Try and Ask Anee Ask one farming question for free

Free farm guides

Crop guides Palay, mais, gulay, coconut, banana How to plant Every crop, step by step Crop varieties Rice, corn, vegetables, fruit trees Land preparation Per crop and per soil Crop pests Insects, kuhol, rats and birds Crop diseases Fungi, bacteria and viruses Weeds and grasses Grasses, sedges and broadleaves Nutrients What each one does, crop by crop Nutrient deficiencies Yellow leaves and their fertilizer Latest in Agriculture Farm news, prices, fertilizer, farm words
Where you farm
International versionClosed for maintenance. It will open again soon.
Log In Get Started
Legumes Not sure it is this pest? Use the Pest Finder in anee.io ›

Bean aphid (cowpea aphid)

Shiny black aphids crowd the growing tips, flower stalks and young pods, which curl and turn sticky.

Aphis craccivora Insect Fact sheet
Cowpea aphids (Aphis craccivora), black aphids crowding a stem
Photo: Вячеслав Юсупов, CC BY, via iNaturalist

Also called

Dugos dugos (Cebuano, for aphids)

Crops it attacks

Monggo Mungbean Mani Peanut Utaw Soybean Sitaw String bean Paayap Cowpea Sigarilyas Winged bean Patani Lima bean Kadyos Pigeon pea

Where the damage shows

On the leavesIn the stems, vines or trunkOn fruits, pods or nuts

When to act

Twice a week look at the shoot tips, flowers and young pods of 20 plants at 5 spots. Act when colonies sit on more than 1 in 5 plants before flowering and you see few lady beetles, syrphid larvae or parasitized aphids. Act sooner on young plants, since aphids spread bean mosaic virus.

What to spray

Active ingredients only, never brands. The IRAC group tells how it works: switch to a different group next time, so the pest does not learn to survive it. Spray only when the damage is worth the cost, and only with products registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority for your crop. Follow the label. The Shopee and Lazada links only show who sells something with that active ingredient, not a recommendation of any seller or product.

How to prevent it

  • Sow clean seed from a crop free of mosaic. Aphids carry the virus from plant to plant.
  • Go easy on nitrogen. Soft, lush growth feeds aphids.
  • Remove weeds and volunteer legumes around the field before planting.
  • Pinch off and crush the first colonies on the shoot tips, or wash them off with water.
  • Rows of corn around or between bean rows block many winged aphids coming in.

Natural enemies and biological help

  • Lady beetles, syrphid fly larvae, lacewings and small wasps eat or parasitize the aphids. Leave them unsprayed.
  • Ants guard aphid colonies from their enemies. Keep ants off the plants and destroy nests near the field.
  • Soap, oil and neem sprays kill aphids on contact with little harm to most helpers.

Where this comes from

Not sure it is this one?

Many pests look alike. Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io. She reads it with your crop, its age and the weather, and tells you what it most likely is and what to do first. In Tagalog or English.

Meet Anee