Cultural management

  • Pre-monsoon deep ploughing (two/three times) will expose the hibernating pupae to sunlight and predatory birds
  • Removal and destruction of alternate wild hosts and weeds which harbour the hairy caterpillars
  • Mass collection and destruction of eggs and just emerged caterpillars
  • Place the twigs and leaves of calotropis, jatropha and papaya around the field to trap grown up caterpillars and destruction
  • Grow trap crops like cowpea, castor and jatropha on field bunds to attract the caterpillars
  • Conserve the bio control population of spiders, long horned grasshoppers, preying mantids, robber fly, ants, green lace wing, damsel flies/dragon flies, flower bugs, shield bugs, lady bird beetles, ground beetle, predatory cricket, braconids, trichogrammatids, NPV, green muscardine fungus
  • Use of NPV (nuclear polyhedrosis virus) on cloudy days at 500 LE/ha will be effective