• Young larvae feed gregariously mostly on the under surface of the leaves
• Feed on leaves and causes defoliation
• In severe cases only stems are left behind

I dentification of the pest:

• Eggs : Laid in clusters of 50-100 on the lower side of leaves
• Larva : Orange coloured with broad transverse band with tufts of yellow hairs that are dark at both ends
• Pupa: Forms a thin silken cocoon by interwoven shed hairs of the larvae
• Adult : Crimson coloured moth with black dots and a red abdomen. Pinkish wings with numerous black spots

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
• Apply safe chemical insecticides at recommended doses only if the insect population crosses the ETL
• Spraying of quinalphos 25 EC (2 ml/lit) or chlorpyriphos 20 EC (2.5 ml/lit) or Dichlorvos 76% EC (2.0 ml/lit) recommended when the caterpillars are younger