Cutworms on tea.: Agrotis segetum, Agrotis ipsilon;
Publication: PlantwisePlus Knowledge Bank
Pest Management Decision Guides
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Prevention
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Avoid planting crops in or near fields with a known history of cutworm infestations.
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Prior to planting, plough the field to expose any cutworm larvae to the sun and natural enemies.
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Remove weeds from the plantation and neighbouring areas to reduce host plant availability.
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Avoid the use of broad spectrum insecticides to conserve natural enemies such as parasitic wasps, ants, spiders and lacewings.
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Plant sunflowers as a border around tea plantations as a trap crop.
Monitoring
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Monitor for cutworm activity during the early morning and late evening as this is when larvae are most active above ground.
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Symptoms of cutworm infestation include feeding activity on leaves, stalks and stems by larvae which can result if heavy defoliation. Larvae can also feed on roots and tubers, leaving small holes.
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Damage is more severe under dry conditions, deeper below the soil surface.
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Eggs are found stuck to plant material and on soil, pale red/pink in colour and roughly 0.5 mm in diameter.
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Larvae are 2-4 cm long, with dark brown/grey heads and cream/brown bodies.
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Pupa are 20-30 mm long, yellow/brown which darkens during development.
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Adult moths have a wingspan of 4-45 mm with grey/brown wings. Females have grey hind wings and males have silver/white hind wings.
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Consider direct control actions as soon as larval activity is identified.
Direct Control
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Handpick larvae during the early morning and late evening during low infestations.
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Use biological control measures such as the release of Trichogramma spp. Release weekly for 3 weeks as soon as adult moths are identified.
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Apply a paste solution of molasses, sawdust and eggshells around the base of plant stems to kill larvae before they can climb up and eat away at the crops.
Indexing Terms
Descriptors
- arthropod pests
- biological control
- biological control agents
- control
- cultural control
- extension
- insect control
- insect pests
- larvae
- molasses
- monitoring
- natural enemies
- parasites
- parasitoids
- pest control
- pest management
- pests
- physical control
- plant pests
- ploughing
- predators
- predatory insects
- sawdust
- tea
- trap crops
- weed control
- weeds
Organism Descriptors
Identifiers
- ants
- biocontrol agents
- biological control organisms
- Cotesia ruficurus
- cutworms
- lacewings
- pest arthropods
- pest insects
- pest management decision guides
- plowing
- predaceous insects
- predacious insects
- spiders
- tachinid flies
- wasps
- biocontrol
- advisory services
- extension activities
- subsaharan Africa
- Abyssinia
- Burma
- Ceylon
- Nyasaland
- People's Republic of China
- Viet Nam
Geographical Locations
Broader Terms
- Agrotis
- Noctuidae
- Lepidoptera
- insects
- Hexapoda
- arthropods
- invertebrates
- animals
- eukaryotes
- Arachnida
- Theaceae
- Ericales
- eudicots
- angiosperms
- Spermatophyta
- plants
- Camellia
- Neuroptera
- Braconidae
- Hymenoptera
- Diptera
- Trichogrammatidae
- Africa
- ACP Countries
- East Africa
- Africa South of Sahara
- Least Developed Countries
- low Human Development Index countries
- low income countries
- ASEAN Countries
- lower-middle income countries
- medium Human Development Index countries
- South East Asia
- Asia
- Commonwealth of Nations
- high Human Development Index countries
- South Asia
- Anglophone Africa
- SADC Countries
- APEC countries
- East Asia
- upper-middle income countries
- Indochina
- Southern Africa
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Pest Management Decision Guides
Pest Management Decision Guide: Green List
Applicable geographic locations
Africa, Asia, Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Copyright
© CABI 2018. This article is published under aCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0)Published under a CC-BY-SA 4.0 licence
History
Issue publication date: 1 January 2018
Published online: 28 February 2019
Language
English
Authors
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