I’m in a bit of a quandary in the greenhouse this spring. Some pests are eating the new peppers I planted a week ago, but I can’t pinpoint the culprit.

The outsides of the leaves are nibbled the entire way around. It looks like someone working on a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup.

Pill Bugs? Earwigs?

My first thought was the pill bugs: the seemingly innocuous anthropods that roll up in a ball when you touch them. I’ve never known them to be an issue, but we do have a lot of pill bugs in the warm, moist greenhouse. From what I’ve read, they prefer decaying matter, but will eat live plants. It might be them.

My second option is the wretched earwigs. These pests always bad, but I don’t think they eat the outer edge of the leaves. The holes in the middle of my lettuce look more like their work. And slugs, which would normally be a primary culprit, really aren’t around here. I don’t know if I’ve seen one since we’ve lived here.

I’ve even tiptoed out to the greenhouse at night with my solar garden light in hand trying to catch them in the act. Our neighbors probably think Im a little kooky crawling around the floor of the greenhouse with a light although I cant say any of them would be surprised. I didnt have any luck finding anything that might be eating the plants. Im puzzled and very concerned because the pepper plants are finally growing well with our warm days. I cant leave them for a wretched little insect to devour.

Killing Mystery Pests

So, what to do when you can’t identify your enemy? Try everything short of the nuclear option. I sprinkled diatomaceous earth around them two days ago, but of course it loses effectiveness once its wet. The one good thing is I dont think there was new damage after I applied it, but I wasnt confident theyd be safe.

My next action was to cut off the bottom of yogurt containers to place around each seedling to collar and hopefully protect them from pests. My thought was if pill bugs are the culprit, theyre going to have a very difficult time crawling over the container to access the plant. If earwigs are the eaters, they can probably reach them without a problem.

After a few days, it appears the collars did the trick. The bite marks are healing up a bit, and I dont see new ones. But Ill still keep dusting them with diatomaceous earth and will leave the collars on them at least for several more weeks.

Its frustrating enough when you have something eating your plants, but even more maddening when you cant look your enemy in their beady little eyes!