Holes in leaves

future_man · Jul 28, 2014

Some leaves on my Tondo picante peppers have holes in them, I don't have any snails on my balcony though. What is causing this problem? Maybe they are just from the heavy rain or something more searious? Also does the plant look healthy to you, I mean the leaves just look way too far from the stem...

geeme · Jul 28, 2014

The distance of the leaves from the stem is fine - don't worry about that.

Look very closely at the holes - are they actually holes you could, say, put a pencil tip through, or is the leaf skeleton visible within the holes? Either way I'd say you have some bug eating the leaves, but your answer to that question will help determine what it is.

future_man · Jul 28, 2014

geeme said:
The distance of the leaves from the stem is fine - don't worry about that.

Look very closely at the holes - are they actually holes you could, say, put a pencil tip through, or is the leaf skeleton visible within the holes? Either way I'd say you have some bug eating the leaves, but your answer to that question will help determine what it is.

You could definitely put something through, they are real holes but it is strange though as only this one plant has the holes other plants are okay and they are very close to eachother. I found a tiny spider on this plant though, could this be it?

Capsicum Select · Jul 28, 2014

future_man said:
You could definitely put something through, they are real holes but it is strange though as only this one plant has the holes other plants are okay and they are very close to eachother. I found a tiny spider on this plant though, could this be it?

Definitely not the spider. Maybe slugs. Has it been wet there?

geeme · Jul 28, 2014

Agree - not the spider. We got a small amount of hail along with thunderstorms last night and I found holes in some of the leaves of my plants today. However, they appear to be torn while yours do not, so I'm inclined not to think the rain did that to your plants. (Mind you, this isn't the first time leaves on my plants have been badly pelted, just pointing out the difference.) I am inclined to think bugs, probably of an easily-visible size (ie - not mites.) Wait until it's dark then go outside with a flashlight and see if you can find anything. If you don't find anything, try again very early in the morning, as well.

MiChris · Jul 28, 2014

I had a similar problem earlier this year. I lightly dug around in the soil (it is potted plant) and found a nasty looking cutworm. It was coming out at night (like geeme said), munching and then going back into the dirt by day.

future_man · Jul 29, 2014

MiChris said:
I had a similar problem earlier this year. I lightly dug around in the soil (it is potted plant) and found a nasty looking cutworm. It was coming out at night (like geeme said), munching and then going back into the dirt by day.

Yuck, I will look for bugs in the dirt. Thanks you all

grover · Mar 5, 2016

My Reaper plants are being eaten alive! Do these look like snails/slugs or cutworms? I'm ready to go to war.

hogleg · Mar 5, 2016

grover said:
My Reaper plants are being eaten alive! Do these look like snails/slugs or cutworms? I'm ready to go to war.

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I found and killed a hornworm that was eating a rocoto the other day. So that is a possibility too. First time I've seen one in winter.
And I thought it was snail damage for two weeks prior.

grover · Mar 5, 2016

I dug around in the soil and didn't see any worms at all. I think I'll put out a nice bowl of super tasty beer tonight and see if anyone wants to party until they die!

hogleg · Mar 5, 2016

grover said:
I dug around in the soil and didn't see any worms at all. I think I'll put out a nice bowl of super tasty beer tonight and see if anyone wants to party until they die!

Hornworm wont be in the soil, he'll be on the plant. They are VERY camouflage you have to go over the plant with a fine tooth comb.

Jase4224 · Mar 5, 2016

All of the above are typical moth/butterfly larvae holes. Pyrethrum can help keep their numbers down. Spiders and wasps are also your friends.

As mentioned above, it's good to look at night when they are most active. I find them by looking for their droppings and looking up from there to see where they are feeding from. Also check the top soil and under fallen leaves.

Green varieties tend to stay on the plant often under the leaves whilst brown varieties tend to head back to the soil and hide during the day, especially once they get larger.

Good luck!

grover · Mar 5, 2016

Thanks for all the help! I'll be going out there with a flashlight tonight.

Nightcrawler · Mar 5, 2016

My money is on this guy.

He'll do damage fast at night. You'll see him hiding on the leaves near the stem during the day, but he's tough to spot if you're not paying close attention. I had an army of them on my Sun golds last year, they tended to stay on one or two plants selectively.

rjacobs · Mar 5, 2016

Nightcrawler said:
My money is on this guy.

He'll do damage fast at night. You'll see him hiding on the leaves near the stem during the day, but he's tough to spot if you're not paying close attention. I had an army of them on my Sun golds last year, they tended to stay on one or two plants selectively.

I think I would light off a small nuke near my plants if I saw those. They look scary as hell, although I am sure they are like any other caterpillar and are fairly harmless overall.

TXCG · Mar 6, 2016

Nightcrawler said:
He'll do damage fast at night. You'll see him hiding on the leaves near the stem during the day, but he's tough to spot if you're not paying close attention. I had an army of them on my Sun golds last year, they tended to stay on one or two plants selectively.

They show up pretty bright under UV light. Hard to spot with just a regular flashlight since they are roughly the same color as the plant.

Not my video but example:

I picked up this UV flashlight ages ago for hunting scorpions and it works great for finding hornworms too. Only $12 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008133KB4

grover · Mar 6, 2016

BUSTED! Found the culprits - lots of them.

grover · Mar 6, 2016

I just left them a little beer. Hope they like it. Can't wait to see in the morning. :-)

Nightcrawler · Mar 6, 2016

TXCG said:
They show up pretty bright under UV light. Hard to spot with just a regular flashlight since they are roughly the same color as the plant.

Not my video but example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIJUsGcA4R4

I picked up this UV flashlight ages ago for hunting scorpions and it works great for finding hornworms too. Only $12 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008133KB4

Cool! Thanks for the idea.

Glad the op found his culprit, slugs love beer so raise a pint with them to send them off proper.