I keep finding these tiny green worms under my pepper leaves.They don't seem to get bigger than a 1/4 of an inch and they have this really long red tentacle thing coming out of the rear end. There is a fake eye on the rear end too. I thought maybe a baby horn tomato worm at first but its proportions are totally different and the long tentacle thing is three times longer and has a little ball on the end. They are extremely smart and position themselves along the underside veins of the leaves and are almost completely undetectable.
Started picking off one or two a day and now I'm up to eight to ten a day, and they seem to be multiplying. Tried Soap, Water, and most Vegetable or Olive Base Cooking Oils mixed with poor results. Tied Garlic, Red Pepper, Olive Oil Mix with poor results. Tried Sulfar/Pyrethin also with poor results. Finally tried Neem Oil and thought I found the right thing since my plants seemed to tolerate the substance better on its leaves than anything I tried yet, and I only had one worm the following day. But now they seem resistant to that too.
They are only attacking my pepper plants and not my tomatoes or squash or cucumbers or anything else. Today was the first day they got onto my super hots. At first they seemed to be attracted only to the narrow leaf varieties of pepper plants. I really thought I was headed in the right direction until today. One ity bitty worm can do a lot of damage to a plant in one day. I don't know how they can possibly consume so much foliage.
I apologize I have not mastered photo attachments yet. I'm hoping someone on here has dealt with this little critter and has already come up with the best method of eradication (or just some efficient control). I really really am trying to change my ways, and not break out the malathion. So please help if you can.
Started picking off one or two a day and now I'm up to eight to ten a day, and they seem to be multiplying. Tried Soap, Water, and most Vegetable or Olive Base Cooking Oils mixed with poor results. Tied Garlic, Red Pepper, Olive Oil Mix with poor results. Tried Sulfar/Pyrethin also with poor results. Finally tried Neem Oil and thought I found the right thing since my plants seemed to tolerate the substance better on its leaves than anything I tried yet, and I only had one worm the following day. But now they seem resistant to that too.
They are only attacking my pepper plants and not my tomatoes or squash or cucumbers or anything else. Today was the first day they got onto my super hots. At first they seemed to be attracted only to the narrow leaf varieties of pepper plants. I really thought I was headed in the right direction until today. One ity bitty worm can do a lot of damage to a plant in one day. I don't know how they can possibly consume so much foliage.
I apologize I have not mastered photo attachments yet. I'm hoping someone on here has dealt with this little critter and has already come up with the best method of eradication (or just some efficient control). I really really am trying to change my ways, and not break out the malathion. So please help if you can.
