Vegetables> Beet> Pests

Beet Leaf Miner (Pegomyia hyocyami ) :

The adult female lays eggs on the underside of the leaves. The maggots after hatching from the eggs attack tender leaves and feed in the epidermal layers of the leaf by making serpentine mines in which air gets trapped and gives them silvery appearance. The affected leaves turn pale yellow, get distorted and crumpled. Such leaves gradually dry and die away.

Control: Control measures include destruction of all fallen leaves and other plant debris after harvesting of roots. Spraying the underside of the leaf with Methyl Demeton (0.03%) and Phosphamidon (0.035%) at the emergence of new leaves is highly beneficial.

Web Worms (Hymenia sp. or Loxostege sp.) :

Eggs are laid in clusters on the undersurface of the leaves and held together by gelatinous glue. Green caterpillars web up the leaves and live inside the knotted mass. Flowering and pod formation is adversely affected.

Control: Removal and destruction of webbed bunches of leaf help to check the further spread of the disease. Spraying with Rogor (1 ml/litre of water) is effective.

Semiloopers (Plusia spp.) :

The green caterpillars voraciously feed on the foliage damaging green foliage badly.

Control: Hand picking the larvae and spraying the crop with Endosulfan (0.05%) or Carbaryll(0.1%) controls the pest.