Fruit borer: Initial symptoms
Pest: Deudorix isocrates / Anar butterfly
Symptoms
The female butterfly lays eggs on flowers, buds and the calyx of developing fruits,after hatching, caterpillars enter the fruit and feed on the pulp creating holes. The holes ultimately expose the rest of the fruit to disease, and typically rot off the tree.
Control
Remove and destroy the affected fruits.
Clip off calyx cup immediately after pollination followed by two applications of neem oil @ 3 %.
Before maturity, bag the fruits with butter paper.
At flowering stage, spray NSKE 5% or neem formulations 2 ml/1.
Spray deltamethrin 2.8 EC (1.5 ml/litre of water) at fortnightly interval from the stage of flowering to fruit development.
Spray malathion 50 EC 0.1% or methomyl 40 SP @ 1.0 ml/l or azadirachtin 1500 ppm @ 3.0 ml/l at 15 days intervals commencing from initiation of flowering up to the harvesting subjected to the presence of fruit borer.