Bell peppers, the cultivated fruit of the plant Capsicum annuum, are a popular crop in home gardens, sought after for their versatility and sweet flavor. Gardeners invest time into nurturing these plants, making the sudden appearance of damage or missing fruit a frustrating mystery. Identifying the culprit requires careful observation, as a wide range of animals, from large nocturnal foragers to tiny invertebrates, find various parts of the pepper plant appealing. Understanding the specific signs left by different pests is the first step toward protecting your harvest.
Large Mammals and Nocturnal Eaters
Animals that feed under the cover of darkness often leave behind the most dramatic damage. White-tailed deer, though generally deterred by the capsaicin in hot peppers, will browse the foliage and stems of sweet bell peppers when other food sources are scarce. Deer damage is characterized by ragged tears on leaves and stems, usually occurring a foot or more above the ground, since they lack lower incisors and cannot make a clean cut.
Raccoons and opossums are opportunistic feeders whose presence is often marked by a destructive scene. Raccoons tend to remove entire mature fruits, often breaking the stem near the pepper and sometimes pulling over whole plants in their search for food. Opossums also sample ripe fruit, leaving behind partially eaten peppers with teeth marks. These larger mammals often leave clear trails or flattened areas in the garden.
Common Ground-Dwelling Pests
Smaller mammals operating closer to the soil line inflict localized damage. Rabbits target young, tender foliage and low-hanging fruit. Their feeding is identifiable by a clean, 45-degree angle cut on the stems of small plants or seedlings, a signature of their sharp incisors.
Squirrels pose a unique challenge, as they often take a single bite out of many different fruits. They may also dig in the soil around the plant base, sometimes burying nuts or disturbing the root system. Gophers and voles cause damage that is less visible on the surface, feeding on the plant’s roots and lower stems from below ground. Gophers may pull entire plants down into their tunnels, while voles create shallow surface runways and gnaw on stems near the soil line.
Insects and Mollusks: The Tiny Culprits
Damage from invertebrates manifests as small holes, skeletonized leaves, or residue. Slugs and snails thrive in moist conditions and leave behind a characteristic silvery slime trail on the soil and plant surfaces. They use rasping mouthparts to create large, ragged holes in leaves and fruit. Damage on the pepper itself can be a smooth, solitary hole where they have entered to feed on the interior.
Caterpillars, such as the tomato hornworm, readily feed on bell pepper foliage and fruit. These pests are capable of defoliating a plant quickly, leaving behind large bite marks on leaves and distinct, black droppings, known as frass. Cutworms are moth larvae active at night that can cause severe damage to young plants by chewing through the stem at or just below the soil surface, causing the seedling to collapse.
Reading the Signs: Matching Damage to the Animal
Identifying the perpetrator hinges on a forensic examination of the damage left behind.
Stem and Foliage Evidence
Clean, precise cuts on young stems, particularly near the ground, are a strong indication of rabbits. In contrast, large, ragged, or torn bites on the upper part of the plant suggest deer, who rip and pull foliage due to their lack of upper incisors. If entire, mature fruits are disappearing without a trace, particularly with a clean break at the stem, this points to a raccoon or opossum carrying the whole pepper away.
Fruit Damage
If you find small, shallow holes on the actual pepper fruit, the culprit is likely a squirrel, as they tend to abandon the fruit after a single exploratory bite. Slugs leave smooth, solitary entry points on the fruit and may be accompanied by a silvery slime trail nearby.
Subterranean and Insect Evidence
Evidence of root damage, such as wilting plants that pull easily from the soil, suggests subterranean rodents like gophers or voles. Gophers create fan-shaped mounds of soil, while voles leave behind open, one- to two-inch runways in the grass or mulch. If leaves are severely chewed with large bite marks and black, pellet-like droppings (frass) are present, you are likely dealing with a large caterpillar, requiring a nighttime search to find the camouflaged pest.