common pest in southern California, but often migrates up to areas with warm winters
Adult is a small beetle (1/8″ long) with a dark body that looks brassy
Larvae are off-white grubs with a brown head, 1/4″ at maturity
Adult females lay their eggs in holes created in pepper buds or at the base of young fruit (peppers).
Peppers are damaged when the larvae hatches and starts feeding inside the seed core or pepper walls; younger peppers will drop when infested, but the older, larger, peppers will stay on and allow the weevil population to grow, almost undetected
Adult weevils also damage peppers by eating the fruit and leaf buds
Peppers are their primary hosts, but they will eat all the nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, etc)
Control the pest by:
crop rotation
field sanitation (clearing last year’s debris, and any leaf or peppers that drop)
remove nightshade weeds or volunteers from around your garden