Adult weevils, but not their offspring, can survive on other host plants including tomato and horsenettle. Weevils feed externally on foliage, blossom buds and tender pods. Larvae, or grubs, which feed within buds and pods, account for more damage. Infested buds and blossoms often fall from plants. Larvae usually feed in the seed core of peppers but occasionally tunnel in the pod walls.
Infested peppers contain black frass.
Infestations usually pass unnoticed until stems of young peppers yellow, wither and drop their fruit. Once a few fallen pods are observed, serious damage has occurred, and many more pods will fall over the following 10 days. Some infested pods prematurely turn red or yellow and may become malformed before dropping to the ground. Pepper weevils pass the winter on live pepper or nightshade plants in the more tropical areas of southern Florida, California and Texas. Their entrance into North Carolina results from movement of pepper transplants from infested plant beds in southern Florida.