Hello. Found this bug on my pepper plants today (second picture), but I'm not sure he had anything to do with the condition of the leaves. I have 3 plants that have this leaf problem, plus the stems at the bottom had some whitish looking pustules on them (didn't get a picture of the stem unfortunately). I played it safe and pulled all 3 plants out of the garden, but can someone tell me what is going on?? I have 10 more green pepper plants, 12 jalapeño plants, plus 70 tomatoes still in the garden and I want to make sure this doesn't spread.
The insect looks like a twice-stabbed stink bug. It is a plant feeder but I don't know how much it might be contributing to the leaf problem. Here's a pic:
Yup, stink bugs will ruin the fruits as well. If you crush one of those, the stink draws more of them. Soapy water. Air roots on peppers do the same as on tomatoes. If the white bumps were aphids, then a different approach is needed since most poisons don't work on them. If you dust with Sevin, you should only do so 2 weeks before blooms. Eggs may be spotted on undersides of leaves and can be crushed.
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