Pacific Pests, Pathogens and Weeds - Online edition

Pacific Pests, Pathogens, Weeds & Pesticides

Passionfruit collar rot (155)


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Summary
  • Narrow distribution. Oceania. The ginger weevil has a wide host range,  including coconut, chillies, eggplant, kava, roselle, sweetpotato, and some orchids. An important condition caused by insects and fungi.
  • A problem just above soil level (the collar) caused by the ginger weevil and two fungi.
  • Weevils lay eggs in the stem, larvae make tunnels and fungi cause rots. Later, the swollen stems crack, leaves fall, vines die back and death results.
  • A serious problem, worse during the dry season.
  • Cultural control: none recommended.
  • Chemical control: use a fungicide, thriam, mixed with latex, painted on the collar region.
Common Name

Collar rot

Scientific Name

This is a problem caused by an insect and two fungi. It includes the ginger weevil, Elytroteinus geophilus (previously, subtruncatus), and the fungi Lasiodiplodia theobromae and Nectria haematococca. The latter is also known by its asexual name, Fusarium solani.


AUTHOR Grahame Jackson
Information (and Photos 1&2) from Gerlach WWP (1988) Plant diseases of Western Samoa. Samoan German Crop Protection Project, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) Gmbh, Germany.

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

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