Fruits and Plantation Crops
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Red branch borer (carpenter moth)
Pinkish red caterpillars tunnel inside branches and young stems, pushing sawdust out of small holes, and the part above wilts and dies.
Crops it attacks
Where the damage shows
In the stems, vines or trunk
When to act
Each week look for wilting tips and small holes pushing out fresh reddish sawdust on branches and young stems. Act on every hole you find. One caterpillar kills the whole branch above it.
Before you spray
Sprays do not reach the caterpillar inside the branch. Cut off wilted branches below the hole, or kill it with a wire.
How to prevent it
- Cut wilted branches a hand's width below the lowest hole and burn them with the caterpillar inside.
- In thick branches you want to keep, push a flexible wire into the hole to kill the caterpillar, then plug the hole with mud or wax.
- Prune and keep trees vigorous. Young trees and weak shoots suffer most.
- Clear dead and dying branches and wild hosts near the farm, where the moth breeds.
- Check new trees from the nursery for holes and sawdust before planting.
Natural enemies and biological help
- Birds, ants and parasitic wasps take many eggs and young caterpillars before they bore in.
- Beauveria bassiana pushed into the holes on a wet cotton plug can infect the caterpillar inside.
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.