Heliothis

Description

Newly hatched heliothis larvae are cream with dark-brown heads. As they mature, the larvae grow darker and develop stripes running along their bodies. The moths of both species have a dark section on the hindwing that is uniform on H. punctigera, but contains a paler patch on H. armigera.

Control

Because heliothis is such a common and damaging pest, the shift to an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach in recent years has had very far-reaching benefits. The key to success has been identifying and protecting the beneficial insects and spiders that can help keep heliothis under control.

Protecting beneficials means using ‘softer’, more selective insecticides like Belt® – a relatively recently introduced product that is highly effective on target pests like heliothis, but has low impact on beneficial species.

Another way to lessen the impact of chemical applications is to closely monitor the crops to pick up the first signs of infestation. Thorough spray coverage of a crop when the heliothis population is dominated by young larvae will achieve the highest levels of control and reduce the chances that follow-up applications will be required.