Bhendi fruit borer: Helicoverpa armigera

Symptoms of damage:

• Feed on the flowers
• Circular boreholes on fruits
• Larva thrust only part of their body inside the fruit feed

Identification of pest:

• Eggs: Are spherical in shape and creamy white in colour, laid singly
• Larva: Shows colour variation from greenish to brown
• Pupa: Brown in colour, occurs in soil, leaf, and pod
• Adult: Female brownish yellow stout moth, Male is pale greenish in colour with V shaped markings

Management:

• Collect and destroy the infected fruits and grown up larvae
• Grow simultaneously 40 days old American tall marigold and 25 days old tomato seedling at 1:10 rows to attract Helicoverpa adults for egg laying.
• Setup pheromone trap with Helilure at 15/ha
• Six releases of T. chilonis @ 50,000/ha per week coinciding with flowering time
• Release Chrysoperla carnea at weekly interval at 50,000 eggs or grubs/ha from 30 DAS
• Spray HaNPV at 1.5x1012 POB/ha along with cottonseed oil 300 g/ha to kill larvae.
• Spray carbaryl 50 WP 2 g/lit or B. thuringiensis 2 g/lit
• Do not spray insecticides after maturity of fruits.