pests Pepper Pests!

[Wicked Mike]

Also, yellow sticky traps can be very helpful with certain pests, like whitefly and fungus gnat, and whitefly absolutely hate reflective mulch.

 

[solid7]

Also, yellow sticky traps can be very helpful with certain pests, like whitefly and fungus gnat, and whitefly absolutely hate reflective mulch.

 
What do you do when the plants get taller?  I had semi-good luck with reflective mulch (i.e., aluminum foil) until the plants got over 2 feet tall, and then it seemed absolutely ineffective against whitefly.

 

[Wicked Mike]

Try rolling it into a cone around the trunk and suspending it from the lowest branches with string or wire.

 

[solid7]

Try rolling it into a cone around the trunk and suspending it from the lowest branches with string or wire.

 
Not a bad thought.  I've not had very good luck with the DE.  I have a 50# bag of food grade DE in my garage... but you know what happens to it when it gets wet.  And you know what Florida is like in the summer.  My only fear with the foil cone, would be the ants using it as a conduit.  I can just imagine opening it up one day, to find scale or root aphids being farmed underneath it.  That would be horrific...