Out of curiosity, I have to ask: did you happen to recently plant these peppers in potting soil? When I was apartment-bound, I used the extremely unsuccessful combination of potting soil, pepper seeds, and a window planter. All those bug eggs in the potting soil hatched soon after my seeds sprouted, and my plants were toast. I used the sterile potting mix this year, and haven't had a problem at all. (As a sidebar, I have my first cayenne fruit, and the plants won't be in the ground until later this week. Maybe a hint from the peppers that I need to get the rest of the garden dug up.) I've seen some books recommend re-planting soil-infested plants in a sterile mix; a bit extreme unless you know the soil is the souce of the problem. All this is, of course, probably moot if you're using sterile soil. Either way, I'd definitely give Sharen's "give-'em-a-bath" tip a try. Steve > -----Original Message----- > From: Rosana M. F. Cardoso [mailto:rmfc@mail.utexas.edu] > Sent: Thursday, May 07, 1998 10:10 AM > To: chile-heads@globalgarden.com > Subject: [CH] What do I do??? > > > > Hi Kids! > > Just found out this morning that my potted cayennes are infested with > gnats. I mean, ***really*** infested. I hate to do this, but > since they are > so many I think I'll need some drastic measures, like spray some > insecticide. Is there any other non-chemical option? I need > to kill the > buggers that are now flying all over the place, but I also need to do > something about the ones that are still in the soil getting > ready to emerge. > Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. > Cheers! > > > Rosana > >