sticky white substance found on my red peppers HELP!!!

I am growing sweet peppers, There're " Burpee, signature sweet pepper, crispy hybrid" and have been doing great, producing nice red peppers, but today, when I went out to pick the one's that are ready, I discovered this white sticky web looking stuff on the back of the leaves. I need help in getting rid of it, and to know what it is, and what is causing it. My garden is a container garden, I water twice a day, careful not to get the leaves wet, and because I live in Florida, it tends to get very hot during the day, so I water early morning, and than again in late afternoon. My plants are putting out a nice harvest, but I'm afraid that whatever this is, will destroy my plants. Can someone please advise me?
I just moved back to Florida after a year and a half of living in Thailand, I was a member of DG before I left, and just recently returned as a member. This is my first container garden, so far so good, but this has me miffed! I'd look for the answer on here, but time isn't on my side, so I figured I'd just ask, and hope for a quick answer!

Thank you kindly for any help you can give me! :) Jami

it looks like an infestation of white fly, nest, eggs, nymphs and adults. do they fly if you brush the leaves?

yes, they do, look like very tiny, pin head moths! How do I eradicate them ? I appreciate any help you can give me, I googled this problem, found no answers, and than remembered, I have DG for guidance now. I have to start using this site more, since I signed up for it. Thanks for any input you have! Jami

whitefly is one of the more difficult pests to control. first, i would go out and cut every single leaf with any signs of babies or "nests" and dispose of them in a tied plastic bag. this link is not for the purpose of selling anything but just a primer on whitefly control. http://www.ghorganics.com/whiteflies.html
i would use a liquid castile soap (check your walgreens) and water and spray, spray, spray...making sure to get the underside of the leaves. i'm surprised you don't have spider mites. they love the undersides of dry leaves too. you can spray the castile mixture morning and evening and also whenever you see any, zap them.

I did pull some of the leaves, and I did spray with a mixture of 1 tbls. of Palmolive dish soap and water in a regular size spray bottle, I'll go to the store tomorrow and get the castile soap, and spray again, and also remove the rest of the leaves that show signs of damage. As for dry leaves, They're not dry, just droopy from the afternoon sun, when you do a container garden, the water evaporates quicker, than if the plant was in the ground. And Spider Mites, what do they look like, I can google it, here's the other thing that I'm curious about, I have jalapeno peppers, and poinsettia peppers, and they are fine. I wonder why the white fly like's the red pepper plants, and not them. Really weird, This is my first year doing a container garden, I love it, as I always put everything in the ground, and the stuff would die by the mid summer. This year I did seeds in on my lanai, I had grow lights and started them in January, and than transplanted them into containers, I than put everything in the yard after the last frost we had, which , I think was late Feb. Everything was beautiful, and I had a good bounty so far, just wondering why these whiteflys decided to use my red peppers as a breeding ground. Thanks for the info, Here's some pictures of my yard, I live in a town house, so space was limited, but i made the best of the space I had.

your garden is amazing! i haven't been brave enough to start a real vegetable garden yet....working on it for fall.
i have no good answer for why a pest favors one plant over another. i have had whitefly a few times and it is never the whole garden, just a plant here and there. i know they are hard to get rid of so you really have to keep at it. call your walgreens and see if they carry dr. bronner's castile. i just noticed that our walgreens here in umatilla is starting to carry it. i think target carries it too. i get mine on amazon. it is an all natural soap made of oils yet is not oily feeling. since i haven't used it on vegetables yet, i would spray your first time in the evening. i can't guarantee that it won't burn the leaves a bit spraying in the morning but it doesn't burn any of my ornamentals.

the reason i mentioned spider mites is because you said you didn't get the leaves wet. you won't see spider mites so much as the damage they cause. they like dry windy conditions and are teeny tiny but you can see and feel fine webbing and grit on the underside of the leaves. contrary to what is suggested, i water in the evening and i have above ground sprinklers that soak everything top to bottom. we're really windy here and the mites love it but they hate water and won't tolerate it.

Hi Jam,
I have had white fly desease on many plants over the years. I go to Lowes and get organizide and spray after washing off leaves both top and bottom with hard stream of water from hose. It usually gets rid of them right away.
It is an all natural spray. I have never had any luck with neem oil on any plants. I think its too harmless and some pests are very persistent. Sooty mold got on a confederate rose plant I had that was quite large. I treated it every year for a long time and couldn't cure it so yanked it out and threw it away. Some things just aren't worth struggling with year after year.
Hope you get rid of your pests. Your container garden looks great.
Bonnie

Thank you for all the information, and for the very nice compliment on my garden! I have been taking the worse leaves off the red pepper plant, and than spraying wit a mixture of dish soap and water, it seems to have helped, but for now, I'll let the plant run it's course. What's so funny is there is a jalapeno plant right next to it, and it has no damage. I guess the white flies don't like the heat. lol.
I'm going to start getting ready for my fall winter garden, all seeds again, the only plants I bought from a store were my tomato plants. I want to start my seeds towards the end August, most of what I planted this spring has already produced their vegetables, and under the hot Florida sun have begun to wilt. The pots can't hold the water through the day, the water is evaporating as fast as I can water them. The only plant that hasn't produced yet is my brussel sprouts, and I have my fingers crossed, that the sun doesn't get to the plant before my sprouts are big enough to start harvesting, they're about the size of a marble, and I keep the soil as moist as I can with out the plant getting moldy feet. I tried to post some pictures for this post, this is the 2nd one I wrote, but the pictures wouldn't upload and I lost my whole response to you all. Anyway, when I looked at my red pepper plant this morning, it's looking pretty good, I kept on it everyday, and seem to have licked the problem for now, but I'll be ready the next time this happens. Everything else did well, but my summer squash, and cucumbers. Really weird, they both produced a few fruits, than the ends of the fruits got rotten, and the plants seemed to turn brown, and started dying off. We had a big 4 day rain, and I'm afraid the pot's weren't draining fast enough and I ended up with root rot ? That's another subject, so I'll re-direct elsewhere, if I don't find the info I'm looking for any where in the garden section.
Again, Thank you for such nice compliments, I always loved Dave's Garden, and the people here. I'm happy to be back after my year long visit to Thailand! Again, that's another topic to discuss. Hope to see you in that discussion when I start a topic, on retirees moving abroad ! Have a happy Dave's Garden day, Jami

summer squash and cukes here were planted early and produced tons of fruit but fizzled out earlier than normal.

pictures haven't been loading properly lately for lots of people. hopefully admin is getting the problem fixed.