Caterpillars are boring holes into my tomato fruits. How do I control fruit borer?
How to control fruit borer in tomato (tamatar)?
SSrinivas1yr ago · 413 views
4 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓1yr ago
Tomato fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera) bores into fruits making them unmarketable, and is best managed with an IPM approach rather than sprays alone. Install pheromone traps to monitor and mass trap moths, and put up bird perches. Release the egg parasitoid Trichogramma where available, and spray neem seed kernel extract at 5 percent or a Bt formulation early when larvae are small. Collect and destroy bored fruits and grown larvae so the population does not build. If pressure is high, use a recommended selective insecticide such as emamectin benzoate or spinosad and rotate chemistries to avoid resistance; avoid repeated use of the same group. Field sanitation, marigold as a trap crop, and timely action at egg or early larval stage give the best, low residue control. Follow the label dose and pre harvest interval.
VVenkatesh1yr ago
Pheromone traps plus picking and destroying the bored fruits kept my borer down without heavy spraying. Marigold rows around the plot also helped.
RRamakrishna1yr ago
Spray when the larvae are tiny. Once the caterpillar is deep inside the fruit no spray reaches it, so I watch for eggs and small larvae and act then, not after I see big holes.
SSubba Rao1yr ago
Marigold as a trap crop is worth doing in Andhra. The moths prefer to lay on the marigold, and I scout those rows first. It is not a full answer but it concentrates the pest and cuts how much I spray on the tomato.