Chilli Plant Bugs/Brown-Purple Staining

13 years ago

Hi I have indoor jalapeÃ¯Â¿Â½o, cayenne and birds eye chillies which I planted from seed and moved indoors at the end of summer. They have become infested with tiny bugs which live on the bottoms of the leaves mostly (see pic):

http://tinypic.com/r/96f8cx/5

This happened before and after I sprayed the plants with soapy water they seemed to disappear only to reappear a month later! Any advice on what they are and how to get rid of them would be greatly appreciated!

Also the jalapeÃ¯Â¿Â½o plant has been developing brown/purple patches (see pic):

http://tinypic.com/r/29njcj6/5

I have been using Chilli Focus Plant since last week, and prior to that was using a tomato plant feed that apparently matched chilli requirements quite well.

Thanks for any help!

Theo

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Comments (8)

scents_from_heaven
13 years ago
Here is the image
scents_from_heaven
13 years ago
It appears that you have an aphid infestation. You can take the pepper outside and spray the leaves good with a blast of wanter from a hose or take it to the sink and run water over all the leaves until you remove all the aphids. They are soft bodied insects and the force of the water and being knocked to the ground kills them.
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tsheets
13 years ago
Use the soap treatment again. Soak them down pretty good (particularly the bottoms of the leaves), then after a bit, rinse them off. Repeat every 2-3 days until you don't see any, then do it once more.
barbge
13 years ago
tsheets, I am having a similar problem with mine only mine fly. Do aphids also fly? Or is my bug something else. I lost one Thai pepper already, and possibly a canyenne, but once I started doing the Safer brand insecticidal soap spray I've seen very few flying bugs left, and the other plants all seem fine. Just keep spraying until I don't see any more flies for a week or so?
tsheets
13 years ago
If it's something other than aphids, I'm not sure what to tell you. But, it seems like either insecticidal soap or neem will take care of most pests. If the soap seems to work, great. Otherwise, try neem or even better, take a picture and maybe someone can give you a positive id.
jean001a
13 years ago
As has been sid, the insects are aphids. They're quite squishable.

The purple "stain" is normal coloration at the joints.
scents_from_heaven
13 years ago
Yes, aphids fly
heataddict
13 years ago
For the ones that fly away those are white flies on both use neem oil treatment if it is really bad you can do a week long regimen. but the hose does get rid of a lot so start there and then use the neem oil. i had a similar infestation of both this summer and with hard work you can get rid of both. the purple at the nodes is completely normal especially if you are growing indoors. i have it on my ghosts, naga vipers, and trinidads. i use a HPS but a MH might give more of the right spectrum to get rid of those as they are better for vegetative growth. if all else fails you can use a insect bomb called "Dr. Doom" which will definitely take care of your problem. i would also scrub your tent or room down so there isn't any leftover eggs. thats why they reappear after a month.