I've slimed through many peppers, some totally soggy, some just starting to
get soft spots. No larvae that are big enough for me to see. I did
find small holes (1/8" dia) on the side of the peppers in several but not
all of the fruits. Inside one was a wasp. In another an
earwig. Other than that nothing that I could see with the naked eye.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 1:49
PM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Sweet
Peppers Turning to Slime
I think you're probably right Bob. There aren't any other
problems with peppers that result in the same symptoms. It's classic for
fruit that turn to mush on the plant. If you look carefully in the debris
that's left, you'll often see the larvae and the frass it leaves behind.
If it's european corn borer, the larvae will be about 3/4" - 1" long,
creamy white and thin, with a brown head. Corn earworm larvae will be
twice as large and may be brown, green or orange in color. They both
prefer corn so you might want to plant corn as a trap crop nearby. But
plant in several successions so that there are always fresh silks for the
corn earworm. If you plant a dry variety of corn rather than sweet corn
the damage usually isn't too bad and you can still harvest something from
it.
Bill Shoemaker, Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops University of
Illinois - St Charles Horticulture Research Center www.nres.uiuc.edu/faculty/directory/shoemaker_wh.html
>
Corn earworm and bores second favorite food after corn is peppers along
> with pepper maggots all are very common at this time of the year.
They > enter the fruit under the calix and into the seed cavity leaving
a trail > of decay that leads to bacterial soft rot... Bob. >
Sunny Meadow Farm > Bridgeton, NJ. > > > From: SHEILA
PAYNE <srp75 AT msn.com> > Date: 2007/08/30 Thu
AM 09:38:12 CDT > To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org> >
Subject: [Market-farming] Sweet Peppers Turning to Slime > > I'm
in Colorado. I have some lovely pepper plants with lovely immature >
peppers on them. Two varieties-- red and orange bells. The peppers lower
> on the plant that are getting red and orange are a disgusting
brownish, > slimy mess. The stem is strong and still attached to the
plant, so when I > try to pull them off -- ugh, a handful of mush
slides off the stem/seeds > into my hand. No indication of disease on
the plants or immature fruits. > Â Any ideas? Sheila > >
_______________________________________________ > Market-farming mailing
list > Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org >
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming > >
_______________________________________________ > Market-farming mailing
list > Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org >
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming > >
_______________________________________________ Market-farming
mailing list Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
|