I am a pretty new vegetable gardener. Last year something kept making little bore holes into my peppers. Not into the stem, but the fruit itself. The holes were little, maybe a few millimeters in diameter. I just found the same type of hole in a very timy start of a pepper. I haven’t found any worms/caterpillars/bugs around to explain it. Any suggestions? I have not used any type of insecticide so far, but since I am a little more experienced, I want to try a lttle harder!
Welcome to the world of vegetable gardening. Kudos to you for not getting discouraged by last year’s lousy growing season From your description and the timing (small fruit stage) I’d surmise that you are having a problem with pepper weevils. Pepper weevils are fairly common and easily controlled by dusting or spraying with the insecticide Eight from Bonide. You’ll want to start spraying right away and repeat once a week for three weeks. That should take care of it but if the symptom returns, start spraying again. You can use Eight up until 3 days before harvest. As always read the label and follow the directions you find there. Make sue to remove any fruit displaying the holes from the garden…don’t compost them, throw them in the trash. In the future, you could try covering the peppers with a floating row cover (called ‘Grass Fast’ at Hewitts) early in the season to prevent the weevil adults from getting at the peppers.