I have been spraying a Garlic/Habenero spray once a week. I think it's called Garret Spray. Should I apply this twice a week? Any recommendations are welcome. I am open to non organic solutions, I was gonna get some Sevin powder.

Do I need to cut those torn leaves?

Thanks all.

Your profile doesn't list your location or zone so it's hard to give specific advise other than to say it is too early for peppers outside in much of the US. Without knowing where you are located I can't know if that applies in your case or not.

Would I need to take those leaves off......can't provide pictures til later.

Best luck and happy gardening!

Vera

I would, tentatively, attribute the leaf damage to the hard rains and keep and eye on the plants.

My guess is the plants recover and perform just fine. All I can be certain of is the plants will do better with limited photosynthesis than none at all. ;-0

Stay the course. It can be hard to watch, but absent a fungal pathogen spreading from leaf to leaf there is nothing to gain from removing damaged leaves.

I can't guarantee it, but my money is on your plants making a full recovery with no intervention from you and yielding a generous bounty of yummy fruits for you.

My damage is a lot bigger. We just had some storms and hail in a couple of days ago. I had some tears that may have come from beetles and the hard rain may have just taken that portion of the leaf off.

Have you heard of the Garlic, Habenero spray (with fish emulsion and apple cider vinegar[for fungus]). I guess it works because the only problem I have is on the peppers.

From your picture, it's definetly not Earwings.

What do you use if anything?

How are your pepper plants doing? Did you ever figure out what the problem was? My pepper plants have the exact same symptoms as seen in your pictures. I live in the Chicago area. Just curious.

Lesson learned:

The young peppers can survive a little chomping on.
The problem was beetles.
If you want to find the culprit, go into the garden at night with a flash light.
The habanero/garlic spray doesn’t effect beetles.

Japanese Beetles in California?

"The very first Japanese beetle recorded in California was caught in a trap near Los Angeles International Airport in June of 1951. Two more specimens were trapped near civilian or military airfields in 1954 and 1956. In 1960, nearly 350 living and dead beetles were found in the passenger and cargo compartments of flights originating in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Pittsburgh. On June 7, 1961 a state entomologist collected a Japanese beetle feeding on flowers on the grounds of the State Capitol.

As it turned out, this beetle was just the tip of the iceberg, representing California’s first Japanese beetle infestation. Intensive inspections and trapping soon produced hundreds of live beetles from the downtown Sacramento area. Using extensive applications of foliage sprays and ground treatments, the Japanese beetle was declared eradicated in 1965, three years after the last live beetle was found. Two subsequent infestations were detected and eradicated in Balboa Park, San Diego and Orangevale, near Sacramento.

If Japanese beetles became established in California it would effect 50% or more of the grapes, roses, peaches, prunes, plums, asparagus, and apricots grown in the United States each year. The potential losses of just 5% in these seven crops alone could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Garden plantings and some street trees would also be affected. Nearly all commercially grown flowers would be susceptible to damage as well. Uninfested regions would quarantine the state’s agricultural and horticultural exports, making it difficult, costly, or impossible for California growers to sell their produce.

With all this at stake, state agricultural authorities regularly launched annual Japanese beetle detection programs as a precautionary measure. Every year, between May 1 and August 31, thousands of winged funnel traps resembling green or yellow lanterns are deployed throughout the state on a grid-based arrangement. The traps are fitted with chemical lures promising the beetles both food and sex. The duped insects fall down a funnel and into a container where they wait for the state or county inspector who checks the traps weekly. The traps are concentrated in heavily populated urban areas, especially near airports where hitchhiking beetles are likely to disembark. Both commercial and cargo planes coming from Japanese beetle infested states are regularly inspected during the summer.

Your use of "beetles" is very generic. It's like saying I think it's a fish. There are thousands of different types of fish out there.

Take the time to learn that there is not a "cure all" for every pest at every stage of it's life cycle. Some won't work if it's going to rain. Some don't work well if it's too hot, etc.

Pest management is complex, if you wish to use chemical products, do so responsibly which goes further than reading the label. If you want to learn, a good place to start is here:

Integrated Pest Management
This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist.

Education:
B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis
Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley

Appointment:
100% Cooperative Extension

Research Interests:
Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information.

Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture:

* IPM references and resources
* Preventing pest problems
* Natural common enemies
* Making less toxic pesticide choices
* Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects.

You can watch the programs now online:

Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free.

Integrated Pest Management Part 1 90 minutes

Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes

You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on:
Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons

I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals.

;)

They were beetles. I joined the party one night at 1 am with a flashlight watching them at the buffet. They were small with a greyish body. I also saw them on my spinach. I started my research and sevin was the common denominator.

I am a novice, and I don't want to get into chemicals without knowing if they will kill me. My pepper plants grew despite the insects, but I have to find something as far as my spinach and lettuce this fall. Hopefully your videos will be helpful.

Thanks for your response.