What's causing my pepper plants to have small holes in the leaves?

Question

I am growing my peppers indoors and noticed some small holes appearing on the leaves - I can't see any bugs on them and not sure what causes them. The leaves (especially the new ones coming out) look a bit curled too.

I am very new to gardening and have some plants outside too which have very similar issues.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Holes in Pepper plants are caused by the usual suspects

• Caterpillars
• Beetles
• Cut Worms
• Slugs and Snails
• Stink Bugs
• Grasshoppers
• Aphids

According to the following

1. The Plant Bible
2. Vegetable Garden
3. Pepper Geek

Controlling them

• Digital - If you can see them and catch them, then remove them

• Sprays - Neem Oil or Appropriate Insecticide. This is pretty safe if you do it before flowering.

• Insect Screens - We use some vege pods (which have insect mesh) for tomatoes and peppers.

  • The drawback is that plants invariably grow larger then the pod. And rain water does not get in.
  • Another advantage is that they have water reservoirs at the bottom, leading to a more consistent moisture for the roots.
  • Note, I am not associated with vegepods, its just an example.

• Let them be - If the holes are not too numerous and not too many leaves are damaged, then just keep an eye on them. Unless the plants are tiny, it is unlikely that they will kill the whole plant.

  We have, for the most part given up on combating insects. We do have a fairly large bird netting enclosure. We tried a tomato plant last season, it was decimated so its back to the vegepod for tomatoes. Peppers did just fine, despite the leaf damage.