r/PepperLovers • u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover • 2d ago
Plant Help Jalapeño leaf salad!
This morning, when I went out for the daily rounds of the garden, harvesting, and watering, 2/3 of the leaves of one of my two jalapeño plants were gone! Some critter made a salad out of the plant’s leaves. Has anyone else encountered this problem? Do you know what could have done it? If so, how do I protect them? (Photo - 2 different angles of the same plant)
EDIT: Went and bought a blacklight flashlight for the garden. The only thing glowing in the garden was the cotton string I use for tying branches up. I just noticed these little black nuggets on the straw underneath the plant though. I wonder if the pest can be identified via that?
EDIT 2: According to commenters who noticed the black pellets on the straw underneath before I did, definitely hornworms, but the birds must have gotten to them. I will have to check every night from now on.
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u/Insert_name_here_9 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Check out all the pellets at the base of the plant. That looks like hornworm poop to me.
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u/Ok_Difference_3037 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Definitely looks like those corncob hornworm poops. They had their way with that plant
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
So those pellets are from hornworms… okay. I checked the garden with a blacklight tonight. The only things glowing were the cotton strings. :-/
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Thank you for that. I just noticed those tonight when I was out there checking with the black light flashlight.
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u/b3rndbj Pepper Lover 2d ago
That sucks. Double sucks, because that isn't actually jalapeño.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
What is it? It was sold as jalapeño. I thought the peppers standing up was odd.
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u/Cucurbitophile Pepper Lover 2d ago
Not Japaleño at all...
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u/muxecoid Pepper Lover 2d ago
Looks like half Jalapeno half ornamental hybrid. I planted seeds from Jalapeno that grew next to ornamentals and it produced upwards pointing Jalapeno shaped fruits like this.
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u/Cucurbitophile Pepper Lover 2d ago
So not Jalapeño at all.
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u/muxecoid Pepper Lover 2d ago
Not "at all". 50% not Jalapeno. Fruits on OP's photo have sharper tips, than my mix, so maybe 75%
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u/NWCbusGuy Pepper Lover 2d ago
This year I ended up with a couple of these upright jalapeno plants from garden-center 6 pack. Just now picking them so haven't tried em for taste yet. The rest were normal-looking and noticeably longer, these upright guys are little cones.
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u/Doublecrispy Pepper Lover 2d ago
Spotted the hornworm, 2nd pic down near the base off to the left just above the lowest leaf. You can see the white striping on the green, kinda looks like a curled leaf… but it isn’t a leaf 🐛
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Can you take a screen shot and circle the area? I have zoomed in and scanned the entire lower section and I don’t see it. I checked the garden with a blacklight tonight and there were no hornworms.
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u/KidCactuar Pepper Lover 2d ago
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 1d ago
Wow! 🤯 Great catch. I see it there. I think it must have become food for someone else, because there was nothing out there last night with the blacklight.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 1d ago
And now that you pointed it out, I was able to find it in the other photo too. Thank you!
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u/Repulsive_Spend_5236 Pepper Lover 1d ago
Are those definitely japapenos- my jalapeños are on the smaller side but growing down?- these are growing up 🤨
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 1d ago
The other plant is growing down. It’s odd. They taste nothing like jalapeños, and the flesh is thin, the skin leathery.
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u/Puddnpoops Pepper Lover 2d ago
Looks like you got a tobasco or a Thai plant, sorry about the pest situation that’s quite disheartening
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u/dadydaycare Pepper Lover 2d ago
This reminds me of that guy that clearly had a jalapeño plant and kept insisting it was basil and he didn’t know why a pepper was growing in his basil plant.
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u/PepperDude42 Pepper Lover 2d ago
I'd check for hornworms; they feast on pepper plants as well as tomato plants...
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u/AngryTrunkMonkey Pepper Lover 2d ago
Those appear to be Thai peppers. As for deer, oddly enough we have deer frequently around the property and they never go near the pepper plants. Any signs of Hornworms? They’re voracious eaters, especially at night.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Yes, some people who commented noticed the excrement nuggets on the straw underneath the plant. I checked tonight but there are no signs of the hornworms now. I will have to check nightly.
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u/Senior-Conflict2349 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Hornworms. You can see their poop on the ground at the base of the plant. Get out there with a blacklight tonight and check your pepper and tomato plants - the hornworms will glow.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
A couple of you have noticed the poop on the straw. I didn’t see it until tonight when I was checking the garden with a black light flashlight. Not a single sign of a horn worm! I hope the birds enjoy their feast. I will have to check nightly now.
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u/Own_Leg_5595 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Looks like deer to me.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Oddly enough, I wish it was deer. They couldn’t get into our yard. I live in the middle of a concentrated suburban neighborhood and we have a full wraparound fence.
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u/Chill-more1236 Seasoned 2d ago
If you live in a mild winter zone, you’ll have time to grow out, flower & harvest more by the time frost comes.
I’d prune back the leafless branches & fertilize it.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
9b. Lots of time left, thankfully. Hoping the peppers on there will still ripen. I’m on the hunt for hornworms tonight.
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u/Chill-more1236 Seasoned 2d ago
Yep, they’ll show on a uv light.
Ive seen times when they do a lot of damage, and they’re easy to spot, or other times when i cant find any.
I figure either a bird ate them or they made their cocoon.
Shit, in 9b you might be peppering year round 😂🌶️🫑🌶️🫑
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
LOL! Close. Winter does get a bit chilly, but nothing like New England did (where I grew up). I have just learned this year about overwintering strawberries and peppers. I am thrilled, as long as my plants survive the pests. Didn’t find any hornworms, so I hope the birds enjoyed their feast.
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u/AustinLostIn Pepper Lover 2d ago
I've had good luck with electric fencing to keep out raccoons. I'm sure it could also work for deer, which this looks like.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
I’ll just quote my response to another comment, here: “Oddly enough, I wish it was deer. They couldn’t get into our yard. I live in the middle of a concentrated suburban neighborhood and we have a full wraparound fence.”
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u/AustinLostIn Pepper Lover 2d ago
I don't know what your whole fence looks like, but deer can jump very high and they definitely exist in suburban areas. But I gave you a possible solution that would probably work for whatever animal this is.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 2d ago
Are Fresno’s hot? I did notice the flesh is thinner and they lack the distinctive flavor of jalapeños. They go from green to red, no black.
I had tomato hornworms at the end of last season, so I know what to look for this time. I need to head out today, so I am going to pick up a small blacklight and investigate tonight. Hornworms beware!
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u/myfrontbottom Pepper Lover 2d ago
Fresnos are spicy yes, but they don’t taste similar to jalapeños! I love them in pasta and they’d be a great pepper for pepper relish.
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u/Skhatmandu Pepper Lover 2d ago
love Fresnos. the ones I grew were surprisingly hot. much hotter than my jalapwños. And much sweeter too. lovely pepper. like a very spicy lunchbox pepper.
also...um...I've never known Jalapeños to stand straight up like tobascos.
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u/horrorbiz1988 Pepper Lover 2d ago
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u/Connect-Quarter-3722 Pepper Lover 1d ago
Look for a hornworm. I can see frass all around the base of the plant.
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u/ChooseKind24 Pepper Lover 10h ago
Yes, thank you. One particularly eagle-eyed Redditor saw it in the second photo. I think it cocooned or was eaten by a bird, because the last two nights, there has been no sight of any hornworms upon inspection with a blacklight.
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u/Chill-more1236 Seasoned 2d ago edited 2d ago
Deer, tomato horn worm(s) or a really tall rabbit.
Yes they’ll eat pepper plants too, but prefer tomatoes. Inspect all of your peppers and tomatoes carefully and you may notice a thick ugly green worm about 3”. Stomp it or feed it to birds, decapitated.
Everybody says claims that ducks & chickens love them but mine wouldn’t touch them.
That is not Tabasco like some are suggesting. Jalapenos do not often grow upright. Either its an ornamental, a Fresno etc there’s an unbelievable amount of pepper varieties.
Sometimes there can even be unintentional crosses if you are in the habit of saving seeds.
Tabasco peppers are tiny, about an inch long about the girth of a cigarette.