a caterpillar eating it's way out of your pepper.
 
bob65 said:
I am on the other side of the planet and upside down so not sure of the pests you get over there, but a hole like that over here would be from a caterpillar eating it's way out of your pepper.
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The bonnet in the pic is only about 3/4" long (~19mm).  Would the caterpillar be in a pepper that new and small?
 
I appreciate the help from the other side of the planet but looking at things upside down might make it difficult!  I have been known to see things sideways and get it all wrong:)
 
rghm1u20 said:
Pepper maggots? Check if you see any green worm, maybe not so easy to spot it, it blends in the green of the plant.
Click to expand...
 
I went back and double checked the plants and couldn't find any worms.  I did see some small dark brown or black beetles that I assume are flea beetles but I don't think they eat holes in the fruit? 
 
Tybo said:
 
The bonnet in the pic is only about 3/4" long (~19mm).  Would the caterpillar be in a pepper that new and small?
 
I appreciate the help from the other side of the planet but looking at things upside down might make it difficult!  I have been known to see things sideways and get it all wrong:)
Click to expand...
 
 
Yes they could be in one that small, have seen it here.
 
juanitos said:
open the pod is there something inside?
 
yea caterpillars sometimes eat a whole in them.
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I did slice the pod open.  Nothing unusual, just placenta and a few seeds.  
 
floricole said:
slug
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Don't think so.  I don't see any slime trails leading up to the grow bags or going up the sides or on the plants.
The only pests I have seen so far are small dark beetles which may be flea beetles and some aphids.  Nothing else.
 
Still seeking help with this problem.  I found another hole in a MOA bonnet a little while ago.  This is the only bonnet I have at this time with fruit.  I started it back during the winter in my kitchen.  
 
I do have Datil plants with peppers but none have holes in them.
 
I have found 3 pods so far with holes.  Only 1 hole per pod and at the top.  I cut open each pod and didn't find any critters in any of them.
 
Bob65 mentioned a caterpillar eating it's way out of the pod so I did a quick search online and only came up with 2 possibilities: the pepper maggot or the pepper weevil.  I have found some small dark colored beetles that I assumed were flea beetles.  Here is what I found:
 
Tiny black-snouted beetles are only 1/8 of an inch long; they can cause a great deal of damage. Adult weevils feed on the foliage and lay eggs in the buds of immature pepper pods. When the eggs hatch, the larvae eat through the buds or fruit.  This may be a good possibility.  
 
Any more ideas or experience with this is needed.  This is my first year trying bonnets and I hate to have a failure crop.
 
That looks like earwig damage, to me. Too many pods from my harvest these past few years have shown that exact situation. That's even the preferred point of entry.

In my experience, they seem to prefer Chinense over annuums. (Could just be that they tend to congregate in my Chinense bed more often, due shade and other factors..?) I was finding holes like that and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. I would sometimes find what appeared to be bugshit inside the pods. My first clue as to what was causing it was, I would harvest some peppers, toss them in a bag, and then find a live earwig in the bag, with at least one pod showing that telltale hole drilled into it. That's when I started to suspect it, but I eventually saw one emerge directly from the hole.

It frustrates me a lot more than a lot of other pests bc they don't even seem to be really into eating the chiles. They mostly seen to be using them as shelter. They just chew an entrance into the pepper, camp out inside for awhile, and sometimes take a shit before they leave....

Hth
 
I had one pepper plant last season that almost all the peppers had a hole in them and began to rot.

In the beginning it was like yours, no signs of the culprit.

By late summer and harvest time I statered finding little Caterpillar or worm like pests inside the damaged pods.
 
solid7 said:
Birds or rodents.  Both have been known to do this.  Any leaf damage?
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In the 3 pods that I have found holes, they were uniform in size and in the same location.  (see top pic)
I don't think a bird or rodent would be so uniform.
 
Yes there is some leaf damage.  Mostly some holes in the leaves and some of the leaf edges gone.  (I took pics but evidently due to technical difficulties with verizon I can't get them to post at this time) 
 
Bicycle808 said:
That looks like earwig damage, to me. Too many pods from my harvest these past few years have shown that exact situation. That's even the preferred point of entry.

In my experience, they seem to prefer Chinense over annuums. (Could just be that they tend to congregate in my Chinense bed more often, due shade and other factors..?) I was finding holes like that and couldn't figure out where they were coming from. I would sometimes find what appeared to be bugshit inside the pods. My first clue as to what was causing it was, I would harvest some peppers, toss them in a bag, and then find a live earwig in the bag, with at least one pod showing that telltale hole drilled into it. That's when I started to suspect it, but I eventually saw one emerge directly from the hole.

It frustrates me a lot more than a lot of other pests bc they don't even seem to be really into eating the chiles. They mostly seen to be using them as shelter. They just chew an entrance into the pepper, camp out inside for awhile, and sometimes take a shit before they leave....

Hth
Click to expand...
 
I have seen a few earwigs around but not near the peppers.  Guess it's possible though.
I know they like to hang out in lawn and garden debris so what is a good treatment to get rid of them?
 
Whatever this culprit is it seems to just like making a hole and nothing else unless there are eggs in there I can't see even with my magnifying glass!  Nothing is eaten but where the hole is!
 
Masher said:
I had one pepper plant last season that almost all the peppers had a hole in them and began to rot.

In the beginning it was like yours, no signs of the culprit.

By late summer and harvest time I statered finding little Caterpillar or worm like pests inside the damaged pods.
Click to expand...
 
So did this spread to other peppers or just remain on the one plant?
 
And did you do anything about it?
 
Tybo said:
 
So did this spread to other peppers or just remain on the one plant?
 
And did you do anything about it?
Click to expand...
It stuck to one plant of 4 for about 2 mos.

I didnt do anything but pull the rotten pods as I found them.

By late season I found a couple peppers on adjacent plant that was effected.

Pods were bell pepper shape, but jalapeno flavor.

Dolce something I think.
 
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