It's possible that something else created the
inital wounds. but the slimey deterioration would be from soft-rot bacteria, the
same organism that follows the borer or earworm. You can look under the edge of
the calyx and find a hole from borers sometimes.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 2:14
PM
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Sweet
Peppers Turning to Slime
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 > >
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