Huge caterpillars that leave dropping flowers on my pepper plant and eating the peppers. Is it safe to just remove them and eat the peppers that haven’t been touched? Zone 10 a
Huge caterpillars that leave dropping flowers on my pepper plant and eating the peppers. Is it safe to just remove them and eat the peppers that haven’t been touched? Zone 10 a
Bugs rarely carry human diseases (unless they suck human blood). As said a blacklight at night is useful to remove manually, and weekly BT is very effective biological warfare that doesn’t affect humans, pets nor beneficial insects apart from butterfly caterpillars who eat the leaves. And butterfly caterpillars don’t eat most garden plants.
Either way iirc you want to be super thorough because they signal each other and removing the last one can help keep others from coming.
aestheticmixtape
I’ve heard that it can be easier to find them at night with a UV light because their coloring flares. For your peppers’ sake, I hope you get every single one because they can destroy the whole nightshade section of your garden in a couple days 😅
duiwksnsb
I’d eat even the peppers that have been touched, wiggled on, munched on, and downright infested!
Nature is wild and woolly, but rarely are any garden pests actually dangerous to human health.
12 Comments
*leave droppings on peppers and eating them too
Looks like tomato hornworm [https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/tomato-hornworms](https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/tomato-hornworms)
Yes. Remove them immediately.
Yes, I get those on my tomatoes. Check your plant for more of them sometimes their are small ones
Get some BT!
Ugh, hate those worms. Have yet to find on any plant here, if I ever do, you’ll hear me scream from here in South Dakota.
You can absolutely eat the produce from this plant. As gross as they are, the food is safe.
A blacklight shown on your plants at night will illuminate them, allowing you to kill them when they are smaller.
Yep, take them off asap, they eat fast!!!
You can eat the peppers even if they have been nibbled by these tomato horn worms. They spent their short entire lives on your pepper plant.
If you are feeling adventurous you can also fry them up and eat them. Get back at them for eating your plant:
[https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/4hyouth/cook_book/insects/tomato_hornworms.html#:~:text=In%20a%20large%20skillet%20or,slotted%20spoon%20and%20set%20aside](https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/4hyouth/cook_book/insects/tomato_hornworms.html#:~:text=In%20a%20large%20skillet%20or,slotted%20spoon%20and%20set%20aside).
Bugs rarely carry human diseases (unless they suck human blood). As said a blacklight at night is useful to remove manually, and weekly BT is very effective biological warfare that doesn’t affect humans, pets nor beneficial insects apart from butterfly caterpillars who eat the leaves. And butterfly caterpillars don’t eat most garden plants.
Either way iirc you want to be super thorough because they signal each other and removing the last one can help keep others from coming.
I’ve heard that it can be easier to find them at night with a UV light because their coloring flares. For your peppers’ sake, I hope you get every single one because they can destroy the whole nightshade section of your garden in a couple days 😅
I’d eat even the peppers that have been touched, wiggled on, munched on, and downright infested!
Nature is wild and woolly, but rarely are any garden pests actually dangerous to human health.