Pacific Pests, Pathogens, Weeds & Pesticides - Online edition

Pacific Pests, Pathogens, Weeds & Pesticides

Sweetpotato leaf folder (028)


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Summary

  • Widespread distribution. Asia, Africa, Oceania. On sweetpotato, the main host, but also on weeds. An important pest.
  • Eggs laid on upper leaf surface; caterpillars, green with brown heads, fold the leaves, fastening edges with webbing. At first, they make 'windows' in the leaf; later, they make holes. Impact on yield unclear.
  • Natural enemies: parasitoid wasps.
  • Cultural control: plant far from infested crops, using healthy cuttings; weed, and remove 'volunteers' and wild Ipomoea; collect and burn trash after harvest.
  • Chemical control: PDPs: neem, derris, pyrethrum, or chilli; biopesticides - spinosad and Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis); or synthetic pyrethroids, but these will kill natural enemies.

Common Name

Sweetpotato leaf folder, green leaf folder

Scientific Name

Herpetogramma hipponalis; CABI uses the name Psara hipponalis. It is a moth of the Crambidae.


AUTHORS Helen Tsatsia & Grahame Jackson
Information from O'Sullivan J et al. (undated) Sweetpotato DiagNotes: A diagnostic key and information tool for sweetpotato problems. (https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/sweetpotato/key/Sweetpotato%20Diagnotes/Media/Html/FrontPage/FrontPage.htm); and from Amalin DM, Vasquez EA (1993) A handbook on Philippines sweet potato arthropod pests and the natural enemies. International Potato Center, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. (http://www.sweetpotatoknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/A-handbook-on-Philiphine-Sweetpotato-Anthropod-Pests-and-their-Natural-Enemies.pdf). Photo 3 Paul Hebert, BIO/CSIRO, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario.

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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