PESTS OF TOMATO

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PESTS OF TOMATO

• Dr. Jamba Gyeltshen
• 7/05/10

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Adult moth Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera
Noctuidae)
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Host range

• tomato
• peppers
• okra
• eggplant
• beans
• maize

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Damage

• Feed on tomato leaves and fruit.
• Larvae may also bore into stalks or midribs.
• When fruit is present, larvae enter it soon after
  hatching. They prefer green fruit and will enter
  it usually at the stem end, causing extensive
  direct damage and result in decay.

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Young egg
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Mature egg
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Egg

• Eggs are tiny, hemispherical, and slightly
  flattened on top with coarse striations or ribs
  running from base to tip.
• Fruitworm eggs are laid singly on both upper and
  lower surfaces of the leaves usually in the upper
  part of the plant.
• When first laid they are creamy white, but
  develop a reddish brown ring after 24 hours.

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Young larva
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Colour variation

• The young larvae are yellowish-white with a brown
  head and conspicuous black tubercles and hairs

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Management

• Monitor eggs and small larvae. Choose leaves
  located below the highest open flower.
• Avoid planting tomato along with maize or near
  maize fields to prevent heavy pest infestations
• Insecticides fenvalerate, cypermethrin and
  chlorpyrifos.

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Blister beetle (Epicauta spp)

• Blister Beetles - slender gray or black beetles
  with red head, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long.

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Blister beetle damage
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Blister beetle damage
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Lifecycle

• The adults eat the leaves of the plants and
  skeletonize the plants but the larvae feed on
  grasshopper eggs and are therefore somewhat
  beneficial.
• They usually arrive late in the season
  (July-August) as mature adults that overwintered
  in the soil.
• Each adult can lay 50-300 eggs in the soil which
  hatch 10-21 days later.
• The larvae eat and molt thru 7 stages before
  returning to the soil for the winter.
• They can be hand-picked but wear gloves as they
  extrude a caustic fluid in self-defense. Chemical
  controls include pyrethrins and 5 Sevin.

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Green peach aphid

• Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Insecta Hemoptera
  Aphididae

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Description

• Soft-bodied and pear-shaped, ranging from 1.6 to
  2.4 mm long
• The wingless green peach aphid adult is
  pale-yellow to green. In the fall, color may
  range from pale- to dark-green to pink or red.
• The winged migrant form has a yellowish green
  abdomen with a dark dorsal blotch.
• Both forms have a pair of tailpipe like
  appendages known as cornicles.
• Nymphs are slightly smaller than the adult but
  similar in shape. They are pale yellow-green with
  three, dark lines on the abdomen.

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Distribution and host range

• Cosmopolitan
• Infests a wide range of crops (tomato, chilli,
  potato, tobacco, cabbage, leafy green vegetables,
  legumes) and trees of Prunus spp. (Peach, plum,
  nectarine)

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Description of the pest

• The green peach aphid is recognized by three
  longitudinal dark green stripes on the pale green
  body.

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Damage

• The green peach aphid has piercing sucking
  mouthparts, and feeds by inserting these
  mouthparts into plant tissue and sucking out the
  sap.
• The aphids injures plants in three ways.
• First, feeding interferes with proper nutrient
  transfer in the plant.
• Second, the green peach aphid can transmit over
  100 plant diseases, including cucumber mosaic
  virus on peppers.

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Damage

• Finally, aphids produce a large amount of
  excrement called honey dew because of its high
  sugar content. Honey dew sticks to the leaves and
  often becomes a substrate for fungus, which
  causes smutting of leaves and fruit.
• Plants injured by aphid feeding will have leaves
  that appear curled, distorted and discolored.

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