il Wed, 22 Dec 2004 18:52:02 -0800, Antipodean Bucket Farmer ha
scritto:

In article 9853573219172592.NC-
, lid
says...
il Mon, 20 Dec 2004 11:33:26 -0800, (Glenna Rose) ha
scritto:

The only way to really know is to let a slug grow. I had larvae
wandering around my ceiling and into my dry food. It was by looking
at the parents that I realised I couldn't be so tolerant of moths
coming in at night. (That and using jars rather than packets).


Sounds like you are talking more about some kind of
caterpillars?

Mine looked like larvae, The moth is a small non descript one, but
common as muck. Caterpillars have legs, don't they? These were pale
with a black mouth and tiny. I used to let them live when they came
in but after I had all this wildlife crawling around the kitchen, I
thought I'd have to be more particular.

The thing I found inside the capsicum did *not* look
like a caterpillar. I am 95% sure that it was a slug
or something related. It seemed to already be dead, so
hard to tell details like antennae.

Slug it is then.

So what flies around your garden?

In addition to the bees, I have a few miscellaneous
flies, a couple of small swarms of gnat-looking things
(gone now, probably due to the weather), and a fair
number of those white butterfly-type things. Those
might technically be moths.

Those whitefly have a small green caterpillar. Although the ones on
dahlias tend to go pink or yellow to match the flower - or is it
their diet...

Ok my list of bugs has: codling moth, bronze beetle, weevils (they
like roses) as some that may fit the bill. Do the ones that eat
tomatoes also eat peppers.

You'll have to go out with a torch in the wee hours of the night to
see what is crawling over everything.

I had an actual holes in the capsicum itself (one in
each affected fruit.)

I suspect the slugs are branching out in their diet.

I seem to recall an idea that slugs and snails refuse
to cross a copper wire(?) So perhaps I should get some
copper wire, and make a loose spiral around the base of
each capsicum plant(?)

Crushed eggshells or gritty sand is what I heard.

And maybe "Slug-go" in a circle around the inside edge
of each container?

yep, if you find slugs out on a wet day, they may be your culprit.

if you're in Aussie then your bugs are different to ours (nz) and
the horrifically numerous critters in the americas.


I am in NZ (Wellington.)

LOL a neighbour. Probably a bug blown over in the wind from Aussie.
I'm in Hastings


My Yates books talks of protecting from "slugs and
snails and caterpillars"


Yes. Last season was my first for gardening. Aside
from this capsicum problem, my only other pests were
Cabbage Loopers. I am expecting them to arrive again,
and will try Spinosad (Yates brand "Success") as soon
as I see the first one.

So far this has been a rotten spring for hot weather plants! But some
of my peppers are doing nicely under cover. I thought they were
jalapeno but seem to be a variety of the yellow banana one I
collected seeds off some years ago. Maybe they crossbred, or more
likely I mislabelled the seeds.

I have some slugs and snails around, but I'm not
getting overrun or anything. I try to gently pick them
up and re-locate them. I don't like killing things, so
I am more concerned with repulsing them.

I toss them out for the birds to find.

Thanks for your comments!

No probs.

--
Cheers,
Loki [ Brevity is the soul of wit. W.Shakespeare ]