Helicoverpa armigera: fruit borer, pod borer and bollworm control

Photo at the top: A green Helicoverpa armigera caterpillar. Note the pale stripe along the side, Photo: Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 3.0

Quick answer

Helicoverpa armigera is a moth whose caterpillar bores into tomato fruits, chilli pods, cotton bolls and gram pods. Farmers call it fruit borer, American bollworm or gram pod borer. Control it early. Use pheromone traps, Trichogramma and HaNPV, and spray a label-approved insecticide only when caterpillars cross the action level. Change the insecticide group for each spray.

In Hindi it is often called phali chhedak (pod borer). It feeds on many crops and weeds, and the moths fly long distances, so it moves from crop to crop through the year.

How to identify Helicoverpa armigera

Look for round holes in tomato fruits, chilli pods, cotton bolls or gram pods. A typical sign is a caterpillar with its head pushed into the fruit and the back half of its body hanging outside. Fresh droppings often sit near the hole.

Damage signs on the crop

• Buds and flowers: eaten. In cotton, damaged squares open their outer leaves (bracts) and drop.
• Fruits, pods and bolls: round holes with droppings outside. Gram pods are empty inside.

Eggs, larvae, pupa and moth

• Eggs: tiny, round, creamy white and ribbed. The moth lays them one by one on tender leaves, flower buds, flowers and young fruits.
• Young caterpillars: small and pale. They first scrape and eat tender leaves and buds, then move to flowers and fruits.
• Grown caterpillars: up to about 3.5–4 cm long. The colour changes a lot, from green to yellow to brown or almost black. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) describes dark lines along the body and pale white lines along the sides.
• Pupa: brown and shiny. It forms in the soil under the plant, or in crop waste.
• Moth: stout, light brown to olive brown, with a dark spot on each front wing. It flies at night.

Look-alikes and how to tell them apart

• Tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura): young ones feed in groups and scrape leaves until only a thin net is left. See our guide to the tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura).
• Fall armyworm: mostly in maize. It has a pale upside-down "Y" on the head. See how to identify fall armyworm in maize.
• Brinjal shoot and fruit borer: a different insect, with a pink caterpillar that stays fully inside the brinjal fruit or shoot. See brinjal fruit and shoot borer identification and control.
• Pink bollworm in cotton: a small pink caterpillar hidden inside the boll, feeding on seeds. See pink bollworm symptoms and control in cotton.

Helicoverpa armigera life cycle and when it attacks

One female moth can lay several hundred eggs over her life. In warm weather the eggs hatch in about 3–4 days. The caterpillar feeds for about 2–3 weeks and grows through five or six stages. It then drops to the soil to pupate. The moth comes out after about 1–2 weeks. So one full cycle takes roughly 4–6 weeks, and there are many generations in a year.

The pest moves from crop to crop through the year and likes crops that are flowering and setting fruit. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, cotton usually faces it from squaring to boll formation in the kharif season (roughly August to October). Red gram and Bengal gram face it at flowering and pod filling in the rabi months. Tomato and chilli can be attacked in any season when they are flowering and fruiting. Warm days, with a mix of light rain and dry spells, help it multiply.

Crops it attacks: fruit borer, American bollworm and gram pod borer

Tomato: young caterpillars eat tender leaves. Grown ones bore round holes into green and ripening fruits. Damaged fruits rot and cannot be sold.

Chilli: the caterpillar eats flower buds and bores into green pods. The pods fall or rot.

Cotton (American bollworm): it feeds on squares (flower buds), flowers and young bolls. Damaged squares fall off. One caterpillar moves from boll to boll and can damage many bolls.

Bengal gram and red gram (gram pod borer): the caterpillar eats leaves and flowers, then makes holes in the pods and eats the seeds inside.

Okra, bitter gourd and other vegetables: it bores into the fruits.

When to spray (economic threshold)

The economic threshold level (ETL) is the pest level at which spraying starts to pay for itself. Below it, natural enemies and other steps are enough.

• Cotton: TNAU gives an action level of one egg or one caterpillar per plant.
• Bengal gram: TNAU gives 2 young caterpillars per plant, or 5–8 eggs per plant. TNAU also advises spraying while the caterpillars are still young (up to the third stage), before they enter the pods.

For tomato, chilli and other crops we could not confirm a published number, so ask your local agriculture officer or Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK). On every crop, young caterpillars are far easier to control than grown ones already inside the fruit.

Control without chemicals

• Pheromone traps: these traps use a scent that attracts male moths. TNAU advises 12 traps per hectare (about 5 per acre). Rising catches warn you that egg laying has started.
• Trap crop in tomato: TNAU suggests planting 40-day-old African marigold with 25-day-old tomato seedlings, one row of marigold for every 16 rows of tomato. The moths lay eggs on the marigold.
• Bird perches: put up T-shaped sticks in gram fields (TNAU suggests 50 per hectare) so birds can sit and pick caterpillars.
• Hand picking: pick and destroy damaged fruits and grown caterpillars.
• Natural enemies: Trichogramma wasps lay their eggs inside Helicoverpa eggs and kill them. TNAU advises releasing Trichogramma from flower initiation in tomato and from about 45 days after sowing in cotton.
• Biological sprays: HaNPV, a virus that kills only Helicoverpa caterpillars, and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) sprays work on young caterpillars. Spray them in the evening. Neem-based sprays (neem seed kernel extract 5%) can also help on young caterpillars.
• Field hygiene and planning: after harvest, remove crop waste and plough, so pupae in the soil are exposed to sun and birds. In cotton, sow at the same time as nearby farms and use nitrogen carefully.

Chemical control, crop by crop

Only the products below have this crop and this pest on their official label. Doses are per acre, worked out from the label. Many labels say "fruit borer", "bollworm" or "pod borer" instead of Helicoverpa, so we show the label's own words. Use one product per spray. Do not mix products in one tank.

Tomato

• Aston Insecticide (chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC). Label target: "Fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200 L water. Spray at ETL. Waiting period before harvest: 3 days.
• OMG Insecticide (chlorantraniliprole 18.5% SC, the same active ingredient as Aston). Label target: "Fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 3 days.
• Rimon Insecticide (novaluron 10% EC). Label target: "Fruit Borer (Heliothis armigera)", an older name for the same insect. Label dose 304 g per acre in 200–400 L water. The label prints the dose in grams although Rimon is a liquid, so ask the store if you are unsure how to measure it. Spray at pest attack. Waiting period: 3 days.

Chilli

• Aston. Label target: "Fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura, Spodoptera exigua)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 3 days.
• OMG. Label target: "Fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera, Spodoptera litura, Spodoptera exigua)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 3 days.
• Rimon. Label target: "Fruit Borer (Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 152 g per acre in 200 L water (printed in grams on the label). Waiting period: 3 days.
• Simodis Insecticide (isocycloseram 9.2% DC). Label target: "Thrips and Fruit borers". Label dose 243 ml per acre in 200 L water. First spray at ETL, one more after 10–15 days if needed, and no more than two sprays per season. Waiting period: 7 days.
• Alecto Insecticide (broflanilide 20% SC). Label target: "Fruit Borer". Label dose 51 g per acre in 200 L water (printed in grams on the label). Waiting period: 1 day.
• Evicent Insecticide (emamectin benzoate 5% + lufenuron 40% WG). This is a ready-mixed product with two active ingredients, approved on the label as one product. Label target: "Fruit borer (Spodoptera litura & Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 24 g per acre in 200 L water. First spray at ETL, then 1–2 more at 10–15 day gaps. Waiting period: 3 days.
• Kite Insecticide (indoxacarb 14.5% + acetamiprid 7.7% SC), a ready-mixed product approved on the label. Label target: "Thrips & Fruit borer". Label dose 162–202 ml per acre in 200 L water, 2–3 sprays depending on pest pressure. Waiting period: 5 days.
• Mahaveer Insecticide (fipronil 5% SC). Label target: "Fruit borer". Label dose 324–405 ml per acre in 200 L water. The label suggests the first spray 40–50 days after transplanting or when the pest appears, repeated 2–3 times at 7–10 day gaps. Waiting period: 7 days.

Cotton

• Aston. Label target: "American Boll Worm (Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 9 days.
• OMG. Label target: "American Boll Warm (Helicoverpa armigera)" (spelling as printed). Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 9 days.
• Rimon. Label target: "American Bolloworm (Helicoverpa armigera)" (spelling as printed). Label dose 405 g per acre in 200–400 L water (printed in grams on the label). Waiting period: 40 days.
• Simodis. Label target: "Thrips and Bollworms". Label dose 243 ml per acre in 200 L water, no more than two sprays per season. Waiting period: 37 days.
• Hamla 550 Insecticide (chlorpyrifos 50% + cypermethrin 5% EC), a ready-mixed product approved on the label. Label target includes "American bollworm". Label dose 405 ml per acre in 200–400 L water, when the pest is seen to cause economic loss. Waiting period: 15 days.
• Kite. Label target: "Jassids, Whiteflies & Bollworms". Label dose 162–202 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 30 days.
• Mahaveer. Label target: "Bollworms". Label dose 809 ml per acre in 200 L water. The label suggests the first spray 30–35 days after sowing or when the pest appears. Waiting period: 6 days.

Note: Kite, Mahaveer and Simodis labels say only "bollworms". Cotton has three bollworms (American, spotted and pink), so check which one you have before you buy.

Whitefly warning for cotton: the Government of India's plant protection directorate (PPQS) advises against synthetic pyrethroids such as cypermethrin, and against acephate and acetamiprid, at the flowering and boll stage, because whitefly can come back in larger numbers after them. Hamla 550 (cypermethrin) and Kite (acetamiprid) contain these, so use them before flowering, or choose another product at boll stage. Read more in our whitefly guide.

Bengal gram (chickpea)

• Aston. Label target: "Pod Borer (Spodoptera spp. and H.armigera)". Label dose 51 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 11 days.
• OMG. Label target: "Pod Borer (Spodoptera spp. & H. armigera)". Label dose 51 ml per acre in 200 L water, preferably at the start of flowering. Waiting period: 11 days.
• Rimon. Label target: "Pod borer (Heliothis armigera)". Label dose 304 g per acre in 200 L water (printed in grams on the label). Waiting period: 7 days.

Red gram (pigeon pea)

• Aston. Label target: "Gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200–300 L water. Waiting period: 29 days.
• OMG. Label target: "Gram pod borer (Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 61 ml per acre in 200–300 L water. Waiting period: 29 days.
• Simodis. Label target: "Gram pod borer and Spotted pod borer". Label dose 202–243 ml per acre in 200 L water, no more than two sprays per season. Waiting period: 58 days.

Okra

• Aston. Label target: "Fruit borer (H. armigera and Earias vittella)". Label dose 51 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 5 days.
• OMG. Label target: "Fruit borer (H. armigera and Earias vittella)". Label dose 51 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 5 days.

Bitter gourd

• Aston. Label target: "Fruit Borers & Caterpillars (Diaphania sp. & H.armigera)". Label dose 40–51 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 7 days.
• OMG. Same label target. Label dose 40–51 ml per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 7 days.

Cauliflower

• Evicent. Label target: "Fruit borer (Spodoptera litura & Helicoverpa armigera)". Label dose 24 g per acre in 200 L water. Waiting period: 3 days.

For other crops, no product in our store has Helicoverpa on its label for that crop. Ask the store or your agriculture officer before you spray.

Rotate to avoid resistance

Insecticides are grouped by how they kill the insect. This is called the mode of action. The international IRAC system gives each group a number. If you spray the same group again and again, the surviving caterpillars breed and the next generation is harder to kill. Helicoverpa is very quick to do this. So use a product from a different group for the next spray.

IRAC group	How it works (simple words)	Products here
28	Makes the caterpillar's muscles stop working, so it stops eating	Aston, OMG (same active ingredient, so never use one after the other)
15	Stops the caterpillar from moulting (shedding its skin to grow)	Rimon
30	Acts on the insect's nerves in a new way	Simodis, Alecto (same group)
2B	Blocks nerve signals	Mahaveer
6 + 15	Two groups in one pack	Evicent (contains lufenuron, group 15, like Rimon)
22A + 4A	Two groups in one pack	Kite
1B + 3A	Two groups in one pack	Hamla 550

For example, if your first spray was Aston or OMG (group 28), make the next one from group 30, 15 or 2B. Do not follow Rimon with Evicent, as both carry a group 15 ingredient.

Safety and waiting period

The waiting period (pre-harvest interval, or PHI) is the number of days you must wait between the last spray and harvest. It is given with each product above. It changes by crop: for example, Rimon needs 3 days on tomato but 40 days on cotton.

• Wear gloves, a mask, full-sleeve clothes and boots while mixing and spraying. Wash well afterwards.
• Keep products locked away from children, animals and food.
• Many insecticides harm honey bees, and bees visit flowering cotton, gram and vegetables. Spray in the late evening, when bees are not flying, and follow any bee warning on the label.

Read the label and leaflet before use.

Farmer questions about Helicoverpa armigera

How do I control fruit borer in tomato?

Start with pheromone traps and a marigold trap crop, and pick off damaged fruits. If caterpillars keep increasing, spray a label-approved product for tomato fruit borer, such as Aston, OMG or Rimon, at the label dose. Change the group for the next spray.

Is gram pod borer the same as Helicoverpa armigera?

Yes. Gram pod borer, American bollworm and tomato fruit borer are all names for the same insect, Helicoverpa armigera. Older labels may call it Heliothis armigera.

What is the life cycle of Helicoverpa armigera?

Egg, caterpillar, pupa and moth. Eggs hatch in about 3–4 days, the caterpillar feeds for 2–3 weeks, and the pupa rests in the soil for about 1–2 weeks. The full cycle takes about 4–6 weeks in warm weather.

How do I control gram pod borer in chickpea?

Use pheromone traps and bird perches, and check plants from flowering. At 2 young caterpillars or 5–8 eggs per plant, spray HaNPV or a label-approved product from the Bengal gram list above, before the caterpillars enter the pods.

What do Helicoverpa armigera larvae look like?

They range from green to brown or nearly black, with dark lines along the back and pale lines on the sides. Grown larvae are about 3.5–4 cm long and often sit with their head inside a fruit or pod.

Related reading

• Tobacco caterpillar (Spodoptera litura) control
• Pink bollworm in cotton: symptoms and control
• Brinjal fruit and shoot borer control
• Fall armyworm in maize
• Thrips control in chilli, cotton and onion
• Tomato crop care, chilli crop care and cotton crop care
• All insecticides

Sources

• Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, TNAU Agritech Portal: Tomato fruit borer, Helicoverpa armigera
• TNAU Agritech Portal: American bollworm in cotton
• TNAU Agritech Portal: Gram pod borer in Bengal gram
• PPQS, Government of India: Package of practices for whitefly management in cotton
• IRAC: Mode of action classification
• Product labels and leaflets of the insecticides named above