What's eating my pods?

[Scarlet Fire]

Went to go feed my plants today and found these damaged CGN 21500 pods on both of my plants. Most of my plants have yellowing lower leaves with some brown spotting on the edges, but that wasn't too surprising as I hadn't fertilized in 2 weeks. I couldn't find my spray bottle to apply neem oil, so I covered all the plants in diatomaceous earth for the time being.

None of my superhot pods have any of this damage, even though there are several adjacent to these plants. I wonder if their color made them a target since the rest of my peppers are all still green. Looks like some type of borer. Thoughts?

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

If there is not a worm inside do you have grasshoppers? I have also seen birds peck pods.

 

[Scarlet Fire]

If there is not a worm inside do you have grasshoppers? I have also seen birds peck pods.

No worms or anything foreign inside any of the peppers. I've personally never seen grasshoppers in the garden area, but it's a possibility. Birds might be a likely candidate since they only went for the small purple pods with habanero-level heat. Hmm...

 

[megahot]

. You might want to throw netting over your plants to help protect them more, you can take it one step further and treat your plants with natural pest spray using capsaicin/soap/neem. Maybe something was in your pods and left? Keep a good eye on your plants for anything suspicious

 

[Scarlet Fire]

I typically rotate diatomaceous earth and a neem/Dr. Bronner's solution week to week when dealing with pests. How do you suggest getting capsaicin in there? Brew some peppers, or just chop a couple up and throw them in the bottle? I would think chili powder might clog the spray nozzle.

 

[wayright]

I trained my Atlanta birds to pick me some off and bring it back!
Now I need to get more birds,I barely got any pepper!


Kevin

 

[Jetchuka]

Capsaicin will only work against mammals, not birds because they can't taste it. Not sure if it works against insects though.

 

[PepperWhisperer]

The only thing that works for birds is a net...or one of these

 

[poypoyking]

That looks like bird damage. If I cage my purple jalapenos I usually get some birds landing on the cage and peck my peppers a few times. If I just stake them they don't have a place to land so they get left alone.

 

[Scarlet Fire]

Oddly, my Purple Jalapeno is caged right next to these plants and has been untouched so far.

 

[StupidJerk]

Capsaicin will only work against mammals, not birds because they can't taste it. Not sure if it works against insects though.

Yeah, I have a feeling if it is eating peppers it doesn't mind capsaicin too much.