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What's killing my stems

I noticed the stem of the peppers on my reaper and white fatalli have been drying out and shrinking. Today when I went out to take pictures it has spread to the top of the main stem of my purple ufo. I used to have a terrible aphid infestation but I got it under control a month ago. Is it a nutrient deficiency, because they are potted in small pots.
http://imgur.com/a/phguv
 
I've seen my plants do that once, but it was in response to aphids. If the weather changed enough I could see that they might drop pods though.
 
Thanks, was hoping it wasn't snails, they killed my last years grow by eating all the leaves. What do you think is the best way to get rid of them. Tried a lot of ways last year but there was too many.
 
Houston we have peppers said:
Thanks, was hoping it wasn't snails, they killed my last years grow by eating all the leaves. What do you think is the best way to get rid of them. Tried a lot of ways last year but there was too many.
 
     Keep your plants pruned to that there is no foliage touching the ground or close enough to it so that rain or heavy pods might make the branches/fruit bend down. Also, I've heard that putting a couple of wraps of copper wire around the stem will discourage slugs and snails from crawling up the main stem. 
     Do these and there's no way for slugs to make their way into the canopy.
 
That bigger stem in the top picture looks to me as though something has been eating on it, and whats with the big holes in the leaves? You may have another bug problem. You may want to put a thin layer of food grade Diatomaceous Earth on top of the soil to stop bug traffic.
 
I'm pretty sure the holes in the plant are from when I had a horrid aphid infestation a month ago. I over watered them when they were sproutlings and the soil was perfect for aphids to take hold there. Haven't noticed the flies since a spider took up living over the plants. Anyways I'll pay more attention to the holes to see if new ones are appearing.
And to the snail problem I'll try the beer in a cup trap to see if it is snails again. Last year every morning I would wake up to at least 20 snails on a plant.
 
Hybrid Mode 01 said:
 
     Keep your plants pruned to that there is no foliage touching the ground or close enough to it so that rain or heavy pods might make the branches/fruit bend down. Also, I've heard that putting a couple of wraps of copper wire around the stem will discourage slugs and snails from crawling up the main stem. 
     Do these and there's no way for slugs to make their way into the canopy.
^^^ What HM01 said.
I sprinkle Sluggo on the ground around my Hostas and wet the ground for the same reason.
They eat it and it makes them not want to eat anymore because of the iron and they die off.
 
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