Hello, I am hoping that someone can assist in determining what is attacking my Hungarian Pepper Plant. It has been growing well and producing all winter, but the past week it is starting to wilt with the webs growing all over it. I would like to find a way to control the problem. This plant is locate indoors in Saskatchewan and was originally grown outisde last year. These tings - which appear to be some sort of mite - live in these webs and move around when I pull them off. Any ideas?
I would say you have a spider mite infestation. I wrote this for a scale infestation but it also applies to mites. What may also work is several sessions of thorough hosing down of all plant surfaces with 5 days or so between sessions.
Thank you, I will try that. I would really hate for this plant to die.. I have really enjoyed it's fruit all winter!
Insecticidal soap is safe for most plants. Check the label and/or do a test on a small portion of the plant to be sure.
Thank you so much for all your help! I picked up some stuff at a hardware store that I tried, and the plant looks better already! I cleared off a bunch of the webs and sprayed it down.. from what I read the mites like dry conditions, so I also watered the plant realyl well. I suspect that the infestation began when I cut back on waterings. I was experimenting on pepper hotness. Sometimes these things taste like chick peas, sometimes they are scalding hot. I cut the waterings back to minimal a few weeks ago, then had this problem. Does anyone happen to know what environmental variables affect the hotness?
The mites are affected more by the relative humidity of the air and not by the amount of water in the soil. They thrive in an environment with low humidity. The air inside can be quite dry at this time of year particularly if you have central heating. Also, plants that are stressed are more susceptible to attack. That could explain what happened when you cut back on the watering. What affects 'hotness'? My guess would be amount of sun and heat exposure. If you find out, let me know. I suggest you start a new thread for this question as you may receive more responses that way.
