A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening Bugs eating my jalapeno, anaheim and bell peppers!

Help, last year we had 4 varieties of beautiful, healthy pepper plants; jalapeno, anaheim, bell and cayenne. Just as they were maturing for harvest, I noticed that the ends of the peppers turning a purple/black color. I saw a small hole in those peppers turning, just at the base of each stem. When I broke open the pepper, there were tiny larvae, blackish/gray and only about 1/4 inch or less long, that were consuming the insides of the peppers. The only ones that weren't affected were the cayenne peppers!
Can anyone tell me what they were (no one here in VT seems to know) and how I can avoid this happening again? We don't want to use pesticides, as we live in a heavily wooded area, feed the birds and wildlife and consume what we grow.
Please help.
Thanks
AJR49

I'm not sure what you have. But you might try neem oil. I've also used lemon dish washing soap in water and spray it on too help in some cases. But in yours it would help to know what you have. Have you contacted your extension service? They should be able to identify or get an identification of what it is. Then the control will be a lot easier knowing what you are fighting. Without knowing it is a shot in the dark about what will work. JD