Sweet Peppers & Little yellow "things"

Strafford, NH(Zone 5a)

I have little yellow critters on my sweet pepper plants, they are clustered around the new growth at the top of the plant. I washed them off, while I still had them in their pots. I was planting them in the earth today and noticed that they were back. These things are munching the leaves. Anybody see this before? Know a way to get rid of them without pesticides? Any info would be much appreciated.

Santa Ana, CA(Zone 9b)

Real small like aphids? Aphids do come in different colors...

Try (1) sharp stream of water and or squish 'em right where they are (yuck), which lasts until the first one gets back! OR
(2) Safer or GreenLight product especially for edibles (probably says TOMATOES on the label), OR dish-soap solution, I forget if it's a tsp or a TBL per quart or gallon... but the soap will at least stay on the leaves until rain or over-head watering washes it off, and discourage bugs from feasting on that particular leaf!

~'spin!~

Strafford, NH(Zone 5a)

Thanks, I'll try the dishsoap and 'squashing' technique, since I haven't tried it already. I don't know anything about aphids, to not sure. Do they look like tiny maggots?

Santa Ana, CA(Zone 9b)

Actually, I'm re-reading your description and aphids are sucking not munching pests, so if yours are leaving holes or skeletonizing the leaves, they're something else...

BUT, I suspect you have Green Peach aphids which it turns out are common on pepper plants (go figure).

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r604300111.html

They can carry viruses to your peppers, but as you read above linked site, remember they are talking to/about commercial growers as far as "not being worth controlling aphids 'just' to prevent viruses" etc, also why they wouldn't mention squishing as a viable control (if you had acres of plants!).

Hey, I learned something tonight: some (or all) aphids have a winged form (called 'alate aphids')!

There are also yellow rose aphids, yellow willow aphids, and Yellow Sugarcane Aphids (which also like sorghum)... and who knows how many other kinds which MAY be yellow at some time in their lifecycle... but the incidence of GPA warranting a specific article on the UCDavis site favors that I.D. -- what do you think?
~'spin!~

Strafford, NH(Zone 5a)

Gee, you know, I think that may very well be what it is. The wingless kind :-) I just went out to check my peppers and I only saw one, perhaps the 'Pesto' worked, but the sun has gone down so maybe they're not out. At any rate, it looked like it crawled when I put it on the napkin, which tells me I'm looking at a bug rather than a worm. I really didn't look any closer at them when I first saw them and rinsed them off, but next time I see them, I definitely will. I'll even put my glasses on :-)

Thanks for all your help, I truly appreciate it! I'll be squishing those aphids!

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