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Moth larvae on chilli plant?
gaia1972
Posts: 19
Hi, I have notice white eggs on the underside of the leaves of my chilli plant (kept in the conservatory). At the same time I notice 'hatchlings' hanging from silks from the leaves. I had these last year on my basil plant (which they destroyed) but have never successfully identified them and therefore cannot safely treat. When they were on my basil plant, I found more mature larvae just under the surface of the loose topsoil. They climbed the plant overnight and had a good old feed. I am being more vigilant with the chilli plant and am removing them by hand wherever possible and pinching out leaves where I see eggs but I'm sure one or two will get passed me. Can anyone help with this?
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Could you ost a photo of the little monsters.
I've actually gotten rid of them by hand at the moment, but keep watching this post as I will as soon as I can see some more. I'm not sure how clear a photo would be though as the are only about 2mm long... Thanks for responding
My husband reckons it could be red spider mite (he grows alot of chillis),
There is a lady called Stacey on the forum who is a real expert on chillis so hopefully she'll see this and respond too.
Hi Gardenmaiden (& anyone else who's able to help), here is a photo of the little critter. This is obviously enlarged but this one was about 3mm long, I zoomed in with my camera phone, so not sure how good the quality will be. I don't think it's a red spider mite but I could stand corrected.. thanks
Here's another photo, I hope someone can help...
Thanks Edd, but what are they? I've never heard of them... And any ideas on how to get rid??
I pick sawfly larvae off whatever plant it is they're on and sling them out for the birds. I don't know if the birds eat them but as far as I know they don't get back
In the sticks near Peterborough
Okay, I just Wiki'd Sawfly and I don't think that's it. These hang from the leaves by a silk once they're hatched. Also it says that the female Sawfly cuts into the leaf to lay her eggs.. When I saw the eggs they were clearly laid on the underside of the leaf. They hatch and then the tiny caterpillars hang from their 'silks' and land on the topsoil of the plant and stay there most of the day from what I can tell. They then crawl up the plant at night & have a munch. I haven't allowed it to get this far in my chilli plant but this is what happened on my basil plant last year.
Thanks nutcutlet - I think our posts crossed over then! These larvae are too tiny to put out for the birds: like I said previously, they are only 2-3 mm long. I only got luck witht he photo because there was a couple hanging from their threads and they happened to land on the white table that the plant is standing on! They're also very delicate and it's easy to squash them, lol!! Also I don't know if it's helpful, but the reason I originally thought it may be some sort of little moth is that I tend to leave the conservatory doors open on these warm summer evenings and we do tend to get a moth invasion; not many flies though apart from housefly (the annoying sort that leave pooh on your windows).
Thanks again Edd. Just thought of something else that may be relevant - it lays it's eggs in a 'honeycomb' pattern.. Don't know if that helps with the identifation or whether they all do...