Pests affecting vanilla
Sl. No. |
Pest attack |
Name of the pest |
Symptoms |
Control measures |
1 |
Vanilla bug |
Halyomorpha spp. , Picus spp. |
Sucks the sap from the vegetative bud and inflorescence leading to rotting |
Collect the egg mass at first nymph stage in Nov-Feb |
2 |
Vanilla vine weevil |
Sipalus sp. |
Black coloured weevil bores into and eats tender stem and leaves |
Collect and destroy the weevils during adult stage during Nov-Feb. |
3 |
Beetle |
Saula ferruginea |
Adults cut through the leaf from the lower surface eating the entire leaf tissue except the thick translucent cuticle of epidermis |
Collect and destroy or spray 0.1 percent Malathion |
4 |
White grubs |
Scarabaeidae |
Feeds on roots and destroys them |
Drench the soil at the base with 0.05 percent Chloropyriphos. |
5 |
Caterpillar |
Plusia aurifera |
Light greenish caterpillars feed on vegetative shoots and first leaf forming a web in between |
Collect and destroy. |
6 |
Achatina |
Achatina spp. |
Feed on the young shoots and leaves which turn whitish |
Collect and destroy. Avoid mulch material that do not decompose easily. Spray sevin dust. |