g'day peter,

what are pepper maggots??

the only thing i can think of is they could be the larva of the fruit fly?

if so i have some organic methods on my remedies page at my site.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

Different animal Len -- Zonosemata electa (yeah!). It specializes in peppers and somtimes eggplants and tomatoes, but not in my experience. I might try your trap though, with a bell pepper bait. Regards, Peter.

ok peter,

i guess to be a maggot it needs a flying/walking bug of some sort to lay the egg, so what lays the egg that turns into the maggot/larva?

that is the thing you have to control. so it could be along the lines of a fruit fly as the insect will need to be able to sting the fruit to lay its eggs. so just thinking out loud if that all happens and it only gets attractoe to those soft fruits then maybe just maybe fruit fly baits may work.

len

g'day peter,

just did a search on that name you provided it is a fly and very much looks like a fruit fly or at least targets the same plants and lays eggs in the same manner. it can be confusing when something is called by it's larval stage common name, it would be better to be known by the name of the fly maybe?

anyhow still think that what ever will attract the tropical fruit fly will attract this fly as well.

len

Apparently a not too common pest. The University of Connecticut has about the best organic method of control I've seen. Trap crops are the first line of defense and yellow sticky traps can be used to monitor the presence of he adults. Once the eggs hatch and the maggots enter the fruit there is not much you can do so control of the adults is necessary and why most control plans use pyrethrins.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pepper Maggot Control