I have discovered a new pest! This time, underneath my jalopeno leaves. They are white splotches and in the middle seem to be ... eggs? Larvae? ... mites?? Aphids?? I have no idea... they seem to be staying in those areas but maybe they just haven’t spread yet. I will keep an eye... my go to solution seems to be a water/neem oil/dish soap spray, but haven’t tried that yet. many ideas on what this is first?
At first I thought the splotch looked a bit like downy mildew?? But, also I have had aphids lay clusters of fuzzy white eggs under my pepper leaves. Usually you see some of the adult aphids also though. If it is mildew, in my limited experience, it will spread to other leaves, and have necrosis soon after the white appears. Perhaps cut the leaves that are impacted off and dispose of them away from other plants and compost. Then see what happens. If it is mildew it will slow the spread. If it is aphids, you will be disposing of eggs which will also slow the spread. If it is a raised mass, you could also wipe them off with a damp Q tip or a wee rag. Either way, the quickest and most efficient way to contain it would be best I think. A healthy pepper plant won't miss a few leaves. In my experience, be very careful with spraying peppers. Never in the heat or high light of day. And, be sure to rinse them off a couple of hours after. Pepper leaves sometimes do not like being laden with soapy sprays and will wither and die if not rinsed clean not too long after.
Melody Mc- Thank you! It does seem that there are eggs/tiny white spots inside the white areas. I will inspect it more closely in the morning and cut off the leaves that have the spots. The pepper plant has grown very large and seems to be healthy, with about 20 new jalopenos growing right now. What is your solution for aphids? I’ve sprayed them off with just water and that helps sometimes but I’m not sure if that gets rid of all of them
FL garden what you have are whiteflies. I get them here too and the best way to get rid of them is just remove the affected leaves. When the number increases, that is if there are too many of them, I use a tooth brush to brush them off and when that is not possible I make use of dish detergent spray, a 2% concentration. For the dish detergent spray, test it on a couple of leaves first to make sure it will not affect the plant and after a couple of hours and there is no effect on the test leaves go ahead and spray them. Spray when the weather is not hot. Hope this help and good luck
I agree 100% with KK. BTW, I find their developmental course very interesting. These insects are tough in that they can live throughout the winter on your plants. Here, they have a distinct preference for brassica’s. KK’s Rx is the right one, but when I discover the tiny beginning colonies, I just mash them between thumb and forefinger. The thing is that you must begin to take measures at once, for if you let them go they will become huge colonies and infect other plants. Measures will be then too little, too late. It is a formidable opponent.
So glad that KK and SJoerd are famililiar and able to help out. Thankfully White Fly is something that I never see. It certainly makes a lot more sense than mildew or aphids. Good luck!
