I have been away from my garden the past 2 days and upon returning today to check on things I have noticed the following on my Poblano Pepper Plants:
Known bugs in my garden: Flea Beetles, Potato Beetles, Lady Bugs.
Conditions Outside: High 80's to Mid 90's, Scattered Rain Storms.
I have also check online to see if I can find anything reality close to the symptoms that my plants have but I haven't find anything too useful. Any ideas/solutions? Thanks!
That looks like what that larvae of potato beetles did to some eggplants of mine, though I didn't have peppers damaged by them. Overnight the leaves were reduced to a netting on their favorite variety, and all were damaged. I thought of that, since you mentioned the presence of potato beetles. Are you also growing potatoes? This was my problem - the number of potato beetles was so high, yet the potatoes were barely bothered, the leaves were so thick! I haven't grown them since, as the other plants don't really attract the huge numbers of bugs. Flea beetles are the problem I have with eggplants, but again, not peppers. But maybe you don't grow eggplants, and the bugs go to the peppers, instead. I spray Surround on my EP, and it works to keep bugs off of peppers, too, but I stop spraying those early on, as it is a pain to get off of small, hot peppers. It wipes off of EPs, and larger peppers easily, however. And to get rid of what is on there now, if it seems they are underneath the leaves still, spray with insecticidal soap, or some neem oil (oils aren't good at over 90º).
I'll have to take a closer look at my pepper plants for larvae but haven't noticed any on them at the moment, just adult flea beetles which usually jump away as soon as you get close (considering getting sticky traps for them tomorrow/spray). I have had adult/eggs of potato beetles on my eggplants only. Although, the potato beetles were more dominant early in the season and haven't noticed them lately.
My other concern was for the black ash like coating on the leaves/new growth. As seen in one of the pictures, the "black ash" easily chips off the leaf and underneath of the black ash the leaf is green.
I didn't plant potatoes this year and I am growing the following near the poblano pepper plants: Variety of tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, yellow squash, thai peppers (which look fine and are in the same row as the poblano peppers ), watermelons, string beans, marigolds, and butternut squash.
That "black ash" doesn't sound like anything that I've seen on my peppers. Maybe somebody else has seen it in their area. I have had bad cases of black aphids, being farmed by ants, but they start on lower leaves, and are squishy, not flaky, and they just suck the life out of the plants, not chew plants up.
The "black ash" to me looks a lot like stink bug pee/poo. I see this more on my indoor plants during the winter when they invade the house. I don't think stink bugs chew leaves they are plant juice suckers,but it might be another kind of bugs or beetles doing the damage.
Hmm where are you located? Maybe they were blister beetles? I only got them here when we had a super warm winter and summer hurricane remnant sweeping up from the south followed by excessively hot weather, so I'm not very familiar with them.
If you are not seeing the culprit during the day, you may need to check at night for night feeders.
We have been getting the occasional rain storm lately. I was suspecting poo too but couldn't find anything else online to back that up (as far as pictures go).
I am located in Zone 6a - Atlantic County, NJ.
We have had hornworms in the past. I am going to check my plants later in the day and treat them with some insecticide and I'll let you guys know how it goes!
My guess might be Japanese beetles. That is what a lot of my basil is looking like. The edges are all chewed and then the chewed edges turn black like that.
Stinkbugs are piercing/sucking not chewing types.
You just need to keep checking very closely to find your culprit. It really helps to know what you are treating for before you go spraying things. If the culprit is in fact hornworms, they are only susceptible to insecticides when very small.
Most of the beetles and true bugs are hard shelled and good fliers. That makes them difficult to kill with insecticides, which they are protected from under their shells and can easily fly away from.
If you figure out what your culprit is, we will help you figure out what to do about it.
No luck today with spotting anything on them except for a flea beetle or two and a few ants. Plant condition is about the same with no noticeable increase in damage.
We get Japanese beetles in numbers when they start, I just haven't noticed them yet this season.
If I find anything within in next few days I'll be sure to post it.
