disease or stink bugs?

b54red · July 27, 2015

All of my bell peppers are producing like crazy this summer despite the heat but I am also throwing away over half of them as I pick them and most of the others have so many flaws on them that I only get half the usable flesh off them. They start developing these round soft spots that are slightly sunken in about the time they start changing color and the spots increase in size and number as they ripen. By the time they are fully red or yellow many are so covered by these spots they are unusable. Frequently these spots cause terrible rotting if they get too bad on a pepper. I have been using Daconil, copper, and the bleach spray to stop this without much success though it has improved on some of them. No pesticides have been applied to them at all other than the little amount of soap in the sprays. I know I have stink bugs but they are not noticebly everywhere like I saw last year but could they be causing this or is it a type of disease that just doesn't respond to the regular fungicides I have been using? I am also getting a lot of sun scald due to the intense sun this year but that is to be expected and is just a normal part of mid summer pepper production down here. I have also had a fair number of my peppers fall prey to TSWV this year so about a quarter of them have had to be removed but the same thing has happened to the tomatoes.

Bill

RayR · July 27, 2015

Very possible it's not fungal Bill. Did you go through the Pepper & Eggplant Disease Guide and see if the symptoms match up?

b54red · July 27, 2015

The symptoms don't seem to match any of them. It is also only affecting bells but no other kind of pepper.

Bill

Mojave · July 27, 2015

Any pictures? Stink bugs eventually totaled my peppers last year,mostly my jalapenos, they did a number on my tomatoes too. Haven't had any problems this year (yet).

b54red · July 28, 2015

I think whatever it is it is fungal because I really laid into all my plants about a week ago when I sprayed the bleach solution. I added a good bit of dish washing soap in hopes of slowing the spider mites on my tomatoes down and I over did it. I sprayed and sprayed to the point of puddling on the leaves and lots of dripping. The result was some leaf burn but when I picked my peppers today they had fewer spots on them than they have had and a few were totally clear so some improvement is going on. I guess I'll hit them again with the bleach spray in a few days because it seems that the fungicides did nothing and they have been sprayed on every week.

Bill

July 27, 2015	#1
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	disease or stink bugs? All of my bell peppers are producing like crazy this summer despite the heat but I am also throwing away over half of them as I pick them and most of the others have so many flaws on them that I only get half the usable flesh off them. They start developing these round soft spots that are slightly sunken in about the time they start changing color and the spots increase in size and number as they ripen. By the time they are fully red or yellow many are so covered by these spots they are unusable. Frequently these spots cause terrible rotting if they get too bad on a pepper. I have been using Daconil, copper, and the bleach spray to stop this without much success though it has improved on some of them. No pesticides have been applied to them at all other than the little amount of soap in the sprays. I know I have stink bugs but they are not noticebly everywhere like I saw last year but could they be causing this or is it a type of disease that just doesn't respond to the regular fungicides I have been using? I am also getting a lot of sun scald due to the intense sun this year but that is to be expected and is just a normal part of mid summer pepper production down here. I have also had a fair number of my peppers fall prey to TSWV this year so about a quarter of them have had to be removed but the same thing has happened to the tomatoes. Bill

July 27, 2015	#4
Mojave Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SF Bay area Z9a Posts: 821	Any pictures? Stink bugs eventually totaled my peppers last year,mostly my jalapenos, they did a number on my tomatoes too. Haven't had any problems this year (yet). __________________ Bill _______________________________________________ When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. -John Muir Believe those who seek the Truth: Doubt those who find it. -André Gide Last edited by Mojave; July 27, 2015 at 03:54 PM. Reason: left out a word

July 27, 2015	#2
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	Very possible it's not fungal Bill. Did you go through the Pepper & Eggplant Disease Guide and see if the symptoms match up?

July 28, 2015	#5
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	I think whatever it is it is fungal because I really laid into all my plants about a week ago when I sprayed the bleach solution. I added a good bit of dish washing soap in hopes of slowing the spider mites on my tomatoes down and I over did it. I sprayed and sprayed to the point of puddling on the leaves and lots of dripping. The result was some leaf burn but when I picked my peppers today they had fewer spots on them than they have had and a few were totally clear so some improvement is going on. I guess I'll hit them again with the bleach spray in a few days because it seems that the fungicides did nothing and they have been sprayed on every week. Bill