Sweet pepper leaves are all full of holes: who eats the crop and how to deal with pests

The appearance of holes on bell peppers grown in a greenhouse or open ground indicates pests. Some of them are capable of destroying crops in a short time. Thanks to timely identification of the problem and the use of effective methods of combating enemies of vegetable crops, dangerous consequences can be avoided. We’ll talk about how exactly in the article.

Holes appeared on pepper leaves

If the bell pepper leaves are all full of holes, who will eat them? Perforated leaves and fruits are evidence that the vegetable crop has been attacked pests. If caterpillars and signs of plant damage are detected, immediate action should be taken. In advanced cases, it will be difficult to deal with the problem.

Knowing the main signs inherent in individual types of pests will help you find out who eats bell peppers in your garden beds.

Slugs

The enemy of sweet pepper plantings is slug. This a land mollusk that visually resembles a snail without a shell. The pest's mouth contains many teeth (chitin), which it uses to grind food.

A plant damaged by a land mollusk determined by the presence of smooth round holes on the leaves and a eaten edge. Slugs It is also common to damage fruits: characteristic marks will be visible on them. Another sign of slug damage is white tracks on the leaves of pepper. They are formed by dried mucus left by the mollusk when moving.

Slugs prefer a nocturnal lifestyle. During the day they hide, burrowing 3 cm into the ground. They lay eggs there.

Reference. In the absence of conditions for reproduction, this enemy of sweet pepper will die. Slugs thrive at temperatures up to +25°C. They like moist soil and dense plantings.

Aphid

A common pest that affects bell peppers in garden beds is aphids. Plantings in open and closed ground suffer from it.

Peppers are susceptible to black and green aphids. The pest settles on the inside of the leaf. He eats fruits, leaves, and stems of the plant.

A number of signs indicate the presence of aphids:

• deformed and withered leaf blades;
• dry, round areas and the presence of holes on leaves and fruits;
• sticky sweetish coating on the leaf blade;
• black grains are sooty fungus.

Aphid bell peppers are affected due to improperly prepared soil in autumn or spring. The eggs of the pest overwinter under a layer of fallen leaves, and with the onset of spring warmth, females emerge from them en masse and lay eggs on plants. The peak of aphid attacks on sweet pepper plantings occurs in the first month of summer.

Colorado beetles

Among the enemies of bell peppers are the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. Orange eggs appear on both sides of the leaves in large numbers., which are laid by adults.

Important! They combat the problem using special purchased products. But the pest can adapt to chemicals and become insensitive to their effects, which complicates the fight against it.

If holes appear in the central part of the sheet plate - this means the larvae eat the pepper. Then the edges of the sheets become eaten. If no action is taken, the pest will leave bare petioles.

Cutworm caterpillars

More than a hundred varieties of cutworms can damage sweet pepper plantings. The enemy enters the garden in the form of an inconspicuous brownish or gray butterfly, on the wings of which there are kidney-shaped orange spots.

Caterpillar green scoops with a light green stripe on the side and transverse lines on the back. It appears on the surface only at night.

The armyworm eats vegetables in a similar way to other types of caterpillars.. It eats away at the edges of the leaf plate and can damage the fruit. The pest is most active in the summer months.

Greenhouse-specific pests

When growing sweet peppers in the greenhouse his main enemy is aphid. Infestation of aphids is observed against the background of overfeeding plants with nitrogen fertilizers.

Besides aphids, Vegetable crops in greenhouse conditions are also eaten by other pests. Among them:

1. Whitefly. The insect settles on the lower leaves. Reminds me of a small moth. Traces of presence are similar to the work of aphids. Through its activity, the whitefly harms fruit ripening.
2. Medvedka. The insect is large in size, brown in color with short elytra and digging legs. The mole cricket digs tunnels in the ground and feeds on the roots and stems of sweet peppers.
3. Root-knot nematode. The parasite attacks the root system of the plant, leading to its death.
4. Tobacco thrips. The pest is visible by yellow or grayish spots that appear on the leaf blades. The parasite is eliminated by spraying plants with special biological or chemical preparations.

For open ground

Plantings of sweet peppers growing in open ground are more often threatened by Colorado potato beetles than greenhouses. They are also susceptible to attacks from outside:

1. Spider mite. The small translucent parasite is difficult to notice with the naked eye. Its presence is visible by yellow dots on the plant (leaves, stems, flowers). The presence of a pest is also indicated by the appearance of cobwebs under the leaves. The affected plant may die.
2. Muravyov. They are attracted to bushes infested with aphids. The appearance of a colony of thousands of ants is visible to the naked eye. The stems are densely covered with insects.
3. Sprout fly. The adult gray insect with brown stripes on the front side of the body eats vegetable sprouts, and its larvae harm germinating seeds.

What to do, how to process it

The use of chemicals and traditional methods, the duration of processing of sweet pepper bushes is selected based on:

• types of pest;
• number of insects;
• stages of plant damage.

Finished chemicals

Use ready-made commercial insecticides, following the instructions. Of the ready-made chemicals, they are considered effective:

• against slugs - preparations “Predator”, “Ferramol”, “Thunderstorm”, “Slug Eater”;
• against aphids - “Fitoverm”, “Agravertin”, “Keltan”, “Karbofos”;
• against the Colorado potato beetle - “Karate”, “Decis”, “Colorado”;
• from the scoop - “Arrivo”, “Sherpa”, “Zolon”, “Volaton”;
• against whiteflies - “Confidor” or “Mospilan” (applied once per season), “Verticillin” (twice with an interval of 7-10 days);
• against mole crickets - “Thunder”, “Medvetox”, “Grizzly”, “Bankol”, “Phenaxin Plus” (applied into the ground 3-5 cm deep);
• against germ flies for crops grown in open ground - “Karbofos”, “Fufanon” (spraying is carried out during the growing season);
• against root-knot nematodes - systemic drugs “Marshal”, “Aldoxycarb”, “Carbofuran”;
• against spider mites - Aldicarb (granules applied to the soil), Anti-mite, Fitoverm (sprayed on pepper bushes);
• from ants – “Muracid”, “Muravin”, “Grom-2” and so on;
• against thrips - “Fitoverm”, “Vertimek”, “Confidor”.

Traditional methods

There is an alternative to chemicals for pest control - folk recipes and mechanical effects on the crop. These methods are safe and accessible for gardeners.

To get rid of slugs you need to:

1. Clean up your garden by removing weeds and getting rid of plant debris.
2. Dig grooves between the rows of sweet pepper bushes, pour lime, ash, ground black pepper or tobacco dust into them. Slugs will not crawl through such a barrier.
3. Cover the plant with film. The pest, crawling under it at night, dies from the heat of the day.
4. Sprinkle the soil with lime after a rainstorm or after a good watering.

Fight aphids on pepper leaves You can use your own prepared formulations:

1. Soap tincture of ash. You will need one glass of raw material per bucket of water. The mixture is infused for a day. The solution is enriched with a glass of liquid soap. After exterminating the aphids, the crop is sprayed with water.
2. Wormwood infusion. Wormwood is soaked in water. Leave the solution for a day, then treat the plant with it.
3. Onion peel solution. For a liter jar of boiling water, take 1 cup of dry raw materials. The solution is kept for ½ day.
4. Coniferous solution. Fill the container 1/3 full with pine needles and fill it to the top with liquid. The mixture is boiled for 60 minutes, left for 24 hours.

The following measures are applicable against the Colorado potato beetle::

• systematic collection of larvae and beetles from bushes;
• garlic or calendula are planted near the beds with pepper - the smell of these plants repels the pest;
• prepare a solution from a glass of ash, wormwood (50-200 g), boiling water (10 l). The mixture is infused for three hours, filtered, and the beds are sprayed with it.

To combat the cutworm, traps are built from cut plastic bottles. They are placed at a height of a meter above the ground. Fermented jam or juice is used as bait. Caterpillars are also collected by hand at night.

How to get rid of whiteflies:

1. Adult insects and their larvae are washed off with a water jet, then the leaves are treated with a soap solution.
2. Use yellow and bright blue traps. They are made by hand, applying a sticky composition to bright plywood.
3. By biological method. Ladybugs are released into the greenhouse or an infusion of herbs is prepared. The garlic head is crushed and filled with water (500 ml). Infuse the liquid for 7 days. Before use, dilute in a proportion of 5 g per 1 liter of water and spray the pepper bushes.

Get rid of mole crickets using a light trap. It is constructed from a lamp and a vessel containing a water-kerosene mixture. In the fight against the parasite, they look for its oviposition and larvae. They do this from the end of May until the beginning of summer. Regularly loosen the soil and treat any detected pest passages with soapy water.

Against sprout fly Special glue traps are effective.

The root-knot nematode is exterminated this way:

• by scalding the soil with boiling water to a depth of 40-50 cm. Then the beds are covered with film for 4 hours;
• by cleaning the roots of the peppers from the soil. They are immersed in water at a temperature of +50-60°C. The worms die within five minutes. To destroy pest eggs, keep the roots of the bush in hot water for 30 minutes.

An effective remedy for spider mites is the preparation of pour kerosene (2 g) into warm water (10 l) and add soap shavings (40 g). Plants affected by the pest are watered with the solution.

Tobacco infusion will also help get rid of ticks. To prepare it, 400 g of tobacco leaves are brewed with boiling water (10 l). Leave for several hours and bring to a boil again. The broth is diluted with water (10 l) and laundry soap (40 g) is added. The product is used to treat leaf plates.

You can eliminate an ant colony by killing its queen and destroying the anthill. It should be scalded with boiling water or covered with a thick layer of hot ash.

You can fight ants in another way. A jar filled with honey solution or sweet water is left next to the ant path. An ant caught in a trap will not be able to get out of it.

How to get rid of thrips:

• washing away the pest with a water jet;
• using a yellow or blue sticky trap;
• spraying the peppers with a decoction of marigolds, infused for several days;
• garlic water, prepared from water (250 ml) and a head of garlic crushed into pulp.

Preventive measures

Prevent the appearance of holey leaves When growing sweet peppers, preventive measures will help:

• regular loosening of the soil;
• spraying plants with garlic or soapy water, infusion of ash;
• weeding;
• autumn disinfection of soil and greenhouses.

Conclusion

Sweet pepper plantings are threatened by many pests that eat leaves, stems and fruits. Insecticides will help effectively combat them. Compliance with the technology of growing peppers with preventive measures will protect the vegetable crop from attacks by parasites and will allow you to reap a rich harvest.