Kitchen Garden Forum

Help! I am a newbie veg gardener. One of the plants that seemed to be doing really well was the sweet peppers until they got a terrific attack of greenfly. Have had to keep respraying them as the flies keep coming back. I have managed to get one plant completely clean (fingers crossed) and its little baby peppers seem fine but all the other plants (where i am still fighting off the greenfly) seem to have black patches in the skin of the fruit. Are the two related and can i still eat the peppers or should i just quit whilst behind? I have been using an organic spray.

Hi there, Does the skin on your peppers look shiny like the rest of the pepper, or does it look diseased. If it is shiny it is probably just changing colour due to the ripening process. My Sunny Brook sweet peppers have got blackish markings on them before they actually turn red.

I don't use pesticides, but have had to resort to buying some lace wing larvae this year as there were no ladybirds or other predators to sort out the aphids. I rub them off with my fingers if they aren't too bad, but they were a real problem this year. The lace wing larvae worked brilliantly and cleaned up the plants in no time, then they matured into adult lace wings, so hopefully will eradicate any further aphid infestations in the garden or greenhouse.

I saw my first ladybird this year just this afternoon! I can't believe how few flying insect there are this year around us (not a single honey bee seen all summer in this garden) and there are no intensive farming practises, it is mainly grazing land hereabouts. I thought I saw an amazing photo of ladybirds all over the roads and cars in Norfolk though, so they must all be there!

Yes, Elle, I saw that on the news and thought about going to Norfolk for a couple of bucket fulls of ladybirds. I've found two tiny two spot ladybirds in the garden today, so I don't think they will solve the aphid problem.

I was hoping the huge influx might spread this way, but I suppose the wind is in the wrong direction.

Thanks for this Plumpudding. The skins are shiny and the black parts are shiny too. I had no idea that they would go black as they ripened. How strange. At least i know for next year.

Hi Pixley

Some of my red peppers are showing black patches, as they often do before they start ripening to red. I have had no aphids this year so I treat the black patches as normal.

By the way, what variety are your peppers?

My long pointed Italian variety red peppers are also showinh black shady patches on their skins although the blackish areas are shiny too. They're up against a brick wall and the black areas are at the front of the plants which catch most sunlight. This is the second year I've grown them and noticed this and it does appear to be part of the normal process of ripening to red, although it's strange that one doesn't notice this happening with red tomatoes. It's always a little disconcerting when something happens which you don't expect but the skins are much thicker than tomatoes and it may just be one of the plant's natural ways of dealing with sunlight and ripening.