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Garden pest #267503

Asked August 04, 2015, 2:29 PM EDT

trying to indentfy and eliminated the pest on my pepper plants. Perhaps wasps larvae because of the constant flying around the plants?

Galveston County Texas

Expert Response

The insects shown are mostly aphids (most aphid have no no wings but I can make out a couple of winged adult aphids), In the very upper edge and middle area of the first photo there is a white insect that may appear to be a mealybug but it mostly likely is an immature stage of the mealybug destroyer (a beneficial insect; click on the following for more info:
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-15_ladybug_mealybug_destroyer.ht...

There is an ant in the third photo (somewhat out-of-focus) but ants will "herd" aphids to collect their honeydee as a food supplement.
So, your primary insect pest would be aphids.
Many types of insecticides are available.
Sevin or malathion would be recommended conventional insecticides.
Safer's Insecticidal Soap or neem oil would be organic-type sprays.
Either way, be sure to avoid application during the heat of day as leaf burn may result. May incur some leaf burn anyway so suggest applying during very late in the evening. Will likely need to make a repeat application in  7-10 days.
NOTE: This system does permit naming of individual photos so I could not reference files by a unique file name.
An Ask Extension Expert Replied August 04, 2015, 3:37 PM EDT

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