What is causing the tiny pinholes in pepper and eggplant leaves?

jthreadsmith1 4/30/2011, 10:45 am

My pepper and eggplant seedlings have been planted a couple of weeks. The smallest, weakest ones have developed tiny little holes all over the leaves, and the leaves are not as green as the other plants, but a little pale. Clearly they are under attack but I can't see any kind of culprit. Anyone know what is going on and how to treat it organically?

**camprn** 4/30/2011, 12:14 pm

Oh Dear!! so sorry to hear this. Could you post a photo of the plants and then a closer one of a leaf, that would help us to determine what may be going on.

elliephant 4/30/2011, 1:10 pm

Flea beetles? I'm afraid I don't know what to do about it (mine just seemed to outgrow the problem when I ignored it long enough) but that might at least give you a term to search on.

jthreadsmith1 5/2/2011, 11:21 am

Thanks for the responses. I will try to post some photos of the damage. It seems I have had this issue before on eggplants and they did actually outgrow it. I did look up flea beetles and the photgraphs of their "pinholes" looks suspiciously similar to mine. Neem was recommended on one website.

dmsandlin 5/2/2011, 1:35 pm

Had flea beetles on my eggplant last year. They were small, black bugs that jumped if I didn't get them in time. I made it a habbit of looking at the plants daily and killing whatever bugs I saw. That tended to keep them in check and I got plenty of eggplants, so it must not have hurt production.

jthreadsmith1 5/2/2011, 2:21 pm

Thanks, dmsandlin. So far I can't find a single critter on my eggplants. I'm trying to inspect the top and bottom of the leaves daily, but they must be faster than my eye!

GreenBlueberry 5/2/2011, 3:52 pm

They are flea beetles. They LOVED my only eggplant. I have been going daily to check it and squash the little buggers one by one. I also ready that they don't like wet leaves so I am wetting them for now. I tried Neem and Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew, but they didn't work.
Now that my peppers are big they have left them alone, but the eggplant is still a seedling. It's a fighter though, and since it is still growing I haven't checked it. Hopefully it will grow big enough soon so that the beetles leave it alone. I read that once it's grown, they don't attack it anymore.

jthreadsmith1 5/2/2011, 4:10 pm

Thanks greenblueberry! Is there a specific time of day that you see them? I was just about to try Neem, so maybe I'll try water instead! Hope my little eggplant and pepper seedlings make it to become plants before the nasty flea beetles obliterate their leaves!

If only all vegetables were as easy to grow as okra and Swiss chard have been for me. They seem indestructable and must be totally unappealing to bugs.

GreenBlueberry 5/2/2011, 4:34 pm

Well, there is no harm in using the neem, try it, maybe it will work for you, but also just keep squashing them and nursing your plants so they make it Smile

busygirl 5/30/2011, 3:37 pm

jthreadsmith1 wrote:Thanks, dmsandlin. So far I can't find a single critter on my eggplants. I'm trying to inspect the top and bottom of the leaves daily, but they must be faster than my eye!

I was trying to research the same problem two days ago. I also determined flea beetles, but haven't seen any. The info I found said that if the plant makes it to the 5-leaf stage, it would be resistant to the damage. I don't think two of mine (of the 4 that are already in the SFG) are going to make it, but I still have two in peat pots on my deck that the beetles haven't found. Since I haven't caught the little buggers in the act (edited to add that I have looked at different times of day from sunrise to sunset), my current plan is to keep the plants on the deck until they have 5 leaves then transplant them to the squares where the ones are currently being attacked. So far, both the tomatoes and peppers on either side of the egg plants are fine, so I will use the current victims as trap crop until my others are large enough.

jthreadsmith1 5/31/2011, 4:48 pm

That sounds like a good idea to have a trap crop. I'm happy to report that my eggplants survived the onslaught of flea beetles. I suppose they must have been in the 5 leaf stage by then. It's amazing that they could have looked so ravished and still made it, but they did! In fact, one of my Ichibans has already given me an eggplant. It was a flower one day and the next time I looked there was a 3-inch eggplant! I let it grow to about 5 inches and then harvested it and threw it on the grill with some other vegetables. Anyone ever heard of grilled radishes? I sliced the eggplant, radishes and spring onions in thick slices, threw in 7 whole filet green beans and sliced sweet peppers (the only item that didn't come from my garden), tossed the mix with 1 T. olive oil and some garlic salt. We sauted them in a "holey" pan on the grill. Divine!!

busygirl 5/31/2011, 7:34 pm

I am so jealous that you are already getting more than salad! I need to get back to the South!! One of the girls at work today said that she had heard that eggplant is the flea beetles' first choice and they will mostly leave everything else alone if there are eggplants around, so I may PLAN to use them as a trap crop next year instead of it happening by accident like it did this year. That or start them in peat pots and leave not transplant them until they have more leaves.

I am very excited to see what I get this year. bounce

nappen 6/8/2019, 1:21 pm

I am having the same problem on 8 of my pepper plants and my eggplant. I guess I will cross my fingers and hope they make it. I have not been able to find any bugs on them. At least this post was reassuring Very Happy

---edit---just went out and saw that there are a few little holes in my tomatoes too now, so maybe a different problem.

**sanderson** 6/8/2019, 3:47 pm

I've probably had flea beetles but not identified as such. There are a few threads on flea beetles that can be accessed through the Search box.

Welcome to the Forum! $glad you\'re here$

OhioGardener 6/8/2019, 4:07 pm

Here is a good article on controlling flea beetles:

https://www.planetnatural.com/pest-problem-solver/garden-pests/flea-beetle-control/

**Scorpio Rising** 6/11/2019, 8:04 pm

I have the same situation on my eggplants....grr! study

**Scorpio Rising** 6/11/2019, 8:16 pm

OK, had to search my notes...this worked:

I used Simple Truth Castile Peppermint soap, a couple teaspoons but you can use any soap.

Water
Hot sauce (Tabasco, is best...got hot)
A bit of oil (whatever you have to act as a surfactant)

Spray on your affected plants underneath the leaves and of course on top. If it rains, you will need to re-apply.

OhioGardener 6/11/2019, 8:32 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:I used Simple Truth Castile Peppermint soap, a couple teaspoons but you can use any soap.

Just make sure the soap is not antibacterial. That is the good thing about Castile soap.

**Scorpio Rising** 6/15/2019, 11:46 pm

OhioGardener wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:I used Simple Truth Castile Peppermint soap, a couple teaspoons but you can use any soap.

Just make sure the soap is not antibacterial. That is the good thing about Castile soap.

Right!

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What is causing the tiny pinholes in pepper and eggplant leaves?

What is causing the tiny pinholes in pepper and eggplant leaves?

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This worked for me...

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Re: What is causing the tiny pinholes in pepper and eggplant leaves?


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