My go to is a “little big shot” hose nozzle attachment. You can twist until there is a strong mist setting. Knock them all off on water day in the morning. (Be careful with this nozzle as if you twist it to the pinpoint setting it will rip leaves off) Also purchase some live lady bugs and release them once every week for 3 weeks.
Impossible_Lie_3882
Diatomaceous Earth, but you should wash it off after a couple of days as it can affect pollination.
psychadelicbreakfast
I bought some insecticide soap off of Amazon that killed those bastards dead.
Safer 5118-6 Insect Killing Soap Concentrate
ArtyWhy8
My go to that has never failed me is spray them off with a shower from the hose then spray the plant with neem oil or spinosad. Do this all in the evening.
Next day dose it with diatomaceous earth. Let that chill on there for a few days then (again in the evening) spray it all down again to remove the oils and diatomaceous earth.
Ace8675123
Spray them off with the hose and maybe a bit of insecticidal soap or neem oil to prevent them from coming back.
sprawlaholic
Other people have mentioned neem oil, but the easiest way is a spray bottle with a tiny drop of dish soap sprayed on the plants. I would try this, then go get the ladybugs other folks have mentioned; it’s such a joy to watch nature’s cutest carnivores in action. Ladybugs are ideally released at around the end of sunset.
kaalaxi
Squish 🙂
Fool4KungFu
Please don’t spray your plants with the pesticides that you’re growing food yourself to avoid. I’ll never understand why that’s everyone’s first word of advice.
Aphids are very common. I get painters tape (any masking tape, duct tape, etc will do) and wrap it around my glove sticky side out. Then just press against the bottom of your leaves. Easy peasy. I did it for 3 days in a row and they’re all gone and my pepper plant is growing again!
Beneficial_Slide6266
2 parts dawn to 1 part water spray plant wait 15-20 min then lightly blast a hose to wash off the soap and and eggs or stragglers may need to do this more than once but it’s a cheaper method
ShotgunWilly91
These are aphids. Neem oil, physical removal, lady bugs, and trap crop planting (e.g. milkweed) work well. You’ll need to stay on top of management. They are seasonal, and will go away when conditions aren’t favorable for them.
_SosicK
Last year I had THOUSANDS of aphids all over my peppers. Spraying them off with a hose worked great, and so did insecticidal soap and diatomaceous earth. After weeks of repeating the process, the aphids would just keep repopulating, so I gave up and left it.
It turns out that giving up was what worked the best. As soon as I stopped with the chemicals, I started to see ladybugs, parasitic wasps, and other beneficials showing up (the DE and sprays all harm beneficial insects too), and LET ME TELL YOU they absolutely demolished the aphid population.
I’m not telling you to do nothing, but I would definitely recommend picking up some beneficial insect attractors such as sweet alyssum, marigolds, and dill that you allow to flower. If it were me, I would just blast the aphids off frequently while the flowers attract the beneficial insects. I’ll never not have flowers in the garden.
It is also important to check on and around each plant to see if you find any ants. They farm, protect, and transport aphids to the leaves because they love the honeydew that aphids produce. Throw some ant traps out there.
Also, it’s a good idea to create a comfortable environment for the beneficial insects so they stick around, i.e., water, shade, shelter.
Btw the first pic is too blurry, but I might see a couple zombie aphids, which might indicate that you already have some parasitic wasps working their magic!
TL;DR: While all of the other suggestions I’m seeing do work, attracting beneficial insects is the only thing that worked for me long term.
forbiddenfreak
I was looking at a bunch of aphids on my bell peppers, but I was also watching ants and ladybugs feeding at the aphid buffet.
Sharp_Economy2453
You can start by crushing them with your finger and thumb and become the pepper god you always wanted to be.
prawnjam
Theres a bug nursery near me (rural agriculture area) that breed and release all the good bugs, ‘bugs for bugs’ and sell also, if you’re able to, buy lacewing also, between them and ladybugs (I bought some 25yr ago) I haven’t had a pest issue since. Every plant in my yard front and back are covered with them, and I’d never seen ladybug larvae in a garden before, in decades of knowing what they looked like. Between them and native bird attracting plants, I’ve only had to spray for rust but decided to gift the plant rather than spray. But look and spray everywhere you need or want before buying and releasing bugs would be best.
Totalidiotfuq
i use 45-50% alcohol + dish soap
TheFireConvoy
If you want immediate relief from a small aphid outbreak, scrape them into a bowl and dispose of them or if you must cut off the most highly infected leaves… Physical removal is just a start. Then, you can kill some quickly with Captain Jack’s insecticidal soap (fast-acting and safe to use until harvest day). Personally, I use neem oil weekly on all plants independent of infestation signs, but it’s slow-acting and as someone mentioned it can be washed off by rain or watering. If you introduce ladybugs, remember neem oil can also affect them if sprayed directly. 🌱🐞
scootscoot
I do diatomaceous earth, but it washes away in a couple days. The real star is my raspberry bush that attracts wasps. The wasps come in for some pink nectar, then crawl the surrounding plants for tiny bugs to snack on.
The wasps held a secret meeting and decided to be nice to their aphid farmer.
trying_again001
I guess everyone wants you to use neem oil. In my experience neem oil is worthless but as all post reflecting that gets deleted maybe you should try it. I would go with bifenthrin.
GhettoSauce
So say you live in Canada where neem oil is banned or if you don’t have a hose…
The dish soap + water treatment works. You mix 1 or 2 Tbsp soap into 1qt/1L water. The surface tension of the water on the stems & leaves is lowered and will make the aphids lose grip. They have soft bodies, which are penetrated by the soap, which pushes out their own liquid, so they dry out and perish. Others simply get their breathing pores smothered and suffocate. Give it an hour, then you rinse with water.
You can do this with a spray bottle or you can make this solution in a sink, bucket, tub, etc and dunk your entire plant upside down in it, with or without the roots, even. Again just rinse with water, but for the dunking you can reduce the time to 15 mins or so. Submerge the plant a bunch of times then let it sit out of the water all soapy, come back later, dunk again for good measure and rinse. I’ve done this with dozens of plants, roots and all. It’s my pre-overwintering regimen. If your plants are in the ground I guess you’re stuck with a spray bottle.
Just be careful to use tepid water so you don’t shock the plant with too hot/too cold. And if you can only do an outdoor spray method, don’t get your leaves all wet in direct sun. Do it all in the shade or at times when the sun isn’t on them. The water will magnify the light and burn them.
Keep an eye on the “crowns”/new growth, as they like to hide there. The brand new curled leaves are where I find them trying to scheme for leaf takeovers like you have.
DE/diatomaceous earth can work, too – just be safe with it. I put mine in a spice shaker and do the top of the soil with it, but you can also make a mixture with water for a spray bottle to nail the undersides of the leaves. While the water renders the DE useless, once it dries it goes back to working. It’ll deter other pests like thrips, too.
Finally, like someone else said here, some lighter tape like painter’s tape works, and unlike what some snarky person suggested, it won’t take “hours”. If you care, you’ll take the whole 5 mins it takes to treat your leaves.
No matter what you do, act now. Even if it’s wiping down these leaves with a wet paper towel before you can get serious. Aphids are born pregnant. They can take over too quickly.
From there, monitor & attack them as needed until they’re gone. Nothing works? The big guns are ladybugs, which you can order.
No_Professional_4848
Spray them off with soapy water and then plant an eggplant nearby the aphids prefer the eggplant over the pepper plants.
nolove1010
Set em’ outside, let some other critters take care of em’. A lot of folks will recommend oils etc.. which is fine, but a week outside will get rid of them easy peasy, in my experience.
efarfan
If you can clean them ultra thoroughly you maybe able to save them. But it’s a lot of work
LSDMTCupcake
Lacewings or other beneficial bugs! Ladybugs are great but they are not typically sourced well, meaning they might not be from your region and won’t eat the pests on your plants! Look into beneficial bugs to release into your garden for a healthy ecosystem. I buy year round from [Evergreen Growers Supply](https://www.evergreengrowers.com/) in Oregon, they ship, but you can probably find something locally too.
tekhnomancer
I’m gonna say it: I’ve never had any good success with neem oil. I’ve had it damage my plants though.
My solution for aphids? Spray nozzle. A blast of cold water is generally enough to kill them. And they’ll come back for a few days but just hit em with water again. Spray both sides of every leaf and rub it with your hands gently. If the cold water doesn’t kill them, the blast will.
Takes a few days of dedication but works every time.
bobxvance
Looks like aphids to me. I usually squish them with my thumb and you have to check it every day. You could also spray them with something for organic gardening, if that’s your flavor, like Maggie’s 3 in 1 spray. It works pretty well and has saved a few of my pepper plants. Neem oil is ok and works pretty well if it isn’t going to rain but you also have to do 3-4 treatments for it to really work. Prevention is the best way to go. There are other plants that will attract aphids such as marigolds or broccoli. Radish also works. Good luck and have fun!!
geauxpatrick
Aphids. Dish soap
QuietRoots
It’s hard to tell from the photo but it kinda looks like some of your aphids have already been parasitized by wasps. When this happens they puff up and turn brown. The wasp larvae will hatch out of the aphid.
30 Comments
Aphids. I usually just grab the stem and shake it until they all fall off
Neem oil.
These are aphids, they can be challenging to control but search this subreddit, lots of discussions and tips e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/HotPeppers/s/usMMtpHOdv
My go to is a “little big shot” hose nozzle attachment. You can twist until there is a strong mist setting. Knock them all off on water day in the morning. (Be careful with this nozzle as if you twist it to the pinpoint setting it will rip leaves off) Also purchase some live lady bugs and release them once every week for 3 weeks.
Diatomaceous Earth, but you should wash it off after a couple of days as it can affect pollination.
I bought some insecticide soap off of Amazon that killed those bastards dead.
Safer 5118-6 Insect Killing Soap Concentrate
My go to that has never failed me is spray them off with a shower from the hose then spray the plant with neem oil or spinosad. Do this all in the evening.
Next day dose it with diatomaceous earth. Let that chill on there for a few days then (again in the evening) spray it all down again to remove the oils and diatomaceous earth.
Spray them off with the hose and maybe a bit of insecticidal soap or neem oil to prevent them from coming back.
Other people have mentioned neem oil, but the easiest way is a spray bottle with a tiny drop of dish soap sprayed on the plants. I would try this, then go get the ladybugs other folks have mentioned; it’s such a joy to watch nature’s cutest carnivores in action. Ladybugs are ideally released at around the end of sunset.
Squish 🙂
Please don’t spray your plants with the pesticides that you’re growing food yourself to avoid. I’ll never understand why that’s everyone’s first word of advice.
Aphids are very common. I get painters tape (any masking tape, duct tape, etc will do) and wrap it around my glove sticky side out. Then just press against the bottom of your leaves. Easy peasy. I did it for 3 days in a row and they’re all gone and my pepper plant is growing again!
2 parts dawn to 1 part water spray plant wait 15-20 min then lightly blast a hose to wash off the soap and and eggs or stragglers may need to do this more than once but it’s a cheaper method
These are aphids. Neem oil, physical removal, lady bugs, and trap crop planting (e.g. milkweed) work well. You’ll need to stay on top of management. They are seasonal, and will go away when conditions aren’t favorable for them.
Last year I had THOUSANDS of aphids all over my peppers. Spraying them off with a hose worked great, and so did insecticidal soap and diatomaceous earth. After weeks of repeating the process, the aphids would just keep repopulating, so I gave up and left it.
It turns out that giving up was what worked the best. As soon as I stopped with the chemicals, I started to see ladybugs, parasitic wasps, and other beneficials showing up (the DE and sprays all harm beneficial insects too), and LET ME TELL YOU they absolutely demolished the aphid population.
I’m not telling you to do nothing, but I would definitely recommend picking up some beneficial insect attractors such as sweet alyssum, marigolds, and dill that you allow to flower. If it were me, I would just blast the aphids off frequently while the flowers attract the beneficial insects. I’ll never not have flowers in the garden.
It is also important to check on and around each plant to see if you find any ants. They farm, protect, and transport aphids to the leaves because they love the honeydew that aphids produce. Throw some ant traps out there.
Also, it’s a good idea to create a comfortable environment for the beneficial insects so they stick around, i.e., water, shade, shelter.
Btw the first pic is too blurry, but I might see a couple zombie aphids, which might indicate that you already have some parasitic wasps working their magic!
TL;DR: While all of the other suggestions I’m seeing do work, attracting beneficial insects is the only thing that worked for me long term.
I was looking at a bunch of aphids on my bell peppers, but I was also watching ants and ladybugs feeding at the aphid buffet.
You can start by crushing them with your finger and thumb and become the pepper god you always wanted to be.
Theres a bug nursery near me (rural agriculture area) that breed and release all the good bugs, ‘bugs for bugs’ and sell also, if you’re able to, buy lacewing also, between them and ladybugs (I bought some 25yr ago) I haven’t had a pest issue since. Every plant in my yard front and back are covered with them, and I’d never seen ladybug larvae in a garden before, in decades of knowing what they looked like. Between them and native bird attracting plants, I’ve only had to spray for rust but decided to gift the plant rather than spray. But look and spray everywhere you need or want before buying and releasing bugs would be best.
i use 45-50% alcohol + dish soap
If you want immediate relief from a small aphid outbreak, scrape them into a bowl and dispose of them or if you must cut off the most highly infected leaves… Physical removal is just a start. Then, you can kill some quickly with Captain Jack’s insecticidal soap (fast-acting and safe to use until harvest day). Personally, I use neem oil weekly on all plants independent of infestation signs, but it’s slow-acting and as someone mentioned it can be washed off by rain or watering. If you introduce ladybugs, remember neem oil can also affect them if sprayed directly. 🌱🐞
I do diatomaceous earth, but it washes away in a couple days. The real star is my raspberry bush that attracts wasps. The wasps come in for some pink nectar, then crawl the surrounding plants for tiny bugs to snack on.
The wasps held a secret meeting and decided to be nice to their aphid farmer.
I guess everyone wants you to use neem oil. In my experience neem oil is worthless but as all post reflecting that gets deleted maybe you should try it. I would go with bifenthrin.
So say you live in Canada where neem oil is banned or if you don’t have a hose…
The dish soap + water treatment works. You mix 1 or 2 Tbsp soap into 1qt/1L water. The surface tension of the water on the stems & leaves is lowered and will make the aphids lose grip. They have soft bodies, which are penetrated by the soap, which pushes out their own liquid, so they dry out and perish. Others simply get their breathing pores smothered and suffocate. Give it an hour, then you rinse with water.
You can do this with a spray bottle or you can make this solution in a sink, bucket, tub, etc and dunk your entire plant upside down in it, with or without the roots, even. Again just rinse with water, but for the dunking you can reduce the time to 15 mins or so. Submerge the plant a bunch of times then let it sit out of the water all soapy, come back later, dunk again for good measure and rinse. I’ve done this with dozens of plants, roots and all. It’s my pre-overwintering regimen. If your plants are in the ground I guess you’re stuck with a spray bottle.
Just be careful to use tepid water so you don’t shock the plant with too hot/too cold. And if you can only do an outdoor spray method, don’t get your leaves all wet in direct sun. Do it all in the shade or at times when the sun isn’t on them. The water will magnify the light and burn them.
Keep an eye on the “crowns”/new growth, as they like to hide there. The brand new curled leaves are where I find them trying to scheme for leaf takeovers like you have.
DE/diatomaceous earth can work, too – just be safe with it. I put mine in a spice shaker and do the top of the soil with it, but you can also make a mixture with water for a spray bottle to nail the undersides of the leaves. While the water renders the DE useless, once it dries it goes back to working. It’ll deter other pests like thrips, too.
Finally, like someone else said here, some lighter tape like painter’s tape works, and unlike what some snarky person suggested, it won’t take “hours”. If you care, you’ll take the whole 5 mins it takes to treat your leaves.
No matter what you do, act now. Even if it’s wiping down these leaves with a wet paper towel before you can get serious. Aphids are born pregnant. They can take over too quickly.
From there, monitor & attack them as needed until they’re gone. Nothing works? The big guns are ladybugs, which you can order.
Spray them off with soapy water and then plant an eggplant nearby the aphids prefer the eggplant over the pepper plants.
Set em’ outside, let some other critters take care of em’. A lot of folks will recommend oils etc.. which is fine, but a week outside will get rid of them easy peasy, in my experience.
If you can clean them ultra thoroughly you maybe able to save them. But it’s a lot of work
Lacewings or other beneficial bugs! Ladybugs are great but they are not typically sourced well, meaning they might not be from your region and won’t eat the pests on your plants! Look into beneficial bugs to release into your garden for a healthy ecosystem. I buy year round from [Evergreen Growers Supply](https://www.evergreengrowers.com/) in Oregon, they ship, but you can probably find something locally too.
I’m gonna say it: I’ve never had any good success with neem oil. I’ve had it damage my plants though.
My solution for aphids? Spray nozzle. A blast of cold water is generally enough to kill them. And they’ll come back for a few days but just hit em with water again. Spray both sides of every leaf and rub it with your hands gently. If the cold water doesn’t kill them, the blast will.
Takes a few days of dedication but works every time.
Looks like aphids to me. I usually squish them with my thumb and you have to check it every day. You could also spray them with something for organic gardening, if that’s your flavor, like Maggie’s 3 in 1 spray. It works pretty well and has saved a few of my pepper plants. Neem oil is ok and works pretty well if it isn’t going to rain but you also have to do 3-4 treatments for it to really work.
Prevention is the best way to go. There are other plants that will attract aphids such as marigolds or broccoli. Radish also works. Good luck and have fun!!
Aphids. Dish soap
It’s hard to tell from the photo but it kinda looks like some of your aphids have already been parasitized by wasps. When this happens they puff up and turn brown. The wasp larvae will hatch out of the aphid.