Pest of TOMATO

Major Pests
1. Fruit borer Helicoverpa armigera Noctuidae Lepidoptera
2. Serpentine leaf miner Liriomyza trifolii Agromyzidae Diptera
3. Leaf eating caterpillar Spodoptera litura Noctuidae Lepidoptera
4. Whitefly Bemisia tabaci Aleyrodidae Hemiptera
5. Thrips Thrips tabaci, Thripidae Thysanoptera
Frankliniella schultzi
6. Fruit sucking moth Eudocima(Othreis) Noctuidae Lepidoptera
fullonica
E. materna
E. ancilla
Invasive pest Tuta absoluta Gelechiidae Lepidoptera
South American tomato
pinworm/ tomato leaf miner
Minor Pests
7. Spotted leaf beetle Epilachna vigintioctopunctata Coccinellidae Coleoptera
8. Cabbage green Trichoplusia ni Noctuidae Lepidoptera
semilooper
9. Aphid Aphis gossypii, Aphididae Hemiptera
Myzus persicae
10. Leaf hopper Amrasca devastans Cicadellidae Homoptera
11. Stem borer Euzophera perticella, Pthorimaea Phycitidae Lepidoptera
operculella Gelechiidae Lepidoptera
12. Red spider mite Tetranychus cinnabarinus Acaridae Acarina
PKM 1,CO.1 ,CO.2 ,CO.3 , (Marutham)
and Paiyur 1
"culinary vegetable"
180 cm (6 ft) vines
Solanum lycopersicum
40-145 days.
May - June and November – December
300-350 g / ha
CO 3 : 45 x 30 cm Others---60 x 45 cm
NPK 75:100:50 kg / ha
Triacontanol Spray 1.25 ppm (625 ml in 500 litres of water)
 Fruit borer: Helicoverpa armigera,
Distribution
Noctuidae: Lepidoptera
Tropics, Sub-tropic and Temperate regions
Host range : Bhendi, Chillies, Tomato, Tobacco, Cotton,
Cowpea, Groundnut, Linseed, Sunflower and Millets

Symptoms:
Young larva feeds on tender foliage and from fourth instar
onwards infests fruits.
They make circular holes and thrust only a part of their body
*Eggs laid singly
inside fruit and eat inner contents
8 generations/ year
Egg period: 4 -8 days Pupation – soil
Biology 300 eggs/ female
5 instars
Yellowish white spherical eggs
Adult: Eggs laid – tender shoots and young fruits
Light brown Larval period : 18-25 days
stout moth Newly emerged - yellowish white
with ‘V’ speck Full grown -Green with dark grey
- forewings Pupal period : 6-21 days lines and pale bands white and
Pupation: earthen cocoon in dark grey-brown longitudinal lines
TLC: 28- 42 the soil Dark brown pupa and sparse short hairs
days with spine at the posterior
end
Management
Collect and destroy the larvae and infested fruits
Light trap @ 1/ ha
Pheromone traps @ 12/ha (Heli lure) to attract male moths
Grow less susceptible genotypes: Rupali, Roma and Pusa red plum
Egg parasitoid: Trichogramma chilonis for 6 times @ 50,000/ha/week -
first release coinciding with flowering time
Predator: Chrysoperla cornea at weekly interval @ 50,000 eggs or
grubs /ha from 30 days after plantings
Encourage activity of egg parasitiods:
Chelonus narayani, Campoletis chloridae, Carcelia illota
Larval parasitoids: Bracon kitcheneri, Microbracon curvimaculatus
ETL: 10 % of fruiting parts

NPV 1.5 x 10 12 POBs / ha + 0.1 % teepol + cotton seed kernel extract

300g/ha, three time, each application should be followed by Trichogramma
release

Grow simultaneously 40 days old american tall marigold and 25 days old

tomato seedlings at 1:6 row to attract H.armigera adults for egg laying

Insecticides: - 35 EC @ 1000 ml/ha or

Carbaryl 50 WP @ 1000 g/ ha or

Quinalphos 25 EC @ 1250ml/ha

Avoid the combination of insecticides

 Serpentine leaf miner: Liriomyza trifolii
Agromyzidae:Diptera
The serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) (Diptera:
Agromyzidae), an invasive pest was accidentally introduced into India
from American sub continent along with chrysanthemum cuttings
(Anonymous, 1991). In India, it was initially recorded on 55 plant
species (Viraktamath et al., 1993) and later on about 79 species
(Srinivasan et al., 1995) that included pulses, oil seeds, vegetables, green
manures, fodder and fibre crops.

Distribution Symptoms:
Leaves are often with serpentine mines
Introduced pest followed by drying and dropping of leaves due
to infestation
Host range
Egg period: 2-4 days
Tomato, Cucurbits and Castor
Eggs laid – epidermal layer of leaves
Biology Maggot: 7-10
Adult: Minute, orange
Minute, pale yellow in yellowish and apodous
colour Pupal period: 5-7 days
Pupation: inside the leaf mine
Management

Collect and destroy the mined leaves

Spray neem seed kernel extract (NSKE)5%

 Leaf eating caterpillar: Spodoptera litura
Noctuidae: Lepidoptera
Distribution
India, Japan, Srilanka, Bangladesh,
China, Korea, Pakistan and
Indonesia Symptoms:
Young larvae feed by scrapping the leaves
Host range from ventral surface. Later on feed
Cabbage, Yam, Sweet Potato, Banana, voraciously at night on the foliage. Larvae
also feed on the young fruits
Bhendi, Soybean, Chillies, Tomato,
Tobacco, Groundnut, Cotton, Pulses,
Safflower and Millets
Biology * 6 instars
Egg period: 3-5 days
Eggs laid in groups

Eggs lain in groups- covered

with hairs Larval period : 20-28
Adult: 7-10 days days
Wavy white markings – Full grown –pale brown
forewings with a greenish to violet
White hindwings – brown patch
Pupal period : 7 -11 days tinge
along its margin
TLC: 30-40 days Pupation : earthen cell in
the soil
 Management
Plough the soil to expose and kill the pupae
Grow castor along border and irrigation channel – trap crop
Flood the field to drive out the hibernating larvae
Light trap @1/ha
Pheromone traps (Pherodin SL ) @ 12/ ha to attract male moths
Collect and destroy egg masses in castor and tomato
Hand pick grown up larvae and kill them
NPV @ 1.5 X 1012 POBs / ha + 2.5 Kg crude sugar + 0.1 % teepol
Bait: Rice bran 12.5 Kg + Molasses or Brown sugar 2.5Kg + Carbaryl 50 WP
1.25 Kg – Mix the ingredients well – Kept around the field

Insecticides
Chlorpyriphos 2 litre / ha Adopt high volume sprayer
Dichlorvos 1 litre / ha to cover the foliage and soil
- 1250 ml/ ha surface
Sucking insects

Whitefly: Bemisia tabaci,

* Vector – leaf curl virus
Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera

Distribution Symptoms:
India, Srilanka, Nigeria, Congo, Vector of tomato leaf curl disease.
West Africa, Japan and Europe Nymphs and adults cause chlorotic spots
by sucking cell sap from leaves resulting
Host range in yellowing and drying of leaves
Cotton, Tomato, Tobacco, Sweet Potato ,
Cassava, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Melon, Brinjal and Bhendi.
Biology
Egg period: 3-5 days Pear
shaped,light yellowish-
Adult: undersurface of leaves
white tiny, scale like
Nymph: 9-14 days
adults
Oval, scale like, greenish white
TLC : 14 – 17 days

Pupal period: 2-8 days

Spiraling whitefly: Aleurodicus dispersus
Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera

Distribution
All over inidia

Host range:
Guava, Cassava, Cotton, Chillies, Tomato, Brinjal, Bhendi, Papaya, Crotons,
and Weed plants such as Euphorbia, Corchorus, Eclipta, Vernonia, Acalypha,
Alternanthra,Amaranthus, Convolvulus, Abutilon etc.,

Biology
Nymphal period 22-30 days
Egg period: 5-8 days
Eggs laid in a spiraling pattern

Adult: 13-18 days

White in colour with waxy coating –
body
TLC: 40-50 days
Management

Uproot and completely destroy the diseased leaf curl plants

Collect and destroy damaged leaves with eggs, nymphs, pupae and

adults

Use nitrogen and irrigation judiciously

Yellow sticky traps @ 15/ha to attract and kill the adults

Fish oil rosin soap (FORS): 17.5 kg/ ha or methyl demeton 750 ml or -
1500 ml along with FORS 8.75 kg/ha

Encourage activity of parasitoid: Eretmocerus masii

Predators: Brumus sp. and Chrysoperla

 Thrips, Thrips tabaci
F:Thripidae; O:Thysanoptera

• Both nymph and adult lacerate the tissue and

suck the sap from the upper and lower surface
of leaves and in cases of severe infestation
they curl up and become crumbled. Silvery
sheen on the lower surface of leaves can be
seen in early stages of attack.
• Frankliniella schultzi - Vector of Tomato
Spotted Wilt Virus.
• Adults small, slender, yellowish to
brown with fringed wings and drift away on
disturbance. Nymph very minute, slender,
yellowish and microscopic.
 Fruit sucking moths,Eudocima (Othreis) fullonica,
E.materna, E.ancilla
F:Noctuidae; O:Lepidoptera

Symptoms:
Suck the juice by piercing the fruits. Infested
fruits shrink, shrivel, rot and ultimately drop
down
 Fruit sucking moths,
Eudocima (Othreis) fullonica, E.materna, E.ancilla

Larva:
Larva feeds on the leaves of the creeper weed Tinospora cardifolia and
Cocculus sp
Semilooper with orange blue and yellow spots on its velvetty dark
speckled body. Feeds on weed host.
Adult:
Stout built moth with grey and orange coloured wings.
E.fullonica: Tripod black mark in the forewing and curved markings in
hindwing
E.materna: Three black spots on the forewings
E.ancilla: White band in the middle of forewing.
 Striped mealybug, Ferrisia virgata
F:Pseucoccidae; O:Hemiptera

Symptoms:

Presence of white, cottony

mealy bugs on the leaves
and twigs Stunted growth
Crawler: Yellowish to pale
white in colour
Adult: Females apterous,
long, slender covered with
white waxy secretion
 South American tomato pinworm/ tomato leaf miner Tuta
absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

• A New Invasive Pest Alert

• The pest has spread from South America to
several parts of Europe, entire Africa and has
now spread to India.
• October 2014 - Pune on tomato plants grown
in polyhouse and fields
• January, 2015 - Kolar and Bengaluru districts
of Karnataka.
 Damage
• Plants are damaged by direct
feeding on leaves, stems,
buds, calyces, young fruit, or
ripe fruit and by the invasion
of secondary pathogens
which enter through the
wounds made by the pest.
• It can cause up to 90% loss
of yield and fruit quality
under greenhouses and field
conditions.
 Biology

• The adults are silvery brown, 5-7 mm long. The total

life cycle is completed in an average of 24-38 days
• Each female may lay up to 300 creamy coloured eggs
and 10-12 genera*ons can be produced each year.
• Freshly hatched larvae are light yellow or green and
only 0.5 mm in length. As they mature, larvae develop
a darker green color and a characteristic dark band
posterior to the head capsule. Four larval instars
develop.
• Pupation may take place in the soil, on the leaf surface,
within mines or in packaging material. A cocoon is
 Fruit borer
•Grow simultaneously 40 days old American tall marigold and 25 days old tomato seedlings @
1:16 rows.
•Set up pheromone traps @ 12/ha.
•Collection and destruction of damaged fruits and grown up caterpillars.
•Release Trichogramma pretiosum @ 1 lakh nos. /ha/release at an interval of 7 days starting from
flower initiation stage based on ETL of 10% damage.
•For Helicoverpa armigera: HaNPV 1.5 x 1012 POBs/ha i.e. NPV of H. armigera 0.43% AS @
3.0 ml/lit or 2 % AS @ 1.0 ml per lit
•For Spodoptera litura: Sl NPV 1.5 x 1012 POBs/ha
•Provide poison bait with carbaryl 50 WP 1.25 kg, rice bran 12.5 kg, jaggery 1.25 kg and water
7.5 lit/ha
•Spray Bacillus thuringiensis 2g/lit or any one of the following insecticide
 Insecticide Dose
Azadirachtin 1.0 % EC (10000 ppm) 2.0 ml/ l

Indoxacarb 14.5 % SC 8 ml/10 l

Flubendiamide 20 WG 5 g/10 l
Flubendiamide 480 SC 2.5 ml/10 l

Novaluron 10 % EC 7.5 ml/10 l

Phosalone 35 % EC 13 ml/10 l
Quinalphos 20 % AF 1.5 ml/ l
Quinalphos 25 % EC 1.0 ml/ l
 Serpentine leaf miner
Spray Neem Seed Kernel Extract 5 %.
 Whitefly
1. Install yellow sticky traps @12/ha to attract the adult.
2. Remove alternate weed host Abutilon indicum
3. Apply carbofuran 3% G @ 40 kg /ha or spray any one of the following insecticides

Insecticide Dose

Dimethoate 30 % EC 1.0 ml/lit.

Malathion 50 % EC 1.5 ml/ lit.

Oxydemeton –Methyl 25 % EC 1.0 ml/ lit.

Thiamethoxam 25 % WG 4.0 ml/10 lit.