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
Vegetables Not sure it is this pest? Use the Pest Finder in anee.io ›

Twenty eight spotted lady beetle

Orange beetles with black spots and their yellow spiny grubs scrape the leaves into lacy windows between the veins.

Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata Insect Fact sheet
A twenty eight spotted lady beetle (Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata) on a leaf
Photo: Helio Lourencini, CC BY, via iNaturalist

Crops it attacks

Talong Eggplant Kalabasa Squash Kamatis Tomato Ampalaya Bitter gourd Patatas Potato

Where the damage shows

On the leaves

When to act

Check 20 plants at 5 spots weekly for the spiny yellow grubs, adults and ladder like scraped patches. Act when young plants carry more than 1 grub or adult each on average, after handpicking.

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

  • Crush the yellow egg clusters under the leaves, and handpick adults and spiny grubs in the morning.
  • Shake the plants over a basin of soapy water to catch the adults that drop.
  • Remove wild nightshade and other weeds of the eggplant family that keep the beetle between crops.
  • Do not plant eggplant, potato and tomato one after the other in the same field.
  • Destroy crop remains after harvest and plow to expose the pupae.

Natural enemies and biological help

  • Small wasps such as Pediobius foveolatus kill the grubs, and spiders, assassin bugs and predatory stink bugs eat them.
  • Neem sprays repel the adults and slow the grubs, with little harm to these 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