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I'm completely new to gardening in Colorado, so I hope this isn't a dumb question. Today I noticed some very tiny bugs crawling on the leaves of my pepper plants and and there are a few very small holes on some of the leaves. Past that everything looks really healthy given how brutally hot and sunny it's been here the past few weeks. I have peppers growing on all of the plants. I didn't see any on my tomatoes, but I can't be sure. I was just wondering if anyone knew what these were. I tried a google search and there seemed to be a lot of different small orange-ish insects. If it helps, they move very fast and erratically.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Jalepeno Pepper Leaf

Banana Pepper Leaf

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  • Just wanted to create a followup. I did keep the leaves and surrounding ground clear. Generally, however, the problem has gone away on its own. We do have a massive spider population in our garden - that may be helping.
    – Daniel
    Commented Jul 12, 2018 at 17:49

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If you are growing on a greenhouse, these are likely to be white spider mites, also called red spider mite. It could also be a whitefly starting to settle in. You will need a lens to look at the bug and i can give advice on how to control them.

White spider mite

Whitefly

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  • Thanks. It is not in a greenhouse. Pictures of spider mites look similar I think. They are incredibly small and hard to make out any characteristics on and sadly my camera can't take a more detailed picture. There are no dusty or web-like residue under the leaf. Are there good proactive measures that I could take in case it is that? Online I see everything from luke-warm water to heavy insecticides.
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 0:12
  • Let me know what weather you have. Clearly warm attracting the mites. Is it humid? What is the forecast. Also, I live in the UK so can only give advice with our chemicals and biological control. You need to check if numbers are increasing. If it is mites, check if they’re moving. If not, you have the nymphs that will turn into adults. Ii know it’s difficult but a confirmation would be best. Check leaf underside as well. Try wiping them off or hose them down if plant is strong enough for now.
    – user33232
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 5:34
  • Thanks. It has been hot (every day is above 27 C and some above 33) and it is very dry in the summer here - norm for summer is upper 20's. They are moving, though they are very few (I've never seen more than one at once) and right now I saw nothing under the leaves. They just seem to be moving around on the top that I've seen. The plants otherwise appear very healthy, so I'll definitely do the wiping down and/or hosing and I'll try to get a better view on them. Thanks so much!
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 12, 2018 at 18:57

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